Teacher gives student 90% for their intricate graph art, student is baffled by not receiving a perfect grade

Remember when grades used to drive you insane?

As a student, grades feel like everything. It feels like your one chance to prove that you're worthy… or something. They can also feel cruelly arbitrary sometimes. You grow up being told that grades are everything. They are your ticket to your future, so you'd better start worrying about them. We're told that they determine success in our lives, and that we should do all that we can to get them as high as possible. But then you grow up and realize that grades aren't everything. Far from it. Your grades stop mattering almost as soon as you enter adulthood. It's all about how you can implement your education in a practical setting. No one cares if you were in Honors Chem in the 10th grade. But that doesn't stop you from being stressed about them for the time being. Sometimes you put your all into something and come up empty. This is never a good feeling. You want to feel like your effort is going to pay off, no matter what. We're told that if we put our whole selves into something, it will yield good results. This is generally a good rule of thumb. You get out of something what you're willing to put in. But sometimes life is unfair, and we're not properly rewarded for the good work that we do. This is especially true sometimes in school, when the grading system can be more arbitrary than we'd want it to be.