In an idealistic world, we wouldn’t be the only ones feeling bad about a failing grade; your teacher would be right there with you asking what he or she did wrong. Unfortunately, we live in a pretty selfish, unfair world where a fair percentage of teachers strive more for job security than improving their teaching techniques. With that being said, you might ask yourself, why do even need exams or quizzes? In theory, these formal types of assessments are meant to be a proactive approach by your teachers to make sure you understand what is being taught. If properly aligned with format and information, assessments are an accurate measurement, easily used to report progress to parents, staff and educational districts. In addition this, it keeps students on their toes because it is a form of encouragement for those who are doing well. Unfortunately, we all strive for a grade. Even more now as a college student, I am experiencing stress over memorizing things verbatim rather than actually understanding them. And it makes me extremely upset to see a bad grade when I know I studied as much as I could. I think a large disconnection has occurred between teachers and students. I don’t know who we have to blame, the systems itself, the standards, over-crowding classes in urban settings, etc. The list goes on. We could blame everyone, we could blame no one. The important issue remains that students continue to lose interest in science: one of our most important fields. After all, we need engineers and scientists to continue their research to improve our living conditions. I think that if teachers remembered every now and then what it felt like to be a student, things would be improved greatly.