One of the many perks of college is studying and learning about what interests you. If you’re drawn to math, you can become a math major. If you are a serious musician, you study at a music school, and so on.
But it makes me wonder if being forced to study the material for a grade diminishes that intrinsic interest – sort of like an overjustification effect, where your “incentive” is good grades. Granted, some people might not care about grades and just appreciates studying the subject. Nevertheless, grades can be a motivator, a variable that affects your enjoyment in studying whatever you have chosen.
For those who majored or are studying a subject because it interested them, did you feel satisfied learning what you wanted? Or did the pressure of getting good grades diminish that satisfaction, whether for grad school, job prospects, or simply having proof of mastering what you learned in the form of a grade?
FYI, I noticed that CC has a habit of turning a friendly question back to the OP and doesn’t answer the question but tries to help the OP instead. This question is solely out of curiosity.
In my experience, and from talking to professors/grad students that I knew well, I think grades become less important when you’re studying something you love. Do I like to have an A in French to reflect that I’ve studied and practiced it intensely for 4 (going on 5) years now? Yes. But if I get a B, is it the end of the world? Absolutely not. I think that grades, in a subject you love, should reflect that you understand the subject, but that depends on a lot of factors between you and the subject you chose.
I definitely agree with @SusieAnne. For me I’ve been lucky because I think my high school prepared me for the intensity of college courses, but every once in a while I get a B. Certainly it’s disappointing but knowing that I’m learning something I’m going to actually be using in the future is rewarding, and I know I have the chance to continue to improve those skills.
Studying something you love tends to lend itself to good grades; you’re far more likely to find yourself engrossed by the material which would mean studying for assessments is a lot easier/less chore-like.
When you’re studying something that you love, you are far more likely to do well in it. I’m a physics/math major, and I’m required to take 4 semesters of a foreign language as part of a campus wide requirement. I’m in my last semester of Spanish, and although I can certainly see the value of learning a foreign language, I find it hard to get myself motivated to study it a lot of the time. I look at studying as more of a task that has to be completed, as opposed to something that I want to do. I may not ALWAYS want to study physics or math, but speaking generally, I do love studying those subjects. I enjoy them, which in general makes it much easier to study them. One of the only Bs I’ve ever gotten in college was in Spanish last semester…and that B was due to not putting enough time into the class.