July 23rd, 2023
It is about halfway through the summer leading up to my junior year. It is common for many people to use this time to spend time with family, go on relaxing vacations and rest a lot before school starts. However, this may not be the case for everyone in my school district. In fact, there is a multitude of people in my grade who are preparing for SATs, next year’s coursework, summer assignments, college applications, and even (especially in my case) science contests. It is without a doubt that over the school year, many discussions that reverberate in the hallways are about grades, extracurriculars, top universities, and complaints about teachers.
Yet if you look at the vast majority of American public schools, most students are on their phones, scrolling through Tiktok or Instagram for more than half a day.
What’s up with us?
Without a doubt, aiming to make the most out of high school may not be within our sights. Instead, the majority of us value materialism. We constantly try to monitor our improvement, compare ourselves with others, and see where we are with respect to the top 0.01% of a certain subject or test (most people are a little off, I suppose). We want the best PSA/SAT/ACT scores, the highest grades in our class, and the “best” competitor in an olympiad. We are driven by the desire for fame, recognition, and pride. We want our top colleges but also to make a ton of friends and become popular in the grade. Not to mention athletics, debate club, and anything else you can think of (even writing – “do you not know English?”).
I’ve definitely been there myself. And the ambitious person I am, the guy who strives to do his best and sweep out the competition, can relate to many of the aforementioned motivations.
But here I am, surprised to see myself in this state, who thinks he brought himself here because of the actions and choices he made. And although I have made some great decisions, there were many instances where I slipped and scraped my knee. There are countless instances where I have underperformed greatly on a test, to half or even less of my ability. There were many times where I forfeited; where I left the test unmotivated and depressed. I remember my school’s CMIMC Tryout test and I had sat in the car, crying for thirty minutes all because I had done poorly. It was only a single test.
I’m sure there are many people outside of my district who don’t give a damn about colleges and live life as it is. To them, every moment is a new opportunity, maybe even to try something new.
Does it really have to be about achieving X, getting accepted to college Y, and getting the top 1% in a field?
I thought it was the case; it’s like a do-or-die situation. And sometimes in real life, it is. Our ancestors were constantly under the pressure of threatening animals; either kill them or be eaten. But school life isn’t like that. Yes, you have a higher chance of being successful and at the top in your field if you get good in high school. Although that may be the case, does it have to be the case? No. Doing a lot may also cause a whole ton of stress.
Like in science, it’s always a good idea to question the underlying beliefs of a system or a general populace.
I now believe the answer to the proposed inquiry is no.
I am sure that if you are a high schooler like me, it may be a little hard to think about. As I am writing this, there’s a side of me that blatantly disagrees. Tests, extracurriculars, sports, clubs, music, and contests, are all important. You should definitely do well in them. But as you run the marathon and focus your eyes on the prize, there’s going to be the pressure of not making it, not beating your friends, not finishing first. You’ve just gotta get there. You are focused, but it comes at a cost. You see failure as your worst enemy; something that stops you from achieving your goal, and a threat to that award you’ve worked all your energy towards. Anything can throw you down, and the drive for success can ultimately be caused by that ankle sprain on that muddy road.
It doesn’t have to be that way.
A motto that I go by is to “enjoy life”. What I mean by that is despite the circumstances you are going through, make an effort to satisfy all the activities you have. Make it fun. Have a positive mindset.
For most of us, it’s been a while since our childhood days. For me, I had fun, made lots of new friends, and didn’t really have to worry about anything, even at school. But as we grow older and progress into adolescence and adulthood, we start to realize that we have many obligations to take care of. When we’re in school, we have a whole pile of homework, tests, and clubs to do. And in the workforce, it doesn’t get any better; most people stick with a job they don’t like. And almost everyone loses the tendency to lean on their “child” self. Regardless of age, I believe there is a child-like part of ourselves; as human beings, there is a part of us that desires to explore, create, innovate, share, and experience. And despite all of our obligations, there is absolutely no one that is telling us that life has to be this stale place when your life is a directed graph. Sorry! I mean, when you have duties, responsibilities, goals, or ambitions affiliated with you.
Ooh a quote, I forgot you could do this with Wordpress!
Without the element of enjoyment, it is not worth trying to excel at anything.
GM Magnus Carlsen
Try to have fun! Explore your interests and pursue your passions when you can. The competition is a very small slice of the pie.
In a competitive district, there’s also this constant toxicity that goes on. Imagine a place where people are called “stupid” or “dumb” solely because they dropped a negative or they didn’t do as well as their peers. They are taunted for their failures and mistakes. As a result, they associate these events as negative and never learn anything constructive from them.
We can fix this.
If everyone is appreciative and supportive of others and sees that high school isn’t all about getting good scores, we would see much less comparison and a lot more ameliorating feedback.
Sometimes, you do have to do your best and there may be consequences if you don’t do as well as you should. Other times you, your parents, and your teachers care about it a lot and want you to do well. And add on many other reasons.
But much of the time, I find I improve more when I focus on the problems/questions, rather than the result itself. It’s almost like paralysis by analysis but in a test. Don’t do stuff like see how many questions you think you go tor anything like that in your test. Just go, enjoy your best, and eventually the results will come. As my parents emphasize, growth and character is the most important takeaway of this journey. At the end of the day, people will want to see what you have done for society more than how “qualified” you are from your scores.
A lot of the points I discussed above are easier said than done. It took me about a month for this concept to solidify and enable me to frame it into words. But I believe that if we see “competitive” tasks in a different light, we won’t be striving for being #1, but instead enjoying the journey there, making new insights, and meeting a ton of cool people along the way.
Achievements will be “golden” for a time, but as Frost delivers in a poem,
Nothing gold can stay.
Robert Frost
Make the most out of these moments. Enjoy it and be happy.
Special inspiration from Samirah Hussain, who was the Class Speaker for the HSS Class of 2023 Graduation Ceremony. Much of the article was inspired by her message and the motives behind it. Her speech is below:
https://www.youtube.com/live/CIONyRuBuSE?feature=share&t=2832