Dear Editor:
There is a difference between intelligence and learning. I started college by just being intelligent. I was there for the grades, not to learn. I would do anything to get an 'A' -- memorize, stay up late looking for minute details in a book, or write a paper in the style I knew the teacher would give me an 'A' for. But I don't know how much of the material I remembered, or if I felt it applied.
But over the last two years, and especially recently, I have started to learn. I've started not to care so much about the grade I receive as I am about what I'm learning. Grades are so relative, depending on the professor, the course and the time of day. I wish grades did not count so much, and I do not think they should. People should not be classified by how much they can memorize, what their GPA is or how successful a business school they will get in to. There are many people who will never have the grades to get into BYU who will lead just as meaningful and happy lives.
I'm grateful to the teachers who have cared about me and what I was learning, who despite the 'publish or perish' and 'your students can't get all A's' pressures, have worked to help me succeed. For those professors who don't just stand and lecture, and whose tests don't just test memorization skills and who have taught by the spirit.
There is more to the world than grades, intelligence and how much money we can make. Take time to learn, not just to memorize. And may our professors take time to make the classroom a place of learning, instead of a place of memorization and weeding out. Think how much better the world will be with BYU graduates who learned so much more than just how to get the 'A.'
Jennifer Stinnett
Bakersfield, Calif.