What Should We Define Ourselves By?

As finals week approaches, mental health seminars and teacher talk-downs have been a common observation. The need for superiors to constantly fortify the fact that final grades do not count towards us as individuals is heavily emphasized during this time of the year. Although it may be true that the academic metric we hold ourselves under varies greatly from the content of our character, without this constant, we would have no understanding of where we stand.

Some might say that exams such as finals do define us as beings who have the capability to understand and absorb certain subject material. The way we absorb information and balance times out of our schedule to study reveals the care that one takes in maintaining a certain image of themselves for better grades in a class since everyone is taught the same thing.

If such is the case that exams such as finals do not define us, then why are they still being presented to us? If teachers consistently accentuate the progress check of our academic development from two points in time, why do they not just input it as a regular testing grade?

There is no way to dance around the fact that one way or another, every action that we take in our life defines us. The way we approach that action shows an emotional response that we illicit to certain situations. Although there is no set standard for the proper responses that can guarantee us the privilege of identifying a straight “A” student, there is no way to precisely define ourselves.

As situations and actions change around us, our reaction and character morph with new characteristics, ready to utilize known information to form a response we know best as. That is why we study hard, with all of this information in our head, and do well on finals. Having the ability to know what to work on, and how to respond to actions in our lives to solicit the most beneficial outcomes, is the vague set standard that we truly use to define ourselves. This vagueness only occurs because, in actuality, there is no real definition of us as individuals.