Hello! How are you today! I hope this piece finds you well. Please do drop me a msg sometime soon. If you don’t already know, I’m in a new environment right now. An army camp that teaches me driving. New instructors and new friends. Which means I have to start doing introductions once again.

I love introductions. It means meeting new people, and you meet some pretty interesting people sometimes. I love the part where you exchange pieces of information about yourself with others. You get to hear stories, lots of stories. Sometimes, you even find out you have a mutual friend somewhere. Yes, so introductions are my thing.

One thing really bothers me though. That’s when people start asking about my GPA. Do you ever get that sinking feeling whenever people ask you about your grades? If your grades are good, asian culture demands your false modesty. If your grades are bad, you have to laugh it off or try to change the subject without them noticing (good luck with that). Of course there are people who don’t mind giving out their GPA. They’ve already come to terms with themselves – Kudos to them for doing so!

If you’ve been in the education system long enough (you qualify as long as you’ve graduated from primary school), you know that after the exam period comes the post-exam activities. No, I’m not talking about the lame ones that the schools organize. I’m referring to the things you’ve always wanted to do during the exams – going out with your friends, playing mahjong, having sleepovers and the like. The post-exam stuff brings on the relief! Sometimes they’re so good at giving relief that they kick in during the exam period (I used to watch *tonnes* of anime during the study “breaks” because...what! don’t look at me that way…!)

Then comes result day. You go to school because you forgot to sign-up for your school’s new SMS-me-my-results-when-they’re-out feature. Or, alternatively, you try using your Maplestory auto-click program on the browser’s refresh button because the server is being jammed up by everyone. Finally, you’re just seconds away from your results. And this, is that moment; That moment that decides the rest of your holiday mood and a lot more...

Grades are a source of anxiety for me. It’s amazing how I always manage to convince myself that my grades won’t turn out well, in spite of all the studying I’d done and all the answers/papers I was confident of.  Some of you are thinking: “You’ve got to be kidding me. This guy? He gets anxious about his grades?”

Yes, I do get anxious about my grades. Achievers, you know what I’m talking about. With a track record, people place their expectations on you. *You* place your expectations on you - “Crap, what am I gonna say if it turns out bad? It’s a jungle out there! People are just waiting to watch me fall. What will they do? Will they laugh at me? Will they talk behind my back?”

Although I’m only twenty-one this year, after several hundred years of experience, I’ve begun to think that this is truly an unhealthy thought pattern. Come on! Do grades really matter that much? Do they even matter at all?

You tell me. You know, I’ve been up on the mountains quite a lot. Have you heard of the cliché “it’s lonely at the top”? It truly is.

If what I’m about to say next sounds proud or arrogant, believe me, I don’t mean it that way. To start it off, I have a cumulative GPA of 3.93/4. I graduated the top of my course and I have already secured my place in a local university. People who know these things about me have one of two reactions, and it largely depends on how close they are to me.

The typical onlooker would think: “So what if he has good grades? So what if he graduated the top of the course? So what if he got into a local U? That guy doesn’t have the important stuff, like a good, nice-smelling personality or a rock-solid good character. He was just proud and hard to work with…”

Okay maybe those aren’t the exact words? I’m sorry, but I know the other group better. They’re my close friends after all, or some of them are just nice friends who know me better. “Wow, that’s really good. He managed to keep it up there for 3 years. Really proud of him!”

Am I writing this as a rant? No, not really. My purpose in writing this is to grapple with the importance of grades.  In my poly years, I’ve heard some really nasty rumours about me. I’ve heard about how bossy people think I am, how arrogant I am, how proud I am, what a show-off I am…you get the picture.  These didn’t bother me at first. I mean…Why should I care about what other people think about me? I’m just being myself.

I thank God that He stopped me in my tracks. There’s a proverb that goes “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” God must’ve really hated pride a lot, because He decided to put me in my rightful place. He started questioning me. And amazingly, He was using a line of reasoning similar to the one seen 3 paragraphs up.

I started to ask myself what was really important - my personality and my ability to win with people, or my desire to be right every single time; my grades or my inner life? Then I realized that this was somewhat a sucker’s choice. I knew that my desire to be right every single time stemmed from pride, but there had to be a way to remove my pride without sacrificing my grades.

I took a long hard look at myself. I started out in poly wanting to do well. I wanted to prove to myself that I was capable of studying, that I was capable of getting good results, that I was smart. I was prepared to make a few sacrifices on my reputation here and there because I believed I was right (actually, I was right! I was right about what the tutors wanted from the projects).

