<p>The first semester of senior year was rough. Really rough. My grades are currently sub par and I am kicking myself for not trying as hard as I should have. This has led me to ponder a question: was I smart in high school or did I just work hard? I really have put forth the same effort towards school as previous years, so I am wondering if I just got dumber...? I know this is confusing, but I've been feeling very depressed lately, and I wanted to go to CC to see if others have/had felt this way before.</p>
<p>I assume the material got more difficult?
Being smart and working hard aren’t mutually exclusive anyway.</p>
<p>Honestly, it doesn’t matter whether you were/are smart or not. There’s no way to properly evaluate true intelligence; your grade on a math quiz or English exam doesn’t even come close to doing justice </p>
<p>I think people are too concerned with labels. At the end of the day, all that matters is the outcome. A lazy, ill-mannered genius will never get as far as a kind, passionate, hard working simpleton. There are so many factors that come into play when determining if someone is going to be successful in life. So many kids are naive enough to fall into the ego-trip that High School offers. They don’t realize that a letter grade on an exam won’t magically catapult them to riches and success. Only grit and determination will. These are qualities that are independent of the dank, imprisoning walls of a classroom </p>
<p>“the world does not pay for what a man knows, but for what a man does with what he knows” - Hellen Keller</p>