In high school, with most of the friends that I had, saying that we failed for most of us meant that we didn’t get an A. We were ridiculously competitive like that. In a “Oh, she got 92% on that test, but I got 92… point 5!” kind of a way. It was a nice competitive environment. We were all taking mostly the same classes with pretty much the same teachers and usually had our tests for the same units on practically the same days. Being competitive was a, to be fair, a good thing. We pushed ourselves to do better, and we either pushed others to do the same or we pushed ourselves in order to be better than someone else.

But failing’s a lot different in university. Suddenly, I’m in an larger environment with a lot more people who were all equally good at the classes that they took in high school. We all used to be the type of people who were competitive, those who wanted to have everything and some people coasted through high school. I almost wish I was one of those people, but now I see how different things are.

Case in point, I have this friend who did (from what I’ve heard) great in high school. She had a 90% GPA when she applied to university and got in, early admission (which is kind of a joke in Canada, but that’s another story). So I’m assuming that at one point, she knew how to study and attend class. In university? Not so much. She just called me asking me what unit was on the chemistry midterm tomorrow. We’ve had 13 lectures so far and she’s attended five of them. And thinks that I want to help her study for the midterm (which is tomorrow mind you, I’ve been studying for the last two weeks for it) and that I want to explain some of the concepts to her.

I gave her all of 2 minutes and 17 seconds of my time (and cell minutes) for her to go on about how she’s totally going to fail and how she thinks she’s failed her midterm that she had today and the one that she had on Monday. I asked her when did she start studying for them. The one she had on Monday? Started Saturday night. The one for today? Started this morning. The one for tomorrow? Started today. And she’s practically in tears because she ‘knows’ that she’s going to fail tomorrow. She knows this. And I go “Well, how many lectures did you skip?” She gets all annoyed with me because she didn’t “skip” the lectures, she was “sick”. I got tired of this conversation at this time and went “Then how come I saw you in biology, which is right after?” Goodness people, if you’re going to lie, at least make sure that you’re not in any other classes with me!

I’m fresh out of sympathy for the stupid.

9 Responses

  1. I’m the same way in schools. If I can’t be perfect and have an A, I feel like there’s no point in the class. I’m way competitive with my grades and used to be even worse in high school.

    Uhg. People like that… make me frustrated. It’s one thing to skip lectures and study a lot on your own time and get good marks, but to just slack off completely and expect to do okay, that’s just dumb and lazy.

    You were nice to give her two minutes of her time, at least!

  2. I don’t think I’m competitive at all. Used to be I’d aim for at least a C, but now I’ve upped it to at least a B. It irks my parents, but hey, a B is still good pickins’.

    Slackers deserve to fail. That’s what I tell myself, haha.

  3. Huh! Funny girl, that. She’s probably feeling rather ashamed of herself – I’m guessing she knew she was great in high school. I don’t know whether to feel sorry or just.. disgusted?

    But hey, I never really did good in high school, and I wasn’t competitive at all (academically, anyway.. I hated that bitch who waved at everyone as if she was friends with them.. bull). I had pretty bad marks so it made sense to say I was failing and I would fail.

    Even going to a gifted/talented school where we were disciplined and had our work marked so strictly – I still didn’t do very well.

    But back on track, being lying doesn’t deserve sympathy, but being stupid.. depends.

  4. Hmm. I knew girls like this when I attended High School. I stopped riding the bus and caught rides with my brother instead when my friend kept asking for my math homework so she could cheat off of me. :/ Some people are just lazy and don’t deserve the privilege of the education that is trying to be provided to them.

  5. Ugh.. that is her own fault, and her own problem. I wouldn’t have any sympathy for her either. In HS i can see people doing that because hey they are kids and blah blah blah but hello its College…. people like that I wouldnt help only because they did it to themselves.

  6. Wow that’s ridiculous. However, it’s her own fault and she’s brought it on herself. I saw it all through college – bright people who are very good in school who just can’t manage their time when there isn’t a giant list of rules and consequences at every corner like high school.

  7. I see people exactly like this all the time at my university. It drives me crazy. I think it’s because freedom gets to people’s heads. They’re not accountable anymore, because they don’t have to bring home their grades to their parents (who might punish them, or at least be very disappointed). So, now they don’t have that incentive to do it, so they don’t.

    Me, I’m obsessive about doing well. I freak out if I get a B. Unless of course it’s in math. Then I’m ecstatic. xD

  8. Blah. Some people.. right? I mean.. I did decent in high school. In college, I will admit that I didn’t study like I should have.. BUT I also didn’t go calling random class mates bitching about how I was going to fail. Atleast you didn’t baby her 🙂

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