But I realized something. My reputation wasn’t the only one I was carrying. I was carrying the reputation of a Christian. Was that what a “life transformed by Jesus” looked like? I didn’t think so.  Suddenly, grades were not so important anymore. With this, I formed a new resolve for year 2, to become a better person, read more self-improvement books and succeed in both my academic and social life.

I made progress. I think. At least that’s what people tell me. But you know, a good change is hardly as noticeable as a bad one. If gossip travelled at the speed of light, then praise travelled like a snail on a mini-scooter. I kept going though. I wanted to improve. But noooooo…..

At the end of year 3, I received the same kind of feedback as the ones I heard from year 1. At this point, I was close to being broken. I worked on myself so hard! Personality isn’t something you can change easily - that’s for sure. I realized that I couldn’t do it on my own.  I needed Jesus to change me. And so I prayed.

I’ve always believed that grades were important. I still believe it. Without good grades, I wouldn’t be able to further my studies. I’d be limited in my choices (I hope you recognize this point..). I’d also have a much lower self-esteem and I wouldn’t try new things out because of the lack of confidence. Without good grades, there’s no position of influence. When there’s no position of influence, you cannot positively influence people, make their lives better, give them the confidence to get better.

But what are grades without a great personality, without a great character? What good is a smart person without love? Earlier on, I said that whenever someone asks about grades, false modesty had to come in. I asked Jesus to change me, to balance my intelligence with wisdom and to balance my wisdom with love. Now, I no longer have to be shy about my grades. I’m proud of my hard work and God’s blessing, but I know that grades are not the point.

So what is the point? The point is not to let your grades define your self-worth. Good grades shouldn’t make you proud, because you’ll always be lacking in character (never stop growing alright?). Bad grades shouldn’t depress you, because there’s more to life than a piece of paper telling you how smart you are in a certain subject.

To the achievers (and the over-achievers), is there anything more important than grades? If you believe there is, does your time-management reflect that belief? To the people who think they are under-achievers, what do you want your future to look like? Would you ever like to influence people positively? What would it take for you to get there?

Balance is about finding your core and building everything around it. A building without strong foundations will fall in a storm. A strong foundation without the building is a meaningless one. 

Hello! How are you today! I hope this piece finds you well. Please do drop me a msg sometime soon. If you don’t already know, I’m in a new environment right now. An army camp that teaches me driving. New instructors and new friends. Which means I have to start doing introductions once again.

I love introductions. It means meeting new people, and you meet some pretty interesting people sometimes. I love the part where you exchange pieces of information about yourself with others. You get to hear stories, lots of stories. Sometimes, you even find out you have a mutual friend somewhere. Yes, so introductions are my thing.

One thing really bothers me though. That’s when people start asking about my GPA. Do you ever get that sinking feeling whenever people ask you about your grades? If your grades are good, asian culture demands your false modesty. If your grades are bad, you have to laugh it off or try to change the subject without them noticing (good luck with that). Of course there are people who don’t mind giving out their GPA. They’ve already come to terms with themselves – Kudos to them for doing so!

If you’ve been in the education system long enough (you qualify as long as you’ve graduated from primary school), you know that after the exam period comes the post-exam activities. No, I’m not talking about the lame ones that the schools organize. I’m referring to the things you’ve always wanted to do during the exams – going out with your friends, playing mahjong, having sleepovers and the like. The post-exam stuff brings on the relief! Sometimes they’re so good at giving relief that they kick in during the exam period (I used to watch *tonnes* of anime during the study “breaks” because...what! don’t look at me that way…!)

Then comes result day. You go to school because you forgot to sign-up for your school’s new SMS-me-my-results-when-they’re-out feature. Or, alternatively, you try using your Maplestory auto-click program on the browser’s refresh button because the server is being jammed up by everyone. Finally, you’re just seconds away from your results. And this, is that moment; That moment that decides the rest of your holiday mood and a lot more...

Grades are a source of anxiety for me. It’s amazing how I always manage to convince myself that my grades won’t turn out well, in spite of all the studying I’d done and all the answers/papers I was confident of.  Some of you are thinking: “You’ve got to be kidding me. This guy? He gets anxious about his grades?”

Yes, I do get anxious about my grades. Achievers, you know what I’m talking about. With a track record, people place their expectations on you. *You* place your expectations on you - “Crap, what am I gonna say if it turns out bad? It’s a jungle out there! People are just waiting to watch me fall. What will they do? Will they laugh at me? Will they talk behind my back?”

