In school, a ‘C’ is considered average. The norm. The median grade. Should have been good enough for most people with some above average at a ‘B’ and a few in the exceptional range with ‘A’s.
Then colleges and parents and employers wanted more above average and exceptional results (for a variety of reasons) and ‘C’s were soon considered below average. Problematic. An indication of a learning disability perhaps. “Average” became a negative word. And forget about the kids pulling down ‘D’s. They might as well have earned an ‘F’ given the stigma attached to a ‘D’. Kid must be an idiot and a trouble-maker to be getting ‘D’s.
Got an ‘F’? Then you clearly don’t give a fuck and might be a future serial killer. Keep an eye on that kid.
I cannot stand the cultural and social value that “good grades” have cultivated. The judgement and pressure put on kids to perform up to an ever-rising set of expectations.
Yes, you should work to do well in school and take is appropriately seriously — but because you’re trying to be the best ‘you’ you can be. And if your best is a ‘C’, f it’s “average”, then fuck everyone else and their expectations and projected shame.