It's Just Not Your Story

Recently, I’ve been talking to my friends about school.  At school.  (Okay, well, not always.)

I mean, I have nothing against it.  Believe it or not, I love school, and not just because I get to see my friends every day.  I love that we have the opportunity to learn, and make no mistake, I’m extremely grateful for it, BUT…  there is just so much wrong with our system!

You can’t deny that you’ve never seen anyone cheating.  Maybe you’ve even done it yourself.  Now, I’m not writing this article to judge those cheaters, but I’m going to blabber about how our education system isn’t so great, and if you’re willing to read on, God bless you.

I thought about why this might be.  I mean, obviously, people cheat because they want good grades, and they want to get into a good school.  But do they want to cheat?  Of course, if they don’t have to, I’massuming that they’d rather not.  So why do it?

Grades.  That’s why.

Our education system is no longer (or was it ever?) about the joys of learning, of absorbing wisdom, of savoring the delicate fruits of knowledge, and reveling in the notion that we get smarter with each morsel of delectable information.  (Yeah, I like being a little dramatic sometimes.  It’s fun!)  It’s about getting “good grades”.  Why?  To get into a “good college”.  Why?  So we can finally learn what we actually want to learn.

Take APs, for example.  Why do students take them?  Because to college admission people, APs indicate a rigorous academic schedule.  But does this indicate intelligence accurately?  Of course not!  Because there are cheaters, yes, but also because some AP classes might as well be regular classes.  Anyone can do them if he tries.  Now, what I think the more important question is, does he care about these APs that he’s taking?  What if he’s taking them just to get into a good college?  What if he’s not interested in the topic at all?  Now, that is a sad waste of time for that poor fellow who is simply trying to please this corrupted education system.  Imagine if he simply wanted to go into engineering.  Will AP US History help him?  Will AP Biology?  Maybe I’m not making the best arguments, but hopefully, you understand what I’m trying to get at.

“You know, the whole point of school is supposedly to learn, but the truth is, it just stresses us out and leaves us little time for true intellectual curiosity since we’re so occupied with our grades.”  This is what I said to one of my friends in a discussion recently.  I didn’t realize the truth of this sentence until I thought about it and discovered that what I said pretty much sums up our education system.  We’re not learning anymore.  We’re slaves to our grades, and we’re just generating those A’s to please the admissions offices.

Well, in all honesty, I can’t offer a solution, I can only complain and point out the faults of the system like I did just now.  I don’t know how I would fix this kind of problem.  Because let’s say we did get rid of the grade system, of APs, of, heck, say we even got rid of standardized tests (there are plenty of complaints against that, too).  Then how would kids be picked for college?  The competition is no joke, and I understand that people who want to go into college have to work for it; they can’t just slip in so easily without any effort.  It would be like, “Oh, I don’t have to do any of this work because I’m going to college anyway”.  Of course that also can’t happen.

Now, this is sort of on a tangent, but I’ve also been baffled by the way the following generations have become so lax about their school etiquette.  I mean, since when was not doing your homework cool?

Okay, maybe I’m confusing you with this sudden change of topic, so let me introduce this a bit better.

I go to school, and I see these kids just not…  doing anything right!  They don’t do anything right!  And they’re purposely messing themselves up, because it’s “cool” to do it!  It’s just so ridiculous, I can barely believe what I’m typing out right now.  I mean, some of these kids, they do their homework, and they don’t turn it in because it’s suddenly cool not to do homework.

Well, actually, I think the reality is, it’s cool to not do anything, but still get by.  You know, like not studying but still being able to pass a test?  Purposely not getting good grades in school and opting for community colleges?  (I have nothing against community colleges, believe me.  I have friends in community colleges, and they’re some of the smartest people I know.  But that’s a different story.  Just please believe me that I have nothing against community colleges.  I’ve studied at one, and it was a fantastic experience.)  But on a more extreme level.  There are more insults for a… for “good” kids (“nerds”, “geeks”, “tattletales”, “teacher’s pet”, “goody two-shoes”) than for “bad” kids (“gangster”, “rebel”, “delinquent”, I don’t know, I can’t think of any more.  >_<;;).  Seriously, it’s praise to be called a “bad” kid, or to be considered a “gangsta” or a delinquent.

And I’m being critical, but my hands aren’t completely clean, either.  I rake in the grades, but I’m not trying my best.  (Oh God, I sound like I’m bragging.)  It’s not a good thing.  Not.  A.  Good.  Thing.  I’m no better than a machine, either.  I’m just taking my AP’s, getting those tests done, blah blah blah, but the problem is, I don’t care for most of that stuff.  Calculus?  Physics?  Screw it, I’m not using that stuff in my future.  (At least I don’t plan to.)  Not that I have anything against those subjects, because I know that stuff is crucial if you want to pursue that kind of thing, but that’s not me.  I wish instead of wasting my time with that stuff I don’t particularly care about, I wish I could take the “less rigorous” courses so that I do have time for things that I actually want to do.  Like write some more.  I’ve fallen in love with my WordPress site (putting aside the fact that this is only my third post…), and I love being able to write about whatever the heck I want.  For me, this is mental stimulation.  Calculus or physics can never make me feel or think this way.

Yeah, I just…  It makes me sad, thinking about how I could have used my time on better things.  Maybe it’s my fault.  I mean, I’m sure a lot of it is my fault.  Of course I could have defied status quo, refused to take those APs to pursue the things I love.  I’m responsible for my actions, right?  But I think about how I’m probably not the only one with this dilemma.  I’m sure there are others out there, who, like me, wish things were somehow better.  I just hope that some day, things will get better, if not for our sake, for the sake of the future generations.  Maybe I’ll think of something in the future.  And just maybe, I’ll be able to stand up against the status quo to help make that change.

Haha, now that’s being a little too ambitious, I think, but a student can dream.  Right?