Silly me, I thought school was about learning and becoming a “better” person. I thought society inputted schools into communities to create au fait, moralistic, and whatever idealistic traits you stick into perfect people.
Silly idealism. School has only produced ignorant and selfish individuals — where your SAT score and GPA defines who you are and how you’re going to succeed. The sad truth is that colleges won’t even look at your attempts at servicing your community, if your GPA isn’t fitting. It doesn’t matter that you’ve stepped on people to get that 4.0. It doesn’t matter that you had more money, thus giving you more of an opportunity. Nothing matters.
School has created this mindset that defines success as stepping on others, cheating, and lying. You don’t do community service for the common good, you do it because it’ll get you into college. You don’t learn for the sake of learning, you take all the classes that will give you an easy A. You’ll cheat, because all your success rides on these numbers and scores. Absurd little bubbles become your crystal ball: are you going to own Google? Or will you live in a cardboard box?
The SAT is proof that society is making perfect, thoughtless angels. Their critical reading section requires you to form your mindset into that of the test creator. Simply interpreting the text isn’t even the answer — you need to set your thinking so that it is fitting to College Board’s. And those essays — when, in life, are you required to write an essay in under 25 minutes? It’s absurd!
For every fourth grade student below his or her standard reading level, California builds a new jail cell. They predict that these students will become menaces to society, thus building these cells would protect society. Instead of correcting the problem by paying for education (paying teachers to tutor these students), they build another jail cell.
I’m so idealistic, it’s sad. It’s not as if I didn’t understand this before. School really is about academics and conforming yourself. It’s the magnitude of society’s ignorance that scares me.
this is why they should burn the SATs to hell
I really agree in the part that the SAT’s and ACT’s and GPA’s and whatever three-letter acronyms or whatsoever you can name is creating stereotypes of “who’s smart, who’s dumb?” People are being judged increasingly about based on their intelligence and nothing else. This is 99 if not 100% correct right here. I honestly have to say that these things are causing colleges and others to misjudge people and pressuring people like me to take those tests “just to look smart”!!!! And the jail cell part, Phil Angelides would’ve solved.
I can see where you’re coming from.. I probably wrote a blog like this at some point or another, but I realize that it’s pretty one-sided. Yes, it is mostly like that, there’s terrible pressure (I know, I just experienced it firsthand!) but colleges are increasingly turning to holistic admissions (and UCLA is increasingly turning to random-ass admissions). Hell, UCSD gives you points for being UNDERPRIVILEGED. A lot of places do, actually.. what bugs me even more than all of this at-the-top competition is that the middle-class kids get shafted.
But hey, College Board is pretty smart — they’re brainwashing a damn nation. And getting a good salary out of it, too. How else would you be able to trick 2349724 kids into learning to think YOUR way?
College Board helps the economy.
All these college prep classes are making a bundle as well.
au contraire, mon ami.
sure, scores and gpa’s count. how else do they gauge how much you’ve learned and complied with “the system”? they need to know that you have at least a jr. high school comprehension level.
but i’ve talked to a couple of admissions officers at a few different schools, Stanford included, and they’re actually looking for the nitty gritty stuff. how else are schools going to differentiate between the thousands of 4.0 gpa applicants? Two major things: Personal Essay (including recommendations) and extra curricular.
in extra curricular stuff, you’ve got to list everything you’ve done. all sports, community service, awards, blah blah blah. you might sound pretentious but you can’t discredit yourself.
i wholeheartedly agree with school turning everybody in drones, hindering creativity, but what are you going to do? the way i see, you’ve got three choices: sit back and comply. be disobedient and fight back. or figure it out and use it to your benefit.
take care, stella.
After writing this, I realized how one-sided the issue is.
Their method is cracked, but it’s the only way they can measure how a student can get into their school.
Danny, you’re right when you said schools like Stanford look for nitpicky things. But apparently, UC’s no longer look at those nitpicky things.
I will be the minority. But I think GPAs, SATs, ACTs, etc, etc. are important. If we are to complain about the system on a macro-level, then why not comment on the micro? For example, SATs are most dreaded for students in high school. What about finals? Don’t they make or break your grade as well? You have an 89% and you MUST get that A. What do you do? You study, you study and you study. Behold, you get to keep your 4.0.
Now, I’m older than you guys by a lot of years. Those students that you see succeed in high school … actually, do succeed post-high school… and college.
All in all, my sweeties, keep your head high. Behold your values and morals and keep them close to your heart. Do not lose sight of what makes you happy but know what you must do to succeed as a person. I suggest role models. Pick a role model (past, present, fictitious) and model after that person, inevitably, you’ll become someone’s role model.
Love you.
Stick to a state school. You are simply not Stanford pedigree. The SAT is an accurate measure of one’s intellect and well you’re clearly lacking. Perhaps you are just better off flourishing at a UC school amongst your own kind. You can visit our campus all you’d like but it’s just going to be harder when you realize the truth, so it’s better to stop being so delusional as soon as you can.