Just last night, I was reminiscing on my four years of high school. When I compared them to what school is like now, I realized how completely different it is. As students enter high school, they are badgered by parents, teachers and peers to take the hardest classes they can handle, get the best grades and, while doing all of that, get involved with as many extracurriculars as they can handle. At first, it's exhilarating, and almost a competition. “You’re only taking 3 honors? I’m taking all honors classes.” “Were you recommended for AP US History?” I signed up for more than I could handle because it was what everyone else was doing. Additionally, there was still the unspeakable word looming over students: “college.” It was a constant reminder that we needed to get accepted to the top-notch schools. The system sucked us in, and we were too young and inexperienced to realize its awfulness.
Not enough people realize the actual consequences of this horrible system. When I look around at my classmates and peers, I can see it clearly. Many of my peers in high school have such a negative outlook on the world; even in just the little things we say to one another, so often we speak with a negative tone. I don't believe it is fully our generation’s fault, though. It is the society we live in.
We live in a society that not only encourages but also requires perfection in order to be seen as fit. Looking back, the amount of people that encouraged my class to take all of these treacherous, rigorous courses while playing multiple sports, taking the SATs, having a job and being in as many clubs as possible baffles me. What happened to quality over quantity? We were told that a lengthy transcript is much more important than a short but meaningful one. Why should a person who has 12 clubs, but barely met the requirements for them and didn’t really commit, be viewed as more worthy than someone who worked their heart out for three? Yeah, maybe the latter had a little more time at home to relax, but is that such a bad thing? Personally, I’d rather balance my extracurriculars with personal time to have some alone time after all of the school and homework. But this doesn’t fit the mold for the perfect teenager.
We should be encouraged to take what interests us. If that means taking a normal level course instead of one that is "honors" level, and sacrificing that point in our GPA, than so be it. We are a society that only focuses on numbers. It discourages creativity and individuality, and that is sad.
I really wish I could go back and tell my Freshman self all of this. I’m not sure if I’d listen to the advice, but it would’ve been nice hearing one person telling me the right thing in comparison to the many people in my life who were doing just the opposite. The sleepless nights doing endless homework…. what is it all for? Why is it worth it? Is it worth it to go to that “top notch” college if we are spending our high school years miserable? It’s easy to say, “No. Our mental health is more important than our schoolwork,” but then why is everyone still doing this? There needs to be a change.
