What comes first? The grade or material?

<p>Okay so this has been bugging me for a while now. Most of the people who make straight A's know just about nothing about the material. As in if you ask them about something we learned two weeks ago they can't explain it. They just do the homework and remember what they need to for the test. My grades aren't the best but I know a lot more than those whose do have good grades (yeah awkward worded sentence sorry). </p>

<p>Example I have a latin class it is an easy A all you have to do is write random stuff on the worksheets and ask one question a week and you get a A. However, I really want to learn latin so I actually try on the worksheets so I don't finish them on time or parts of them I skipped because I didn't know what it was asking for. While my friends just BS the worksheets and ask really obvious questions to make it seem like she cares. </p>

<p>So what do you guys care about getting the grade or learning the material?</p>

<p>If I actually want to learn the material the A comes packaged with it. If it’s basically any topic that’s not Japanese or English I only care about the A.</p>

<p>id rather learn the material.</p>

<p>Considering that most high school courses are complete trash when it comes to the quality of the material taught, the grade is most important to me with a few exceptions</p>

<p>Grade is most important except for in calculus. I expect to take more calculus classes in high school and college so I’d like to have a good foundation in AP Calc AB. In spanish I only remember enough to pass the quizzes/tests, I’m pretty bad at spanish other than those few words :p.</p>

<p>Honestly, I go for grades, but only because that’s what society cares about these days.</p>

<p>The bitter part of me that got screwed over says grades are more important, but learning should be more important.</p>

<p>Et tu CC…smh.</p>

<p>Just wow. I thought at least you guys would be on my side for this.</p>

<p>Well don’t purposely muck up your shot for colleges. GPA matters, unfortunately. You sound smart enough to do both though.</p>

<p>If you’re really concerned about both (and I am), go talk to your Latin teacher about it before the worksheet is due. Ask her those questions and explain the kind of experience you wish you were getting out of your Latin class.</p>

<p>I only want to learn the material in a few classes (APUSH, AP chem, college bio), while I could care less in other classes (especially American literature, I hate hate hate poetry).</p>

<p>@purpleacorn the problem is that he gets in late just about every morning, and after school when I don’t have something to do he does, when he doesn’t I do.</p>

<p>Definitely the material. The grade just comes as a substantial bonus.</p>

<p>Can you talk to him during lunch/right before/after class? Typically, I’ve found most teachers to be accomadating when kids show they have the initiative/drive.</p>

<p>I do agree that material is more important, but when I’ve got two hours to study and do homework a night (with EC’s and stuff), I’m just going for getting a good grade because that’s all that will matter going into college.</p>

<p>In a perfect world, the material. In our world, the grade.</p>

<p>The only classes that i dont really care for much is english and pre-calc since the material doesnt really interest me. But for french, s.s.s, science i honestly try to understand the info cuz i find that stuff useful in life and i wanna major in science so im automatically love ap bio and i love ap stat and ap art history since i chose those classes and i find them useful in general. so to answer your question, majority of the time it is the material but it really does on what the material is.</p>

<p>The responses in this thread exactly indicate why the American educational system is a failure.</p>

<p>I couldn’t care less for a grade. The material is ultimately what’s going to help me.</p>

<p>I only care about learning the material in math and science. Anything else is a joke. By the time I’m a senior, I don’t care about Shakespeare’s motivation for writing The Tempest.</p>