Grades taught me to hack, not to learn

This gave me some thought. School never truly taught me how to learn, it taught me how to get a decent grade, and somewhere along the way those two things didn't mean the same thing anymore. I did all my hardest studying shortly before tests, not because I was learning the most then, but because that was when the grade was on the line.

The actual issue is that tests are hackable. Once you get the pattern, the shortcuts, what the teacher wants to hear, you stop really learning and you start gaming it. And when you get excellent at that game you start applying it everyplace, jobs, opportunities, even relationships, always searching for the trick instead of just doing the work.

But here’s what I’ve found, the real world doesn’t work like it does in school. No curves out here, nobody evaluating you. If you build something good or you don't. You either show up or you don’t show up. There’s no cheat for that.

I suppose many of us are still unlearning this. We’ve been educated for years to pursue the grade, not the growth, and it’s hard to shake that off even when we know better. But when you stop trying to game the system and just focus on doing the real task, it gets easier.

I'd rather be a quiet doer of good work than someone who only looks nice on paper. That’s the kind of success I’m really looking for.

Image created with ChatGPT.