My parents keep pressuring me to get "Straight A's" and be perfect?

Question

First of all, I'd like to tell you that i'm 13 and I'm in grade 7. (Middle School) I work really hard and on my report card two thirds of it is A's and one third is B's. Is that okay or what?

Secondly, my parents were like "Straight A" students and now they expect me to be one too. Even all my cousins are "Straight A" students and the oldest one just got a scholarship and she just got 8 years of free medical education at a medical university! Omg.

Thirdly, my parents want me to be have the highest marks in my class. I have some really smart people in my class. There are these three girls that are real smart. Two of them I think are not smarter than me but one of them is really, really, really smart!

In grade 6 they used to give A, B, C, D grades but in Grade 7 they give percentages. In grade 6 and 7 last year. (2007) only 4 girls got the highest grades in the school. (They were all a tie) at 92%.

And my dad expects me to get at least 90% in every subject. I never got percentage grade before. So, is 90% a lot? How much should I aim for? If you had percentage grades in 6th, 7th or 8th grade how much did you get overall?

Anywayz, thanks to everyone who took the time to answer my very important question and have a great day! ~ Zainab (zeevee08) ~

Answer 1

hun your dads just lookingout for your best interests, trust,

in todays world , EDUCATION is everything, and to get into what you want to do in life requires it, unless you wanna be a bum....

so don't be to hard on him, your future is what his thinking about,

and good grades are key, with student loans getting harder and harder to get, and the way the economy have been, it will be hard even with good grades to get into good colleges,  so I challenge you to help him, do your best, not have to be perfect, but really, and I mean really try,because in the long haul your the one who will win, and make both of you proud.... trust you should be happy he cares so much.... me mine didn't give a d**n, and Im stuck in a factory job...bearly making ends meet... good luck and god bless you...and your dad....

Answer 2

Well Im 16 and in 6th grade I think I got a mostly A's and B's. All the way through 10th grade I got A's and B's. My dad pushes me to get all A's too but when I make a few B's he just says you can do better.

Answer 3

You need to talk to your parents and let them know that you plan on doing the best that you can do in school, they love you and want the best out of you! I think it is great that they care so much about you- to get a great job in life you will need everything that you are learning in school, so tell them to pat you on the back in stead of pushing you! It is not healthy to be stressed about grades, if you are doing the best that you can.

Answer 4

Your grades are fine. Tell your parents you don't want as much pressure, because you're already under enough. Try your best, go for an A, but don't worry if you aren't the best, or perfect.

Answer 5

promise you will always do your very best and want their support in that not the pressure of having to be the very best.  Or you can do I what I did but it is not recommended because it hurts more then helps, I purposely failed a non-required class to prove a point to a disapproving mother.

Answer 6

The choices you make ... they make you.

You, as an average female, get to live an 80 year lifespan.

If you choose poorly now, you can have deep regret, hard work, and lost opportunity for a majority of those 80 years.

If you choose to give up some time at the front end (the first 22 years, typically) then you get an amazing 60+ years for the rest of your life.

You can

- make more than 4x more than the average girl your age will

- use that money for a higher quality of life, medical, dental, and on your kids.

- have more opportunity

- have 200% more free time over your life than the average girl your age

- have less stress

- have more influence in your community

- be able to travel

- be able to help causes, like the environment, and charities

Or, you can fail to invest the first 22 well, and live essentially hand to mouth like the median girl your age will.  

Slavery is defined as:

- when you get paid less than what you bring in to the company

- when you can not rest when you want, for as long as you want

Under that definition there are less than 1% of the population who are not slaves.

If you are willing to make yourself a slave to yourself while you are young, you can be truly free when you are older.

If you are unwilling to make yourself a slave when you are young, someone else, or something else, will make you a slave for the rest of your life.

Personally, I think the profit in that 90% is worth much more than the cost.  I think the cost in being under 90% is much higher than it initially looks.

As a woman with good grades you could get a free ride at MIT.  That's $40,000 per semester.  Graduates have starting pay between $120,000 and $200,000 per year for 40 hour work weeks, and one month of paid vacation per year.  That doesn't account for benefits, stock options, sabbaticalss and other opportunities.  That is the least amount you will make for the rest of your life.

As a woman with no direction, and no demonstration of hard work, discipline, and brilliance, you could manage a starbucks and maybe make $40,000 a year for working 80 hour work weeks every week.  That is the most amount you will make for the rest of your life.

Money is worth what it buys... it can not buy love, but it can buy the parts of life.  For spending time now you can make 10x the life... or more... that 25 year old's who have lost the single chance they had and will never be able to have another.   You get one measure of your opportunity - how well you did in jr high and high school.  You cant redo that and expect to get into Johns Hopkins.  There are no second chances.  Do the math and divide ($200k/40hr/wk) by ($40k/80hr/wk) and you will get a factor of 10.

There are really good reasons to invest your next ten years well and hard.  You get to multiply the quality of the rest of your life by ten... but only if you invest all of the next 10 years as hard and deeply as you can.  

Do that math.