We have all gotten a bad grade before. Maybe on homework assignments that seemed incomprehensible or on a test that had questions over material that we swear was not even taught. Then, someone always asks us how we did on the assignment. Obviously we do not want to share that grade, but lying is not the solution either. So what do we do? We attempt to transfer the fault of the bad grade from ourselves to someone else, as in we make excuses. Particularly in high school, where we place a lot of importance on social standings; it is just easier for us to try and pass the blame for our failings onto someone else. Oftentimes that person we pile our blame on is a teacher.

We have all said things such as “I would have understood the homework if only [insert teacher name here] was not such a horrible teacher.” or “I only got a bad grade in the class because [insert teacher name here] cannot explain the lessons at all.”

I do realize that sometimes the fault we place on teachers is deserved; teachers are human and make mistakes. Maybe they didn’t have enough time to finish the lesson or explained something incorrectly. But even then it is up to us students to remedy our understanding. We can always try to go in to see the teacher before school, after school or during seminar to get help. It is that simple.

This also applies to the time where we may just not understand a particular topic. Go in for help, talk to a tutor, or even ask your friends for help. Just try something. We cannot blame the teacher when we have the opportunities to get help and choose to do nothing instead.

What I am trying to say is to take responsibility for your own actions. When you make a mistake, such as getting a bad grade, own up to it. Making excuses does not solve anything, and it is just going to create problems. Instead, we should just accept our blunders and think of ways to avoid them in the future. If we do that we will find that we aren’t so inclined to make the same mistakes over and over.