Overachiever Is An Over Achiever

In his article “College Students Need to Toughen Up, Quit Their Grade Whining”, Robert Schlesingner addresses the emerging issue of grade inflation, and more specifically, the greater sense of entitlement that seems to prevail in the modern scholastic realm. Mr. Schlesingner begins his address by presenting his background and what standards and expectations were common during his time through both lower-level education and college. During his time [time in what?], a grade of C represented “adequate” or average work, B correlated with “an above average job”, and obtaining an A required “spectacular” performance by the student. [more concise] However, as cited by Mr. Schlesingner, an investigation by the University of California-Irvine seems to indicate that the values of each letter grade has changed, at least in the mind of the modern student with more students now believing that A’s and B’s should be more easily obtained and that the amount of effort put into a task should be considered when grading. Next, Mr. Schlesingner presents his opinions on this topic of grade inflation and the proper influence of student effort on grade. To conclude,

a. Have you ever been mocked for being good at something? b. Have you ever made the highest grade in the class? If so, was the reaction of other students positive or negative? I believe that excellence is a good thing. In society we want people to excel in the work they do. If there aren’t people that do extremely well, there isn’t anybody to look up to. When I was in second grade I was made fun of for doing really well in my reading. Everybody called me “teacher’s pet” and told me that I should sit with the teachers at lunch instead of them. I have made a higher grade than everybody in the class a few times before. When my teacher bragged about me it looked like everybody was happy for me. When in reality I could see the disgusted look on their faces. They didn’t care that I did well and were probably upset that they didn’t get the same grade. However, I still think that it is a wonderful thing to be excellent in the things you

I wish I could place the blame on having unfavorable English teachers like I’ve frequently heard others have the misfortune of facing, although this was never the case. There is no one person or situation that I can claim is responsible for my constant, creeping feelings of inadequacy and I have no knowledge of why I started placing such extreme amounts of pressure on myself. All I know is that it soon seeped into other areas of my life. It was no longer just English in which I strived for perfection, but every subject, every task- inside and outside of school. Almost like everything in my life would be graded and the only grade I would accept is that A, always an A. This obsession, ironically, more often leads to my failure.

When I was a young child I was shy, socially awkward, and horribly insecure, so when I realized popularity would never be my strength I decided to put all my efforts into what I was good at: school. As early as kindergarten I was identified as an advanced student and teachers quickly highlighted my efforts as exemplary to the other students. I fed off the high praise. The better I performed academically, the greater the approval I received, the better I felt about myself, so as a naive child I determined my self-worth and academic performance were inherently linked. As long as I was successful in academics, I would be a successful person. For years, I believed that, putting school beyond all else.

As far as my knowledge goes, I cannot say that I have an extremely high amount. I constantly struggle with my school work, and I do not have any strong subject. I am not the type of person to be able to pass an exam without studying. For me, I must put effort in everything I do. That is my biggest educational barrier. I consider myself as “average”. The problem with me is that I want to go beyond that average standard. I want to exceed the standard expectations. My grades are quite good, as I have almost all A’s as well as a 3.83 GPA. When people see this achievement, they tell me, “That is not surprising. You are so smart!” I never answer to their response, because deep down inside, I know that this is far from true. My grades are not from naturally understanding things immediately, but are from working hard, and putting in as much effort as possible. I stay up late every night just to understand the material. While most people complete their assignments and call it a day, I not only complete it, but I always make sure to ask this question, “Do I understand this enough to do this easily on a test?” If the answer is no, I spend at least another hour to understand the content. I dread every time I realize I must spend more time staying up than sleeping, but when good results show, I find this all to be worth it. My

We go to school day after day and see the same things happening. We never have the time to question these things or to even stop and take a second to wonder, is this the right way to handle this or is this what I am supposed to be doing with my life. From the moment we walk through those school doors until we leave at the end of the day there is nothing but competition. There are many different kinds of competition, whether it is in a sport for school or for who has the best academic scores. A second in the day does not go by where there are not two students competing for the winning spot. In Mike Rose, “I Just Wanna Be Average” we are able to see that there is no self-motivation for Rose when he realizes his test scores have been mixed up

My moms raised me with a strong set of morals, including “hard work pays off.” Sometimes this can be discouraging when you work hard, but it doesn’t pay off as you’d like it to. I’ve always gotten the grades I strive for without much struggle. However, once high school started, everything changed. I’d work for weeks on a scholarship essay, and I wouldn’t even place. I’d work for months to get something published and then read other people’s names in the congratulations announcement. I’d constantly wonder: Who’s at the top of the class? Who’s going to win the end of year awards? When you consistently get the grades that I do, people just expect those grades. No one congratulates you on your hard work anymore, and you don’t always get recognized. Despite the lack of recognition, I still take pride in my grades, and continue to work hard. Getting great grades is something I know I can do, even when it’s difficult to do. The difficulty makes it even more satisfying when I see the hard work pay off, and I get the grade I wanted. I’ve encountered

