Where does one begin when discussing the problems with the American public education system? Lack of funding, low teacher salaries, emphasis on standardized testing rather than an alternative as a way to assess student understanding… the list of problems goes on and on.

There is one problem in particular that I'd like to focus on, and I'd say it is the main problem that comes from the culture of overwhelming setbacks. School is so distracting from "reality" - high school students must get good grades, actively participate in class, participate in as many extracurricular activities as possible, exercise regularly, and somehow still get enough sleep - that no one has time to think about living their full potential as a human being, about what they are really passionate about and what they'd really like to do with the rest of their lives. High school can easily become a game - a trap - of impressing everyone but yourself.

I will not discuss the obvious stupidity of a system expecting a young person to tackle that extreme amount of stress to do all of the above in order to get into a good college without facing some mental and emotional challenges. The physical and mental perils have been described so many times by more qualified individuals than myself. I am more concerned with the idea of completely devoting yourself to the School rather than the Self.

I remember my senior year that when I was told to pick a college, I wasn't sure how to proceed because I had never really serious thought to "what I wanted to be when I grew up." Life up to that point had been, more or less, going through the motions of school, homework, extracurriculars, sleep, repeating it all to the point that it amazes me today that I somehow found time on weekends to hang out with friends. Senior year, I was completely stumped when confronted with my future, because my future no longer seemed to consist of test after test after standardized test. What did I want to devote my entire life to? I had so many interests. How could I just pigeonhole myself into just one or two majors? One career? A career that would last for the rest of my life?!

My high school was extremely competitive - so competitive, in fact, that the administration did not release class rank or declare a valedictorian for fear of creating a madhouse for a school. Because of its competitive nature, my high school, in particular, facilitated an environment so extreme that the power of one's image was deemed more important than one's self. By that, I mean the image of gulping down caffeine in an effort to stay awake through class because you had stayed up so late the night before from such an intense schedule was made out to be the equivalent of high intelligence, and thus was seen as more important than actually taking care of yourself; believe it or not, there must be a way to upkeep mental and physical health while still not sacrificing your desired grades. I'm not sure whether to place the blame on the individual school and its administrators, the AP standards, the parents, or something else entirely, but I'm not sure blame truly matters in fixing the problem.

The current education system and the accompanying aggressive nature of class and homework has become a liability to the development of a clear identity. We read many books in English class about identity and the search for it - possibly, one's identity will always be elusive - but the current high school experience certainly hinders personal growth. In fact, the obsession with grades to give one an edge over everyone else in the (almost) inevitable college process - should one choose to go to college - replaces the importance of getting to know oneself.

Of course, it goes without saying that a student can definitely try to get to know oneself in the course of stress, but, ultimately, it is impossible to do so under such an advanced state of stress. The main consequence of the high-speed high school environment is, in the college environment, that students don't know themselves well enough to understand what major best reflects their career goals. As a matter of fact, 50-70% of college students change their major at some point during their college careers.

That's a lot of people who didn't know what to do with the rest of their lives after the "preparation" of high school. While there is, of course, the fact that public high schools often do not offer courses in marketing or graphic design, thereby limiting a student's perspectives on the opportunities that are "out there," I believe the overly-competitive culture of most high schools fostering a negative environment is more important when considering why this statistic is so high. When people are so overwhelmed by stress and the idea of competition that places more value on the future than the present, there is little time left in the day to dedicate to understanding oneself at a more complex level.

I acknowledge that not everyone has had the same experiences that I have had at my high school. But we can all agree that it is far past the time for the American public high school environment to change.