Do Not let Bad Grades Fool You Into Believing Your a Failure

Ahmed Al Jalahma
Aug 28, 2017 · 4 min read

Just because the letter F stands for failure, that does not mean you are one. Just because a percentage said you failed, does not mean you’re dumb. It’s no longer the era where “To be successful you need a degree!” Sadly, there are young teenagers who are following their passions nowadays who are making more money than people who have a PhD. Millions of kids, millions of brains, millions of talents yet their all taught the same way and the same subjects? This world has people with different ideas, capabilities, and talents, yet society still makes you believe that in order to be successful you need to pass the failing school system?

We live in one of the most exciting advanced technological eras. We live in an era where you could make money from ANYTHING. You can build your own show, platform, and brand within a short period of time while back in the 90s, it would take years. Your passions can be shown to the world within a few clicks. You no longer need a degree to be something. You can be something with that mobile device that you have. Arguably, having a million followers on a social media platform can be as valuable as a high school degree. What society and school have done is that it made you believe that to have a future, you need to understand how many wives King Henry had. They told you that you need to understand the importance of the mitochondria. We are learning information for the sake of learning information. It’s no longer the case. If you want to be a graphic designer than be a freelancer on Fivver. If you want to be a photographer, then post your pictures on Instagram. If you want to be a musician, then post your music on Soundcloud or Spotify. The opportunities are endless, and no longer grades of school are essential in achieving your dreams.

I’m a student and I do not think school is awful or horrible. I don’t think we won’t gain anything from school. We learn vital socializing skills that sadly we are losing from tech. School gives us education. However let’s face it, it is extremely outdated. It is not keeping up with the brilliant creativity and innovation of the kids today. Why is education considered getting a 4.0 GPA? Why isn’t sports considered education? Why isn’t being a filmmaker considered educational? Why isn’t school pushing students to be what we want to be rather how they want us to be? We are learning to memorize dates, events and extremely non-beneficial terms that we will forget about after the test. School is teaching us WHAT to think rather than HOW to think. School is no longer the path to achieve success. Even though we were told our whole lives that video games were irrelevant and will not take you anywhere, e-sports gamers are making millions of dollars. Ricegum, a comedic 20 year old Youtuber who has posted videos showing his creative and comedic skits have earned him 7 million subscribers. 700,000 dollars. They took different routes to what society has said, and they are making as much or even more than doctors or surgeons.

Now don’t get me wrong. School is absolutely vital if you want to become a doctor, engineer, lawyer or any of the jobs that school requires. Some are interested in the options that school does provide, however, there are other creative and artistic people who are not. School should show the importance of subjects such as art, music, design, and PE. Why is Mathematics, Physics, Biology, English, and History major subjects and others are not? The school system has many errors that must be fixed in order for our kids to flourish in a generation where jobs and lifestyle will be completely different. When multi-million company VaynerMedia appoint new employees, they do not care if the employee does not have a bachelor degree. They look for talent and skills. We need to ask ourselves, will we dwell in the past and be mediocre or innovate and be a world beater?

If you don’t know what you wanna be when you grow up, well don’t panic. The opportunities are absolutely endless. You just need to identify your passion and work for it. Get it out there. Don’t panic in believing that academics will completely destroy your future. Jesus, Prophet Mohamed (peace be upon him), Socrates, Malcolm X, Mother Teresa, Spielberg, Shakespeare, and Mohamed Ali have never graduated from a higher learning institution. The people who followed their passions are making more than the students who studied for the sake of making their parents happy. The people who chased their dreams are happier than the people who studied for the sake of society. In this technological era, if you have the talent, work ethic, and self-belief nothing is out of reach. You might have to work at that 9–5 job to stay alive, however, you still have the remaining time to work on yourself and your craft. You can be whatever you want to be and honor the nation. Most importantly, just understand how to redefine the word “education”.

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Ahmed Al Jalahma

A young student with a huge vision. Writer that focuses on Self-Development, Lifestyle and Youth.

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