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Homework Help: Social Studies: World Issues: College Education
by Michael Longo
The term "honor student" is a trap. There can be no more detrimental title to be given to a child then gifted. Although I remember I must have taken some sort of "test" to place into the honor system in the first grade, I can’t recall what was actually on the test. I assume there were some highly intellectual criteria that were used to set my patterned existence into motion. After all, that test more or less decided my path.
My parents, much like many of the baby boomers didn’t need to attend college to make it in life. They graduated high school and went to work. Sure they struggled at first, but they were already living their lives at the age of 18. Their goal was probably like the goal of most people, to make money so that they can live comfortably and have fun doing it. Later on their goals changed to wanting their children to live a better life.
Back to the first grade. Spelling test every Friday, math quiz every Monday. This was the way things went. The second grade is the first time a student experiences the incredible B.S. of the educational system the citywide examination. I have learned that since my time there has been another similar test instituted but it carries the same meaning. These tests are pointless to the outcome of any individual’s life. At each level of learning as an honor student there are tests, one with seemingly more consequences than another. Honor students advance and are distinguished because they can learn complex mathematical equations and interpret literature written hundreds of years ago. The honor student is forced to study and keep up with the other classmates and with the work that seems to be so important that it devours entire childhoods. By the time high school rolls around, the honor students who thought they were so far ahead and so much brighter than every1 else, find themselves in competition with one another. The SATs are now the enemy.
While for a select few students this test will make a difference in their lives, for most it is completely irrelevant. The students who get into the finest universities will go on to have prominent careers. But just to backtrack, what did the first 10 or so years of education do to prepare for the SATs. If they are the benchmark of education, why don’t we just prepare for them for a few years and do away with the education system as we know it.
While all of this studying and "learning" and cheating is going on in school, life is passing by. When you look back on your life, what do you think you will remember most fondly? The time spent in school, or the time with friends and family.
Honor students are forced into classes which carry little or no relevance in life. Most go off to college. Why do the go off to college? Because that is what come after high school. I am currently in college and I have no idea what I am doing here. I want to live. With the money my mother has spent on 1 year of college I can travel the world and gain experiences of an entire lifetime. After I settle down all it takes to land a decent job is to meet somebody who is where you want to be. Many people start off in entry level positions in all types of work and are able to work their way through the ranks with real education. The kind that comes from doing actual work. Don’t tell how a business works, make me part of a business and I will make it work.
But because I was smart in the first grade I am forced into college. Here I will waste the next 4 years of my life and if I do well, maybe 1 more in graduate school. While my "regular" peers are out enjoying the world and fending for themselves and making their name in the world, I remain in school with someone telling me about the real world. You want to learn how to swim jump in the deep end don’t use swimmies. You want an education get a job, don’t go to college.
Homework Help: Social Studies: World Issues
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