Every day before school, starting in kindergarten, my parents would tell me, “90 or above,” a daily reminder that I needed to make an A. I once joked with them that most parents tell their kids, “Have a great day at school,” or “I love you” before drop-off.

So now, they say, “90 or above, and I love you.”

They’ve become more understanding that A’s in college aren’t as easy to achieve. While I’m grateful they pushed me to do well, their expectations also created a deep need in me for academic validation.

Like most students, I feel disappointed in myself when I don’t do well in a class. I regret not starting earlier, not putting in more effort and not going the extra mile for a better grade. That regret can weigh heavily, and for many students, it can lead to serious mental health struggles. We’re not just competing with ourselves. We’re competing with expectations from parents, professors, future employers and even peers.

In 2022, Inside Higher Ed published an article about seven Worcester Polytechnic Institute students who died, including three by suicide. The tragedy prompted the school to launch a task force on student mental health.

The article noted that “the stress children, teenagers and college-age students feel about grades, along with the pressure they experience from parents and teachers, are directly linked to the widely reported mental health crisis in these age groups.”

The pressure to make straight A’s has become normalized. Good grades lead to a higher GPA, which leads to scholarships and college acceptance. But once you’re in college, especially if you don’t plan to attend graduate school, GPA doesn’t matter nearly as much as people think. Employers want problem solvers, critical thinkers, and communicators — not just good test-takers. Of course, it’s still important to put in effort, but making an A isn’t everything.

An obsession with grades doesn’t always mean someone is learning. More often, it means students are cramming, memorizing or even cutting corners to hit a number, instead of building skills and knowledge that last long after a test. The culture of grades over learning can even encourage students to cheat.

Harvard Business Impact published an article titled Why Focusing on Grades Is a Barrier to Learning by Gerald E. Knesek, a professor for more than 40 years.

“What’s apparent in all this focus on grades is that there’s no real emphasis on learning – the true purpose of education,” Knesek said. “It is a rare occurrence that students come to talk with me about concepts or new material presented, and even in learning-focused discussions, the topic of grades almost always arises.” 

His words reflect what a liberal arts education at ACU is meant to be. Liberal arts colleges, including ACU, emphasize that education is more than grades or job skills. It’s about thinking deeply, appreciating knowledge and connecting what you learn in class to life beyond it. Grades measure performance, but they don’t measure growth.

Our focus, especially as college students, should be on learning the material we need to succeed in our fields, not just maintaining a perfect GPA. Maybe someday we’ll move toward an education system that values growth over grades. Until then, it’s up to us to remember that letters on a transcript don’t define us.

Once, I scored a 20 on a math test in second grade because, for a second, I thought we had 10 toes on each foot.

But that grade doesn’t define me. What defines us is how we learn and how we carry that knowledge into the world beyond the classroom.