Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures
In a world where the first 18 years of a life are solely centered on getting into a good college, one can imagine the stress that that life feels. Constantly.
To make matters worse, the majority of the stress is placed on students by their own parents. By the time the youngins have reached high school, they fully understand the circle of life... Get good grades in elementary school, then get good grades in high school, get into a good college and therefore have a good life. Any deviation from said route could result in things too terrible to mention; these are definitely desperate times.
Yet, the first teachers in a child’s life are their own parents. Parents are role models for their kids, and it is their job to not only inform them on how to lead the ‘perfect’ life, but also show them. A task much easier said than done. Author of the article, “Learning to Lie”, Po Bronson states, “The most disturbing reason children lie is that parents teach them to. …“We don’t explicitly tell them to lie, but they see us do it. …They see us boast and lie to smooth social relationships.”” Parents lead by example, and whether it be a good example or a bad, the kids will follow, for who else do they have to emulate? If a student fails a class, it is partially the teacher’s fault as they too have failed to complete their job properly. If a child is socially inept or a compulsive liar, the first place to find the root of the problem is in the parents.
“Encouraged to tell so many white lies and hearing so many others, children get comfortable with being disingenuous. Insincerity becomes a daily occurrence. They learn that honesty only creates conflict…” (Learning to Lie).
Lying is a crucial aspect in society nowadays, as it is a means of protection. Being honest rarely pleases anyone, especially when it comes to grades. Just think about it — if a student fails a test, but lies and tells their parents they passed, everyone is happy. As opposed to if the student tells the truth, the parents get angry, inflict punishment, or are disappointed in their child. The student’s first instinct is to protect themselves at all costs; therefore the end justifies the means.
But it doesn't stop there — not by a long shot. When students are successful with this method of protection, there is no doubt in their mind it will work again for other sticky situations. Plagiarism and cheating are just a few very common forms of deception students are forced to go to in order to achieve their goals in school. With the standards set so high, the bar basically raised to the sky, students are now subjected to lie. Grades are the number one priority for most kids, and such pressure to do well causes them to abandon any moral standards they had in order to succeed. The sad part is, for most kids who grew up lying and watching their parents lie, it isn’t a hard thing to do to cheat on a test or lie if a teacher asks if they studied or did their homework. The overachieving addicts also have their own dragon to chase — stellar grades. And they will stop at nothing to attain such standards, even if it means selling their soul for a 4.0 GPA. Which probably still wouldn't even be enough.
Nothing will ever be enough — we’re all in a race to be the best, as a couple numbers assigned to us in high school are used to determine our future. Especially at the point in one’s life where they are most prone to lie-telling, instilling such a mindset in students everyday is pointless. As the article “Learning to Lie” identifies the need to lie is “…moderate at 15, and most powerful at 18. Darling’s scholarship shows that the objection to parental authority peaks around ages 14 to 15.” So why is it that the time in one’s life when they are most reluctant to parental and adult instruction is also the time they must decide the path their life will follow?
Although we cannot alter the structure of life that has been put into place since the beginning of time, we can work to improve the quality of life that flows through the factory’s assembly lines of information referred to as school. Instead of emphasizing a number grade, we can emphasize the process. When the grades are extracted, learning becomes more fun. It becomes a task students look forward to waking up every morning to complete. They no longer feel obligated to lie or take drastic measures to fulfill their parents’ hopes for their future. The stresses of how each number impacts the other, which all comes back to college, carelessly floats away into an unknown abyss. Thus creating space in teenage minds to welcome in information they have interest in. They can explore and work toward finding topics that interest them, that might actually help them in the long run.
Nowadays, mentally exhausted overachieving students will have no problem getting into a good college (as long as the stress doesn't kill them first), but once they get there, and the race is over, what’s next? Forced to focus solely on the grade in each class, students learn only what is necessary in high school. There is no spare time to investigate other topics, and explore various jobs that might interest them before they are in college and are expected to know exactly what their life plan is. Nor are they educated or encouraged to pursue such individual interests.
Thus the ‘circle of life’ is completely inaccurate; when the dragon chases its drug in a circle, it can never catch it. And its efforts are endless. Life is not circular, but the opposite. It is meant to continuously branch off, designed by the choices of the individual. But as long as schools are indifferent to this idea, parents will continue to unconsciously place extreme amounts of stress on their children, and desperate measures will be necessary.
And the circle continues.
http://www.brightfutura.com/i-will-not-let-an-exam-result-decide-my-fate/
