Recently I have encountered many who are disappointed with the grade that they received in the classroom. Much of the justification doesn’t go to personal failure of any kind, but immediate blame placed on the professor.

There have been many professors that I wasn’t a huge fan of, but I still performed well in their classes because of my work ethic. Stop blaming professors and own up to your shortcomings.

For example, many students will comment that the professor didn’t give exactly every problem that is on the test on a study guide or in preparation for the test. I understand that in certain circumstances you wouldn’t know, but how much of the problems are actually trying to make you use the information you have learned to solve a problem not explicitly written out.

Many people are disappointed with how they do in classes because they have poor work ethic. Students who generally get As in classes study anywhere from around 40-60 hrs a week.

You can claim to be an exception to the case, which some people are, but if you aren’t getting the results that you want, maybe you should study more, ask more questions with the professor or find someone with better grades than you in the class to give a helping hand.

Sometimes, blaming the professor stems from the lack of moral strength in admitting failure. There is no shame in failing, it is how you recover from those failures and push on. I am definitely not the sharpest tool in the shed, but I understand that even though sometimes I do really bad, it isn’t the end. I must continue to keep pushing forward.

Most people never get any better because instead of improving on the skills that they are not good at, they blame others for their mistakes, never owning up to problems that they have. You can’t succeed if you never fail, you can’t say you really understand success unless you have truly been in the trenches.

As you finish your finals this week and prepare for next semester, keep in mind that you can do this! Own up to things that you aren’t doing well at, allow your professor some slack. You may not achieve everything that you wanted, but that’s life — learn from your mistakes and move on.