Grades are overrated, or at least culturally overemphasized and often misused as a measure of goodness and worth.
Exodus Chapter 20 tells us the First Commandment was given as such, “Then God spoke all these words: I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall not have other gods beside me. You shall not make for yourself an idol or a likeness of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth; you shall not bow down before them or serve them. For I, the LORD, your God, am a jealous God, inflicting punishment for their ancestors’ wickedness on the children of those who hate me, down to the third and fourth generation but showing love down to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.”
This is the modern day parental equivalent of our Heavenly Father saying, “I brought you into this world and I can take you out.” You shall have no other gods beside me, “because I said so.” Likely, we have all invoked the ‘I said so’ cliché for one reason, we really mean it.
GPA is an objective measure of achievement usually correlated to effort. Effort and achievement are important but not as important as character, goodness or holiness.
Teaching students how to work to succeed is important. Working hard is a skill that can be applied in our efforts to do God’s work of leading and changing the world. A change that may last a thousand generations.
To be truly successful JSerra must provide a good education but more importantly, we must provide an education on how to be good. I am fairly certain that in a thousand generations people will not be contemplating the impact of GPA on college acceptance rates and median incomes.
However, they will be contemplating God, good and evil. Grades may be overrated but certainly Goodness and God are underrated. Take this time at JSerra to learn about what really matters in life and after life.
