Stop trying to win the race, take the turn

A student with a 4.0 is a genius, hard worker, who has a bright future ahead of him. A student with a 2.5 is lazy and looking at a rough future. Two individuals so similar, but from societies eyes so different. How are they different? Maybe their interest or learning abilities. Maybe their background or heritage, but who would know? No employer, graduate program, or career path, all they see is a number, from 1-4, the difference between a closed or open door. They say “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know”, this is true. It is also hard to get to know someone when most will not listen to the kids in the middle, they want the best, as the should. Whos to say that your rank of number grades makes you the best, the most intelligent.

While abroad, I learned more in three months than my entire 12 years of schooling. I never once touched a textbook, listened to a lecture, or was graded on anything. I simply absorbed, I absorbed the culture, the people, the food, the history, absorbed every conversation I had. My leaders, and friends, they were my teachers. While riding in a taxi in India, some of my group members and I asked our driver about his schooling, he replied with “Life is education, you learn more on the streets than in the schools”. Now you can read this and think while yeah that's why he is a taxi driver. He owned the taxi and kept it at his house in the summer, for something to do. In the winter he traveled with his friends to their winter house in the South. Most importantly, he was happy. Happy, and intelligent.

He was not in a life long competition to get the best grades, have the most money, be the most handsome man. He was in a life long luxury, the luxury of happiness. When constantly comparing, and competing you are set up for failure before you even start to play. Seniors in High School are taught to believe that college is the next step, or else they can’t have a happy life, they won't be successful, or ever get a job. Education is not the problem here, the way it is taught is. 400 kids in a lecture hall listen to a teacher read a large screen of information that they are required to know, and will later be tested on. This requires memorization of those words, but that's all they are, words, not experiences, not opportunities, just words on a screen you must know to pass a test. Now if you are good at memorizing these words, you're in luck because you are a genius for this. If not, you have a long road ahead.

This long road is bumpy and rocky, filled with many downhills. However, there are no stop signs stopping you from taking that turn, from being your best. You don't have to read the other signs to see the road. The worst that can happen is that you end up at a dead end, leading you right back to the main street, so why not see what it is like? If you are to continue through the main road, you are constantly racing and competing to stay on track, but why? Instead of trying to be good enough for what everyone else wants, take the turn, drive on your own street, to where YOU want to go.