It’s Time To Ditch My Old Report Cards

I don’t think I need to hang on to these any more.

I started university in autumn 1989. At that time (and until at least the late 1990s) the way we got our grades was that they arrived by post. I remember tearing into those snap-pack mailers to learn my fate. Sometimes it was good news, sometimes not.

Going through my file drawer this morning I found that I still have every single one of those darn things. WHY?! There’s no good reason, of course, except perhaps nostalgia. They just take up space. So I scanned one as a souvenir and I guess I’ll go ahead and shred the rest.

Just as soon as I’m sure I won’t need it again for something. (Just kidding)

Grade report from my first quarter at Ohio State. My student ID was my Social Security Number.
Grade report from my first quarter at Ohio State. My student ID was my Social Security Number.

Postscript: Student SSNs showed up everywhere. I remember seeing all the Computer Science students’ SSNs in the distributed password file on our Unix systems! At one point a few years ago, I found (for who knows why) a copy of that file on a floppy disk in my basement. I destroyed it of course.