From the moment you enroll in elementary school, you're expected to be the best of the best and brighter than the rest. You have to make friends with the sweetest and kindest kids at school. You're expected to use your manners before anyone else does. You need to learn to eat properly with a knife and a fork at a very early age. On top of that, you're expected to grasp things better and quicker than your classmates do. It's not your parents that are pushing this onto you, it's the community. Not all of these things are bad things, but they aren’t always the most obtainable.
Growing up a teacher’s kid was not the easiest, despite popular belief. Many of your classmates probably thought you were privileged and that you had more rights than them. They probably thought you were a spoiled kid- one that got everything they wanted whenever they wanted and didn’t have to work for everything. Because of these beliefs, your classmates expected more of you. They expected you to take on every leadership role you could and to be perfect. They wanted you to do all of the work in group projects. They expected you to be the best of the best with whatever sport or extracurricular activity you showed interest in.
Teachers and faculty expected you to get good grades, to study harder than anyone else did, to be the most creative, and to have the best ACT score. They were harder on you than anyone else was. They knew your parent was a teacher and they weren’t going to let you off easy. The rules at school applied to you more than anyone else. The length of your shorts and the straps on your shirt were measured any time there was a question about it. They knew that your classmates thought you were privileged and they weren’t going to let that happen.
The community expected you to win homecoming court, to get a full ride scholarship to a big university, and to probably become a doctor or a lawyer. They wanted to see you at every volunteer event possible. They expected you to juggle five things at one time. They expect you not to do anything illegal, even if they did it in high school. You were to be the best behaved.
Living up to these expectations of the community are extremely hard on a child or young adult. It is beyond stressful trying to constantly prove that you are or aren’t something. All of these things sound like negatives, but in a way they are positives too.
When you go off to college, you’re not that teacher’s kid anymore- you’re you. You know how to take the lead and figure out what to do in any group setting. You’re ready to take the initiative in a group setting, but you’re not going to be taken advantage of. You know how to work hard for something you want and you know how good it feels to achieve it. You’ve become accustomed to your study habits and you’re ready to execute them.
I was blessed to be a teacher’s kid. Because of my classmates, the faculty, and the community’s beliefs of what it’s like, I’ve pushed myself to be the best that I can be.
