Although I do agree with the fact that your marks don’t matter to a large extent, the way it’s being propagated on social media is downright stupid.

You obviously don’t need good grades if you’re talented. But here’s the thing – honestly, most of us aren’t extraordinarily talented. Post CBSE results, parents/teachers/friends/stand-up comedians might have told you good things about yourself but that’s majorly because most of them don’t want to dishearten you.

You think your marks don’t matter? Tell that to a kid who won’t be able to get into their dream college. Yes, there are flaws in the education system, but that doesn’t change the fact that being complacent is always unacceptable. Give your best in exams because they do fucking matter.

I know that most of us like to believe that we’re special snowflakes. You might believe that you’ll do really well in psychology but to get into a decent college to study psychology, you’ll need to get good grades. It might not be fair but that’s the harsh reality.

Why are we shielding youngsters from the brutal fact that while their marks don’t define them, they do open a lot of important doors? We can’t shield them from how the world works.

Often, marks are not an indication of talent or intelligence, but rather dedication, sincerity and hard work.

This is especially true for Board Exams and to a huge extent, some public sector competitive exams. And believe me, in the end these traits do matter a lot in life. 

In an ideal world, where we’d like to live, your marks won’t matter. But in the real world that isn’t about unicorns and rainbows, they do matter.

The problem here is with the phrase – ‘marks don’t matter’. When you say that as an excuse for your laziness, you are wrong. When you say this, you are basically ridiculing the tremendous amount of effort put in by countless students all across the country to score good marks. You should rather tell kids to not let marks define them.

Your marks do matter but don’t let them define your future. Don’t stress yourself over a piece of paper with a bunch of numbers on them. But for some, who’ve worked their asses off to bag these numbers, it’s a fruit of their labour that you shouldn’t snatch away with patronizing social media updates.

Saying that marks don’t matter is a lie. Believing that marks are everything and will decide your career, your growth, your life is a lie too. The truth lies somewhere in between.

Talent won’t get you anywhere if you don’t have access to a platform to showcase your skills. Top colleges in India provide you that platform. Getting good grades matter in that context. Not everyone is talented (lucky?), so you need to actually work hard and not listen to some random person about what he or she feels about your grades.

I know that a lot of successful people didn’t go to top colleges but most students who went there went on to become successful in their lives.

I’m not telling you that getting good/bad grades will define you but please stop using the term ‘marks don’t matter’. Stop making a small deal out of the effort put in by others who fared better at exams. 

Instead of saying “marks don’t matter“, say “low grades is not the end of the world.”

Low grades may not be the end of the world, but it sure makes the world a hell lot more difficult. There are not many ‘smart’ people who could navigate through this difficult world. So, it may be fair to say – if you have low grades you are required to be super-duper smart, extremely hard working, nimble and self learning, risk-taker, and hard-shelled to be successful. But wait, with these qualities getting good grades should be a cake-walk, right? 

There’s good news and bad news. The bad news is that you didn’t score up to your expectations but the good news is that there are more important battles ahead. Someone who hasn’t failed in some tiny battles early on in their life, will never know how to win the war later.

[The viewpoints expressed in this article are those of the writer, and not ScoopWhoop.]