By: Grace Varga ‘20

In the classrooms of Regis Jesuit, the alphabet has a different meaning. A’s are B’s, B’s are C’s, and C’s are F’s.

Here at Regis Jesuit, good grades are at the focal point of everyday life. But what is a good grade? Why do we, as students, see a ‘B’ as the end of the world when it is average. Regis Jesuit students struggle with the idea of normality and “average.”

We are never going to be perfect and striving for a perfect report card makes us fall into a rabbit hole. We feel dumb and inferior when we get a grade that is under our standards. Our grades do not define us and the sooner we realize this, the sooner we can live our best lives. We need to realize that good grades mean something different to everyone, and straight A’s are not the only way to demonstrate your strengths.

Intelligent students walk these halls feeling inferior to their friends because they got a B. This is toxic. We are starting to see our value through our grades. And last time I checked, humans are a little more complex than that. A letter grade can never determine the worth of a living, breathing, beautiful human being.

We need to stop the toxic trend of calling B’s terrible grades. We need to start seeing our classes and ourselves as more than just a grade and a GPA. Everything we do is intricate and beautiful. We need to stop allowing ourselves to get caught up in the numbers and we need to start engrossing ourselves in the things we love.

We are more than numbers.

You are not just a number.