Why did Eric still care about his grades?

Something I’ve always wondered. He seemed to continue to do well even until the very end (minus missing an important test on the day of, obvs). I wonder why he continued to care, when he knew he wouldn’t be around for it to really matter? Was he just trying to keep up appearances? Maybe his parents would ground him if he didn’t and he’d lose privileges? What do you all think?

To me, it was a facade so they wouldn't suspect anything different. The lost privileges probably would've been things as minor like; he's not allowed to use the phone as much or go out as often and internet privileges cut short. There is also the possibility that he kept it up for the Marines as all you need is a high school diploma. That being said, I don't really think losing those wouldn't throw him off track that much, people will always find a way.

shadowofthewill wrote:

To me, it was a facade so they wouldn't suspect anything different.

This. He had spent a year formulating, preparing for and dreaming about his plan to "go NBK." He was not going to let his parents get suspicious or restrict his privileges at the eleventh hour due to crappy grades.

I also feel like some of it may have been distraction. I have been in the camp of "while Eric wanted to kill and he knew he would have to die he probably didn't want to die". So to me, I wonder if part of just doing regular things like school work helped to distract him a bit from the little time he had left.

He was also on probation. And everyone knew that, thus he probably wanted to make the best possible impression on everyone around.

Don't forget the tiny bit of possibility he wanted to keep all his options alive, because even he must have had his doubts whether the NBK goes through in the end.

I imagine he also didn’t want to get into anymore trouble with his parents. Even when he was dressing a little more dark he was still very neat and tidy. I could never imagine him starting to dress and take care of himself like Dylan. I can’t imagine his Parents would’ve liked that either.

patogen wrote:

Don't forget the tiny bit of possibility he wanted to keep all his options alive, because even he must have had his doubts whether the NBK goes through in the end.

Aside from not wanting to bring any attention to his grades, I think this ^ has also crossed his mind from time to time. I think both of them had second thoughts, despite their effort and thought-out plan.

Did he still care about his grades, or did he just get good grades despite not caring?

Perhaps it was a point of pride. Eric said he liked school, so I presume that means he enjoyed school work, learning, succeeding, etc on some level.

Lizpuff wrote:

I also feel like some of it may have been distraction. I have been in the camp of "while Eric wanted to kill and he knew he would have to die he probably didn't want to die". So to me, I wonder if part of just doing regular things like school work helped to distract him a bit from the little time he had left.

Also this.

That was also just Eric’s personality. He was always Type A about his grades, according to his friends.

Also it was only a mere 3 weeks away from graduation that year. Prom had been the weekend before. Typically by that time your senior year assignments and tests would have been dwindling down. Or at least that’s the way public high schools are here. ‍�

Perhaps it was his personality, perhaps it was to not have his parents suspect anything, perhaps it was to distract himself and have something he had control over in his life. Perhaps it was a bit of all of that. Keep in mind this was also the time his parents were putting more pressure on him to try to decide what he wanted to do with his life.

I always wondered whether the marines was Erics dream or did his dad force him into trying for it?

bradt93 wrote:

I always wondered whether the marines was Erics dream or did his dad force him into trying for it?

Well, the student Rebecca Heins remembers Harris saying, "I hope we do go to war, I'll be the first one there." That was his reaction to the news regarding the possibility of America being involved in the war of former Yugoslavia countries. That student also added how he made comments of wanting to shoot people, so obviously there was something more than his dad's influence. I wonder if he had been enlisted in the marines things would have turn out differently...

I do think at one point Eric did want in on the Marines. His whole family is a military family though so I am not sure how much of it was pressure.

To prove his superiority over his peers...

Pretty simple.

I definitely think part of it was so that his parents would leave him alone and not suspect anything, especially since it was after the van break. I also think that he just wanted to do the things he used to do, like schoolwork, just to stay focused on NBK. Like keeping his mind occupied with the regular stuff so that he wouldn't have the time for second thoughts. Also,

cakeman wrote:

Did he still care about his grades, or did he just  get good grades despite not caring?

fair point. I don't know if we know how much of an effor he actually put into it. I did the absolute bare minimum in high school and still got good grades

Lizpuff wrote:

I do think at one point Eric did want in on the Marines.  His whole family is a military family though so I am not sure how much of it was pressure.  

I agree with this. He wrote several stories about Marines/ soldiers for classes and after Bob Kirgis had told Eric's parents about the flask he had and they got into that big fight, he wrote in his journal:

Quote :

and hey goddamnit I would have been a fucking great marine, It would have given me a reason to do good. and I would never drink and drive, either.