They never tell you this, but college destroys you. And it certainly isn’t all that it has been worked up to be. My expectations of college were shattered along with my optimistic outlook that finally I wouldn’t feel like I was being trapped by the education system. But If anything, now I feel more trapped.

I feel trapped for the fact that I can’t indulge myself in the classes that I actually want to take due to the fact that there are so many stringent rules and restrictions preventing me from doing so. I had the idea that college would be this different world where the focus of what I would be majoring in would front and center. Where I would be focusing on the depth of the material I was learning, and not the breadth. So you can imagine my utter shock when I arrived at my first appointment with my college advisor and was told that my major was comprised of 30 credit hours and the other 90 hours were core classes, which I had taken in high school, and elective hours. I was shocked at the fact that when I finally thought I would have some control over the classes I would take in accordance with my major and my interests, I was dead wrong. I felt trapped just like I had in high school. I felt as if I was still being told what to do and how to do it.

In addition to the disappointment I was first met with when discussing my mandatory classes, I was also met with anxiety, which I had never dealt with before. This anxiety was caused solely by grades. Though I always considered myself to be a good student in high school, who held mostly A’s and took plenty of Advanced Placement courses along with being an elite athlete, nothing prepared me for the amount of stress and pressure I would face in college due to grades.

All our lives we’ve been prepped and primed and told that grades matter most, especially in college. After all, your grades and transcripts follow you once you step into the real world. They follow you to either graduate school, law school, med school, or your first professional job. You might not think about it much now, but your grades now impact your future on so many different levels. Our society tells us that grades matter, but so does what you’re learning in class, right? The expectation is that grades are supposed to be a reflection of a student’s knowledge of what they learned in class, but we all know very well that this isn’t the case. For example, last semester I earned an A in my college Biology class, but at this point in time, I couldn’t tell you the difference between Meiosis I and Meiosis II nor could I define what pleiotropy is. This is a frequent situation many of my peers will also find themselves in time and again. Not only are the grades not a fair representation of the amount of knowledge obtained in a course, but they inhibit a student from truly pursuing an education in a subject which they might have an interest in. In my case in specific, I know that I have a much greater interest in physics over biology but yet for the sake of my grade point average, I steered clear from taking this course due to the fact that I knew that obtaining an A would be slim to none. I have also realized that students like myself set the bar so high for themselves when it comes to grades, that one small slip-up like getting a low B on one of the five major assignments in that class, and you’re overcome by anxiety. With this trend continuing, you begin trying to argue every measly point back on a kick ass assignment which you obviously think you deserved an A on. And you begin jumping at every extra credit opportunity that comes your way, even though you certainly aren’t one of the students who’s in dire need of those extra credit points. Your obsession with grades and success drives you to the breaking point several times. You are the poster child student, always on top of everything no matter what it be and when you “fail” according to your own definition of failure, it seems like Atlas himself gave you the weight of the world. Though many of us can point out and recognize how absurd this seems, it is the fault of our education system for pushing students to feel like getting a good grade is the only way to succeed. We have become so competitive and caught up in getting good marks in school that we forget that there are other ways to grow and learn from the world around us. But for those of us who have a vision for the future, it’s hard for us to allow ourselves to deviate from the idea of a perfect grade point average. We’re forced to keep our grades in check at all times because we know that a 0.1 difference in GPA means that you either have another door of opportunity open or one that closes in your face. For students like us, our education system holds us captive until we break down and can take no more. It’s a slippery slope that I wished I wasn’t forced to face every single class that I attend every single semester, but ultimately, I am left with no choice. Simply put, grades are detrimental to learning. Which then begs the question of whether our university education system was really developed the way it is for our own benefit or for some other exterior motive.

Though I can point out many flaws in the America Education system, grades are among one of the problems. Instead of students really becoming knowledgeable and educated in subjects they might have a curiosity for, many of us are forced to choose the class that has the lowest cost and the highest benefit for the well-being of our grade point averages. We are being robbed by the way our education system is set up. We have turned into grade obsessed vultures and our true curiosity for greater knowledge is ultimately lost. The fact that success is defined by grades and test scores should be appalling to us, but yet, most of us don’t demand more from a system which isn’t worthy of what we’re capable of. Just think of how different things would be if we chose to challenge ourselves and not have to worry about grades. Think about how different things would be if we had a pass/ fail system based on how much demonstrated effort you put forth into learning versus being graded on the ability to regurgitate information and memorize facts. It’s time that we started encouraging learning for a change instead of just earning a grade.

A rigid one size fits all system fails every time no matter where you’re trying to implement this system. This isn’t pertinent strictly to the education system. And unfortunately, in what should be the most flexible, open-minded, and tolerant system and way of doing things in our society, the education system is anything but. We approach education as a “one size fits all” solution and then just brush our hands clean and give ourselves a pat on the back because we don’t want to complicate the system by acknowledging that people are in fact, very complex and diverse, especially in the ways in which we all learn. How on earth do you expect to cultivate flourishing, creative young minds if you do nothing but constantly tell us that there’s only one way of learning. That there’s only one way of doing things. By doing that, you are eliminating some rather brilliant people from the picture and passing them off as stupid or incapable for the sheer fact that they can’t learn the same way as everyone else can. Newsflash to all of these people who have this one track mindset: greatness was never achieved by creating something the exact same way that everyone else did something. That’s not ingenuity. That’s what we call a replica.

Everyone constantly speaks of this so called “freedom” they find upon arriving at college. But, I have found none. All I see is the same ineffective, broken system that I’ve been sick of since my freshman year of high school. And my cry for help continuously goes unheard and unanswered.

I myself have found that learning by doing and by seeing is what is most effective for me. That hands-on experience and involvement taught me more than the words that my professor babbles on about throughout their lecture. In fact, I have even questioned why extracurricular activities don’t truly count as an accredited class. In some situations, I have put more time and effort into some of the extracurricular activities I involve myself in rather than the classes I am taking. I know I’m not supposed to openly admit something like that, but it’s true. I find that the extracurricular activities I involve myself in, like mock trial, are more beneficial to my learning and to the path which I want my education to take than are some of my current classes. I get it, it would be hard to numerically evaluate how well a student does in a said extracurricular activity, but doesn’t this just further my previous argument and go to show the great disservice grades do? It also goes to show that such valuable learning experiences can be dismissed for no valid reason.

For something that our society claims to value so much, and makes such an effort in making it known that education is undoubtedly necessary, I ask why we haven’t done more. Why have we chosen to accept the broken, hand-me-down system if it is clearly failing us? We should expect more from our education system. A system that should cater to the needs of every type of learner instead of just one. A system where I shouldn’t feel stupid just because I don’t understand the material being taught for the sheer fact that it’s being taught in a way that doesn't make sense to my mind. A system where I shouldn’t be ridiculed for trying to solve a math problem my way instead of the way that the teacher or professor wants. Where instead, I should be free to creatively explore all solutions. A system where I should be free to pursue studies of my interest and not have other subjects shoved down my throat. My hopes of freedom and growth have been shattered once again by a system that I feel restricted by. A system that I feel like I can’t truly escape if I ever want to pursue my future endeavors.

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing it is stupid.” - Albert Einstein