It’s Not About You

Truly. It’s not about you. Your product earns the grade, not you.

This fifth installment of The Dreaded Grade series makes this significant distinction for two reasons.

First, it might allow you to notice that the grade that your work is designated is also ideally not about me, the professor. Eschewing the old cliché that “It’s not you, it’s me,”when it comes to grading, ideally, it’s not about either of us. It ought not be personal, even if the task may be unavoidably subjective, within some academic disciplines. While I must undertake the task of grading, ultimately the locus of your grade is not in something that I do, rather it resides in the merit or quality of your work product. In other words, I don’t “give” the grade, and I don’t “dock” you points. Your product earns the grade. That subtle acknowledgment grants your work power and a certain agency.

Secondly, I am not grading you. Please hear that. A lower grade is not a personal attack or judgment. When you, as students, put so much effort into what you are doing, it can be easy to mistakenly associate those efforts with your person, or your being. While I must admit that there are research studies that suggest that teachers may be more likely to grade your work higher if they think well of you (which is why, pragmatically, it behooves you to behave cordially at all times), professors with integrity are mindful of those tendencies and striving intentionally to grade your academic work alone. A product. Not you personally.

Every single person has before them in life the opportunity, and the challenge, to learn to differentiate themselves, and their identity, from their work, or their given roles. Take up that insight now; absorb it well. Give yourself the gift of consciously separating your sense self-worth from your grades. Even make that a mantra:

“My value does not reside in my GPA.”

For the perfectionists among us, reciting and believing that phrase may be particularly difficult. Dear Reader, whatever your experience heretofore within academia, I hope you will find that affirmation liberating. Sometimes grades may not be what you hoped, or may not reflect what you expect yourself capable of earning in college. That happens… especially when the world feels upside down, as it may right now. Whatever the context, remember that grades are simply a systematic assessment tool, imperfect by nature, and they never reflect who you are. You are so much more.