Grades

Yesterday, I received my first official grade here at SUNY Oswego, and I have to say that it was one that I was very surprised to have received. I consider myself to be a good writer, or at least, I know that, for the most part, writing is something that I enjoy doing. I don’t enjoy receiving writing assignments from professors, but it’s not because I don’t want to do the writing itself; it’s because I know that it’s going to take time away from my day, a lot of it if there is a lot of it to do.

Anyway, my point is that I am not used to receiving low grades on papers. Tests, yes. I am not and never have been very good at test-taking, even if I try to study. However, when it comes to papers, I think I may have received one C last year, but that’s it.

I received a D on my first Sociology paper. My first D, mind you. I thought I did everything I was supposed to do. I thought I followed the directions. I ultimately thought that I had completed the assignment in a satisfactory manner, but the professor had loaded the paper up with comments.

What this shows me is that I am not in high school anymore, and I have work to do. I guess that Sociology isn’t looking for the type of paper I’d write for English, and I’m going to pay close attention to the mistakes that I made and improve on them for my next paper, for which I am going to shoot for at least a B.

So, if you’re reading this, don’t make the same mistake that I did and think that the effort that you put into your work in high school is going to be the same amount of effort that you put into your work here in college, because it’s not. High school teachers warned me of this. I remember one in particular, an English teacher who has had a major influence on me, who said that he recalls receiving a D on a paper early in his college career, and he recalls the feeling of complete astonishment that he felt seeing it, so I guess maybe I should have kept that in mind when I eagerly awaited to see my grade in class, eagerly expecting a B, but was shocked to see a D instead, and now that I have undergone that hopefully one-time experience, at least in Sociology, I know that I have something I need to work on.