I left the North Shore because I
hated just about everything. The girls I didn’t know
glaring at me in the hallways, the way guys expected to be loved by everyone,
the number of people believing that they were entitled to everything around
them. But mostly the high expectations. I left feeling unappreciated, insignificant and like I was just another
outlier for the school statistics for the test scores. I can be a good student
if I tried the only problem is I don’t. I don’t see the benefits in staying up
until three in the morning trying to finish all my homework for the next day. I
don’t see how being involved in three clubs, two sports and getting on the
honor roll every year can be beneficial. We as students are told to be well
rounded, to get perfect scores on everything, join a sport and as many clubs as
we can, but the only thing that does for us is puts us in the hospital for
mental breakdowns from the overwhelming amount of work we are expected to do in
one night. We are only teenagers. No, college will be nothing like this because
we will have more freedom to do what we please. All these extra activities are so
our college applications look good. Not because we want to. Yes, there are a
few cases in which we do the clubs and activities because we enjoy them, but to
be expected to get all A’s in every class, on every test is too much.
We as students do not get a break.
Going from event to event. The madness needs to stop. These ridiculously high
expectations need to end. School should not be so stressful that mental
breakdowns are a normal occurrence. School would be less dreadful with lower
standards. Of course we would still hate the early and long hours. These are
the exact reasons I do not care much for grades. They do not define who I am. The
standards of Deerfield High School are nothing but nonsense to me. I refuse to
push myself over the edge mentally to get a perfect score on anything because
it’s not worth it. My mental health is more important to me than a grade. I am
perfectly content with a B because I still did a great job. Sure an A would be
nice but not if I spend hours crying over the stress of the assignment.
