Johns Hopkins University

Whenever teachers pass back tests, I always grab the top right corner. It’s an old habit from my middle school days. As someone who grew up in a “gifted kid” program, the worth of our preteen selves was socially dependent on how well we did academically. To protect myself from the judgmental lean-over from the kid next to me, trying to get a peek at my score, I learned to grab the test paper by the corner where the score was usually written. So, my transition to high school proved to be quite shocking, as I was confronted with the difference between healthy and toxic competition. Most of the…