Old college transcript embarrasses me again

I applied for a job this week that required that I include my college transcript with my application. Digging through my job applications file folder, I pulled out my last copy of my transcript, wondering what possible value a potential employer could find in the grades I made 40 years ago. I paused long enough to scan through the list of courses and grades and once again felt embarrassed that I had been so slack in my youth.

I could understand the C's I got (and was pretty grateful for) in the required math courses. My high school math preparation had been poor, and the university was going through a transition in math requirements, which stuck me in calculus my first semester on campus. I recalled a couple of other courses that were arduous, and I earned C's in them. But I also saw C's in courses that should not have been difficult. Even some writing courses, which should have been my strength, ended in C's. I did get A's and B's in other writing courses, but the C's in two writing courses are inexplicable to me. I recall little about those courses, what articles or stories I handed in or why I had failed to reach my potential. It's particularly embarrassing.

Last week I read an intriguing article about how the UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communications was changing its curriculum in the midst of head-spinning changes in newspapers and other media. One paragraph in the story noted that the school required students to maintain a 2.9 grade-point average.

It's a good thing such a standard was not in place when I was an undergraduate. I and most of my fellow journalism students would have been banished from the building. The average undergraduate GPA, if I remember correctly, was well below 2.5 at the time. I remember being told that the state's highly rated law schools required a minimum 2.5 GPA. Now, I suspect 3.5 is closer to that threshold. I graduated thinking that my B-minus average was respectable, at least. I took some pride in having no grade below a C. Grade inflation has made the grades of my generation disreputable, and I can take some comfort in that.

But a perusal of my old transcript still leaves me embarrassed. I was capable of better work, but I had fallen under the influence of older students whose philosophy was, "You get the same diploma with a 2.0 as you do with a 4.0, so why work yourself to death? Have fun!" And I did. I took a couple of courses on a pass/fail basis simply because that allowed me to slack off in those courses. Skipping a class on a cool fall afternoon or a warm spring day was a manifesto of student rights in those heady days, never mind that you might miss some valuable learning.

About a decade after graduation, I returned to college classes at Atlantic Christian College, primarily because I wanted to take advantage of my GI Bill educational benefits before they expired. Although I was working full-time and was married with three children, I found more time to concentrate on studies. I was also inoculated from the allure of comely coeds and the appeal of pickup basketball or football games. I took eight courses and earned seven A's and one B (in math-heavy Statistics). I'd like to think that those grades are more of a testimony to my abilities as a student, but I also recognize that those later grades don't cancel the under-achievement from an earlier decade.