I am an overachiever and I live by the notion of meritocracy. I believe that the hard work and effort that I put into everything will equate into success. For me, the door of opportunities is opened for those who knock on the door with the right skills, attitude, merit, and character. I believe the lie of the “American Dream” that if you put your mind and heart to accomplish something, you can certainly do so. When hospitals, successful businesses, and law firms look for people to hire, they want the cream of the crop. Would you honestly hire a mediocre lawyer or let a doctor who barely passed medical school to operate on you? I believe the answer is no. I strive to be the cream of the crop so that I can earn what I worked so hard to

    Grade inflation, the belief that students are receiving grades that they haven’t worked for and therefore don’t deserve. But what’s so wrong about grade inflation? When learning about this subject we also open the doors to learning about the multitude of other problems plaguing our educational system that could use our attention much more than grade inflation does. Through grade inflation we’re able to understand problems often forgotten about and looked over.

This was especially apparent in my English class- we barely ever wrote, and what we did write was graded almost entirely on completion, not quality. However, this outlook would have to change. When I registered at Rancho Bernardo, I made sure to take challenging classes, including Honors English 10, Honors Precalculus/Trigonometry, AP Psychology, and Honors Chemistry. In Precalculus and Chemistry, I started fine, as I immediately realized that I would have to try way harder by doing all of my homework and studying outside of my homework, which I had rarely, if ever, done prior to 10th grade. In Honors English, however, I was not able to get an A just by doing the homework and studying. We wrote 3 at-home essays each semester, and each one was worth 12% of our grade. Due to my lack of essay-writing in my Honors English class last year, I was completely unprepared for these essays, and did poorly on one. Because I was still new to Rancho Bernardo, I was somewhat unsure of how to do better on essays, and I did not think of asking other students for help. I did know that there were other students on the cross country team who had taking this same class in prior years, so I asked

feelings of being overwhelmed with the importance of grades in something that just isn’t working,

Being a very similar student to that of which William Zinsser illustrates in his essay “College Pressures” it is fairly easy for me to identify with the pupil that falls into the pressure cycle he construes; and like Zinsser so plainly states, it is the student's’ own mind that places them there. Oftentimes, I tend to view my success as a relative concept. My thought process is this: It is only when I measure up to the achievements of others that am I able to consider myself “accomplished”. Evidently this philosophy is flawed. When elaborating on this very subject Zinsser shares an experience one dean related to him. The administrative executive explained that the student, “Linda” (as he called her), came to him with a complaint concerning

During the course of my middle school and high school education I have always found that teachers, peers, advisors, and even my parents have put labels on me. A.D.H.D., hyper, loud, distracted, daydreamer, and perhaps the worst and most sad… Failure. I used to believe these words and labels used on me and my grades though out high school reflected it. It wasn't until a teacher by the name of Susan Spees showed a little interest and hope in my that I excelled exceptionally in my grades. She believed in me and that was the little push I needed to try harder and actually focus on my work. Susan was a special educations teacher that had worked with many “troubled” kids. Kids that most teachers would call disobedient, loud, hyper, violent, dysfunctional. I

Grade inflation, the idea that students are receiving grades that they have not worked for and therefore don’t deserve them. But what’s so wrong about grade inflation? When learning about this subject we also open the doors to learning about the multitude of other problems plaguing our educational system that could use our attention much more than grade inflation does. Through grade inflation we’re able to understand problems often forgotten about and looked over.

As stated before, I sometimes become lazy/lethargic. Being an achiever is very temporary for me. For instance, throughout the school year, Im an overachiever when it comes to impressing the teacher in the beginning of the school year. I try super hard when it comes down to important assignments that will cost my grade to either plummet or soar. Its either I dont do something or do it way over the expectation. I like to impress people but if its someone or something that isnt important, I wouldnt give it my all. Its never in between. I dont put much effort into anything else like quizzes or short essays. Sometimes I feel as though when I become an overachiever I feel like a show off and people see me as a try hard. After the activities, my opinions did not change. I learned that I should be more outspoken, sympathetic, and that being an achiever is okay and should always be applied despite the importance. It makes my character look good and that I'm able to withstand any circumstance that is set right in front of me. When it comes down to being an overachiever, thats even better and I shouldnt let the thought of being a "show off" get to me. I also learned that keeping to myself isnt always great because sometimes you do need someone to be there for you when you want to vent. I should start opening up to more people without overlooking what might to come even its bad or