The enjoyable moments aren't long enough. The painful times produce tiny, unsatisfying rewards. You can study your butt off for a test, but the end result is a piece of paper with a few red marks on it. Weighing the cost-benefit ratio produces a rather unsatisfactory result. You can mark up all the papers you want, but time is something you'll never get back.
But, says the average high-achieving teen, it'll pay off in the end! I'll go to college and get a good job..and get rich! Then I can retire and live comfortably. But by then, what is there worth living for when you need a walker (or rocket boots or whatever else technology will have produced by then) to get from one end of the mall to the other? [See digression "42"]
If you look at the documents passed out in history class, such as those written by philosophers (Rosseau) and early American colonists (The Federalist papers), there is evidence that humanity does not need formal schooling to be educated. Okay, so they do have a few spelling mistakes and horrendous grammar. At least by our standards. But they were capable of advanced thought despite not having attended Harvard or Yale.
What school teaches us nowadays is to say recite what others believe. Bombarded with college mails like everyone else, I read about how colleges promote identity and self-thought. Bullcrap when you realize that one of the major factors in college admittance is SAT scores.
Don't you realize that in taking the SAT, you are compromising any pretense of individuality? What you are saying is "I'm like everyone else! The results of this test will show how much better I am than everyone else at thinking like the test makers." If Gaston Caperton wants B, you better pick B. Or else it's -1/4 for you!
It's all or nothing. Right or wrong. But haven't we been taught since we were young that there is always a grey area?
By the time we make it to college, we've been slapped by four years of bubbling in scantrons. It's pretty hard to maintain any vestige of previous individualism.
Where is our true motivation for trying hard? In aiming high, are we shooting for recognition through individuality...or getting into the Ivy Leagues that everyone else admires? We have been brainwashed into thinking big names are prestigious. Those of us with immigrant parents would be so proud to have a Stanford kid. And we give them what they want. Nothing wrong with pleasing the parents.
Hm. Lost a bit of my direction in this post. Well, this topic will come up again. Look forward to it!
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