Does getting excellent grades really matter to employers?

It doesn't matter. What matters is to be highly educated ... Don't think about school like it won't teach you anything .. It does ... I've just finished High School and I can tell you that, yes log(x) + n^2 still hasn't helped me in life; however math helped my ability to solve problems and find my mistakes; literature helped me developed my creativity skills ... Biology well it helped me a lot trying to understand everything around me and of course myself and others (anatomy) ... Geography thought me about the world and History thought me about human nature and how it hasn't changed ...

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.