Going to school is an anxiety inducing effort. The issue with school is that students are worried about the wrong things. I was one of those students who were too anxious to take a test. It had nothing to do with my knowledge of the subject, but my fear of a bad grade. If I went to any of my teachers, I wish they would have given me the advice to not worry about grades, but to focus on learning. It’s a surprised that not one teacher has told me that. They didn’t say that grades are merely an output of input. If I want better grades I should learn and that learning will promote my grades. For those who did not like school, it was hard to reach expectations of a grade. If it came easy to you as it did me, you learned absolutely nothing while getting the grade.

You Get What You Put In

So, how do you focus on learning rather than the grade? The easiest way to learn on your own. You don’t need the professor or the teacher to learn anything . Anything that’s self-teachable makes you more of an expert than someone who has to teach it to you. This is why professors say to read the book before coming to lecture. It’s not very strong advice when a couple weeks later, the professor has a midterm and the students are only concerned with studying what would be on the test.

Learning is more than just checking off boxes on a to-do list. Yeah, you did you reading, you took some notes, and did your homework. that means you’re learning right? Imagine if you were a musician or an athlete. you don’t have to even play at the highest caliber to know that these people put in hours to their craft. You can probably see the notable difference is that a musician or athlete love what they are doing. The task is to treat learning as if there is no end. There are infinite things to learn, just how there are infinite ways to play an instrument and the practice makes you the master of your domain.

The other thing students must do is apply what they’ve learned to other aspects of life. Even better if you can apply what you’ve learned to a hobby that you love. I know that may be difficult with say calculus. Daily review is more important than cramming for the test the night before.

If you’re a student, you’re going to probably read this, agree with what’s being written, and then go back to what you were doing before. That’s what happens when the entire culture is built on output in now what you put into it. If you resist the status quo, I promise you will get good grades. Grades aren’t the reason you’re going to school. It’s to open yourself up to the world of education. Once you commit to your learning, grades won’t matter.