Take a grade of “F”—it’s worth it

By Kate James

Imagine it’s nine in the morning on a Friday and you’re about to start what proved itself to be the most boring class ever created – United States History Until 1865.  It’s the second week of the semester and already you’ve learned where the Native Americans came from (Wait a second, weren’t the Native Americans, well, native?) and fallen asleep thirty minutes into The New World.  Your professor is about to assign a short, five to seven page paper on a book you haven’t even opened due to the uninteresting excerpt on the back.

As you wonder why you chose a history class as your fourth class for your very first semester, the history majors around you are hurriedly scribbling notes on their assignment sheets and syllabus.  If you’re already thinking, “I am going to drop this class” then you’re pretty average.  When faced with this very class, I thought the exact same thing.  My only mistake was actually doing it.  I knew if I stayed in the class there was no way my writing level or ability to memorize information would get me anything higher than a D, probably an F.  My first stop after class was the registrar where I immediately dropped the class.

When the Spring Semester rolled around I had more of an idea of what I wanted to choose as a major (English) and selected my classes wisely.  This time I was faced with the hardest professor in the entire English department; possibly even the hardest professor on campus.  I had heard horror stories about this professor.  By the second week, I was almost certain there was no way I could make it through the class with anything more than a C.  This time, however, there was no going back.  I decided it was my freshman year.  I was young, uncertain, and positively terrified, and I was willing to take a lower grade, if only to see what this professor could teach me.

By the end of the semester, I had survived having my writing criticized to the word – sentences picked through and offered up to the whole class to reword, rearrange, and rewrite.  I wasn’t the only one.  Every student, including upperclassman, suffered through this public criticism.  My papers were well-written, because the rough drafts were analyzed in every way possible.  Whenever a paper was due back I was terrified, but I kept getting good grades.  I received constructive criticism as well as positive feedback on every paper, sometimes about the same sentence. My final grade was a B-.  My lowest grade was a C-.

When you’re faced with a class that you know is above your ability, it may be worth it to stay and see what you could learn.  Had I stayed in my first semester history class, I most likely would have earned an F or D, but I probably would have advanced my writing, been able to memorize words, as well as learned much more about the United States before it was the United States.  When I chose to stay in a class that I knew was tough, I risked a lower grade, while allowing myself to learn and become better.  School isn’t about the grade – it’s about learning.  Grades only measure so much.  Sometimes, you learn the most when you allow yourself to be vulnerable and liable to fail.  Failure is one of the most rewarding ways to learn.