Why Middle School and Points Matter Essay Example

The Prompt: Does the introductory essay connect with your own experience of middle school? How do/did you feel about middle school? Did you squeeze every drop from it? Or were you the kind who didn’t give your all because you sensed it didn’t count? Write a personal response to the introductory essay, and be sure to use at least give list words from this chapter.

Michelle Obama once said “You have to stay in school. You have to. You have to go to college. You have to get your degree. Because that's the one thing people can't take away from you is your education. And it is worth the investment.” That quote resonates with me personally, but the question people must ask themselves is this. When does school actually start to matter? When do my class grades determine the colleges I can get into? 

School has always mattered. From acquiring addition and subtraction skills in kindergarten to learning how photosynthesis occurs in fifth grade. However, in middle school, your grades are taken into account. Those grades are the ones that can set a solid foundation for the rest of your academic career. While that may be difficult to comprehend, take this into consideration; middle school grades are formed from your middle school habits. If in middle school, you studied in an effective way, that study technique will carry over to high school.  Some kids will feel like grades will not affect them until high school, or grades do not matter at all.  Those kids could be content with a low grade, due to the fact they weren’t taught that these actions are important later down the road.

For me, however, a certain saying that was instilled in my head over and over causes me to believe that everything I do in school matters, from passing to failing, That saying being “Points matter.” Points could be the difference between scoring a full-ride scholarship to your dream school, or not getting a scholarship at all. Points could make all the difference in your final grade is an A or a B. Points could be the difference in scoring in a high caliber on the S.A.Ts or college admission tests.  The introductory essay at the beginning of my assignment didn’t connect with my ongoing experiences nor my past ones. It simply stated a fact I already knew. Grades, points, and your determination matters and it always has from sixth grade and up.