Beginning or Ending

I saw a statement once that read, "It's not how you start a race that counts but how you finish." It reminds me of college athletics. For example, college basketball. At the beginning of the basketball season, polls come out ranking teams as number one, number two, number three, etc. Then at the end of the season, following March Madness, the national champion is declared. Would you rather be ranked number one at the beginning of the season or number one at the ending? I think we all know the answer. Thus, it's not so much where or how you begin, but how you perform during the season and where you finish at the end.

School is the same. It's more important how you perform during the school year and how you finish at the end of the school year rather than where and how you begin the school year.