My Obsession with Power School

My school has recently implemented a new system called Power School. Teachers input grades for each assignment, Power School calculates a running average, and students and parents can view both the individual grades and the running average from home.

In my school, where everyone is borderline-obsessed (or maybe way past the borderline) with grades, this created a mini-explosion.

Especially with me.

No longer do I have to painstakingly record each grade in the back of my planner, and use such old-fashioned devices as calculators to determine my average! No longer do I need to try to guess what sort of grading system my teacher uses! Nay, it is all on Power School!

I'm sure many people feel as ecstatic about drugs when they first use them.

And then they realize they get addicted.

Power School is my homepage. Every time I log in, the thing at the top that tells you when you last logged in usually isn't more than twelve hours ago. And at school, whenever rumors spread that just a couple minutes ago, a teacher graded a certain assignment or test, you can bet I'll be crouching in front of my locker, frantically hacking my way to the Internet through my cell phone and its extreme slowness.

The worst part of my obsession?

The dreams.

A few weeks ago, I dreamed I had an A- in lit. (This is concerning because due to a screw-up first trimester, I need a high A in order to get an A for the year.) I woke up at two in the morning in a cold sweat, raced to my computer, smacked the keyboard until I was logged in, and assuaged myself by staring at my grade until I fell asleep.

I'm not the only one. At school, everyone stumbles around bleary-eyed, having checked Power School a hundred times during the course of the night. We nod at each other as we pass, at the fellow addicts, sharing in the misery of our horrible addiction.

So really---

Oh. Sorry. I just heard my lit teacher graded the essay.