I Wish Grades Didn't Matter

I am wanting to live in a world where grades don't matter.

I am wanting to live my life undefined by a letter in a gradebook.

We, as students, are judged based on numbers. 

GPA, ACT, AP;  abbreviations of the mind behind a person. A person worth so much more.

Colleges like to say they look at the person behind the grades, that they want to meet the person behind the test scores, and that's true.

If you meet the benchmark.

"The pressure to succeed transforms your mind from coal to diamond, morphing the very carbon of your being," says the mother with an Associate's degree who never pushed herself to anything beyond average.

And on the opposite, "You can be successful without trying hard at school, college isn't that important.  Just look at me!"  says the manager of a Wendy's who didn't even graduate from highschool, but rather dropped out because some girl, who is nothing more to him than a place to send a child support check to every month, was pregnant with his child when they were both 17.

So grades are important, even if you do try to ignore them.  But as I push myself more and more, I only know one thing.

I'm tired.

From nights staying up late to finish homework from multiple AP classes, extracurriculars, having a job, having friends, and desperatrely trying to cling to the short time I have left as a kid before I'm thrust into the world of adulthood where my grades won't matter to anyone.

I am a senior in high school coming to terms with the fact nobody will care about how I spent the last 12 years of my life other than some college who won't look past the numbers of my GPA, ACT, and AP scores.  They won't care about the memories I made with my friends, how hard I worked at my job, or all the things I enjoyed doing in my free time.

So maybe it doesn't boil down to, "I wish grades didn't matter," but I wish my life mattered beyond them.

This poem is about: 
Me
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