Last year, like all members of the Andover freshman class, I embarked on a year-long course of History 100. After the first few weeks of fall term had passed, I became frustrated when assignment after assignment came back with lower grades than I had expected. No matter how much I invested in these tests and papers, the results always were the same: “close, but no cigar”. Upon discussing these results over dinner with my friends, they told me that History 100 was one of the courses in which they would easily be able to achieve an honors grade. At first, I was confused as to how they were able to achieve such a feat while I was barely able to keep myself from drowning in Sumerian history. Upon closer inspection, I realized that it wasn’t the differences in the syllabus or the course itself that was making the levels of difficulty so varied; it was the differences between our teachers. While my friend’s teacher spent a day planning a scavenger hunt for their class, I was discussing a 35-page reading assignment with mine. While my friend’s teacher took off one point for missing a “fill in the blank” question, my teacher bumped my test grade down from a “6” to a “4” for not using the exact adjective that he wanted in my definition. As we talked and compared our classes, the list of differences grew on and on. Another list emerged when we compared our teachers in other subjects like English 100, in which my friend had an essay due every other week, whereas I hadn’t even finished reading a book all term. Admittedly, teachers who are hard graders most often tend to be extremely knowledgeable and possess a unique passion for their subject. However, the high school transcript does not convey the fact that your teacher doesn’t give sixes at all, or the fact that you achieved that you achieved a five without so much as opening your textbook. All anyone will see are the small black numbers on the sheet of paper that accompany the course title, supposedly representing your knowledge of the subject material, because in theory, every grade means the same thing. After thinking about this slight injustice for awhile, I began to think to myself, does this really matter? If my teacher helps me learn more by being a harsher grader, is that such a bad thing after all? If a teacher enlightens my perspective on a particular subject and introduces me to new ideas that I would have never been introduced to otherwise, I don’t think that is worth less than a good grade. Grades are just a bi-product of your course. The perspective and information you gain is worth so much more than a small number on a piece of paper. By having a teacher who critiques work more critically, you begin to put more effort into the course itself, and will be more prepared for the courses ahead. Numbers won’t define you, but the knowledge that you gain at Phillips Academy can lead you to a new passion, or help you rediscover an old one. As Andover students, we need to remember the real reason that we came to Andover. I hope we did not come here to use Phillips Academy as a task to cross off our checklist on our way to college. These four years at Andover hold so much potential to shape our lives. We need to rightly prioritize so that we are not blind-sighting ourselves from the opportunity to expand our horizons. Take the time to absorb as much as you can and take advantage of these teachers who may not praise your papers or celebrate your tests. It is important to see them as not just a means to a goal; they are a priceless resource, and it would be futile to squander what they have to offer. Christiana Nguyen is two-year Lower from Vancouver, WA.