Although I’m only twenty-one this year, after several hundred years of experience, I’ve begun to think that this is truly an unhealthy thought pattern. Come on! Do grades really matter that much? Do they even matter at all?

You tell me. You know, I’ve been up on the mountains quite a lot. Have you heard of the cliché “it’s lonely at the top”? It truly is.

If what I’m about to say next sounds proud or arrogant, believe me, I don’t mean it that way. To start it off, I have a cumulative GPA of 3.93/4. I graduated the top of my course and I have already secured my place in a local university. People who know these things about me have one of two reactions, and it largely depends on how close they are to me.

The typical onlooker would think: “So what if he has good grades? So what if he graduated the top of the course? So what if he got into a local U? That guy doesn’t have the important stuff, like a good, nice-smelling personality or a rock-solid good character. He was just proud and hard to work with…”

Okay maybe those aren’t the exact words? I’m sorry, but I know the other group better. They’re my close friends after all, or some of them are just nice friends who know me better. “Wow, that’s really good. He managed to keep it up there for 3 years. Really proud of him!”

Am I writing this as a rant? No, not really. My purpose in writing this is to grapple with the importance of grades.  In my poly years, I’ve heard some really nasty rumours about me. I’ve heard about how bossy people think I am, how arrogant I am, how proud I am, what a show-off I am…you get the picture.  These didn’t bother me at first. I mean…Why should I care about what other people think about me? I’m just being myself.

I thank God that He stopped me in my tracks. There’s a proverb that goes “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” God must’ve really hated pride a lot, because He decided to put me in my rightful place. He started questioning me. And amazingly, He was using a line of reasoning similar to the one seen 3 paragraphs up.

I started to ask myself what was really important - my personality and my ability to win with people, or my desire to be right every single time; my grades or my inner life? Then I realized that this was somewhat a sucker’s choice. I knew that my desire to be right every single time stemmed from pride, but there had to be a way to remove my pride without sacrificing my grades.

I took a long hard look at myself. I started out in poly wanting to do well. I wanted to prove to myself that I was capable of studying, that I was capable of getting good results, that I was smart. I was prepared to make a few sacrifices on my reputation here and there because I believed I was right (actually, I was right! I was right about what the tutors wanted from the projects).

But I realized something. My reputation wasn’t the only one I was carrying. I was carrying the reputation of a Christian. Was that what a “life transformed by Jesus” looked like? I didn’t think so.  Suddenly, grades were not so important anymore. With this, I formed a new resolve for year 2, to become a better person, read more self-improvement books and succeed in both my academic and social life.

I made progress. I think. At least that’s what people tell me. But you know, a good change is hardly as noticeable as a bad one. If gossip travelled at the speed of light, then praise travelled like a snail on a mini-scooter. I kept going though. I wanted to improve. But noooooo…..

At the end of year 3, I received the same kind of feedback as the ones I heard from year 1. At this point, I was close to being broken. I worked on myself so hard! Personality isn’t something you can change easily - that’s for sure. I realized that I couldn’t do it on my own.  I needed Jesus to change me. And so I prayed.

I’ve always believed that grades were important. I still believe it. Without good grades, I wouldn’t be able to further my studies. I’d be limited in my choices (I hope you recognize this point..). I’d also have a much lower self-esteem and I wouldn’t try new things out because of the lack of confidence. Without good grades, there’s no position of influence. When there’s no position of influence, you cannot positively influence people, make their lives better, give them the confidence to get better.

But what are grades without a great personality, without a great character? What good is a smart person without love? Earlier on, I said that whenever someone asks about grades, false modesty had to come in. I asked Jesus to change me, to balance my intelligence with wisdom and to balance my wisdom with love. Now, I no longer have to be shy about my grades. I’m proud of my hard work and God’s blessing, but I know that grades are not the point.

So what is the point? The point is not to let your grades define your self-worth. Good grades shouldn’t make you proud, because you’ll always be lacking in character (never stop growing alright?). Bad grades shouldn’t depress you, because there’s more to life than a piece of paper telling you how smart you are in a certain subject.

To the achievers (and the over-achievers), is there anything more important than grades? If you believe there is, does your time-management reflect that belief? To the people who think they are under-achievers, what do you want your future to look like? Would you ever like to influence people positively? What would it take for you to get there?

Balance is about finding your core and building everything around it. A building without strong foundations will fall in a storm. A strong foundation without the building is a meaningless one. 

hey, this is Jerald