I am currently a high school student, but I don’t go to just
any high school. I attend a Big Picture School, which might I add is AWESOME. Typically
in a week, I go to school for three days to work on projects, presentations, and school work. Two days I am taking a couple of
college classes, and throughout the week I intern at a college paper. Oh, and I dance over seven hours a week. The
idea of my school is to get the students out in the real world, and gain real
world skills. There’s a lot of freedom for the students to pursue their
interests, and it makes school fun.
I went to a traditional high school for my freshman and half
of my sophomore year. We all go through the same experience. We go in, sit for
six hours or so, and leave. There is the SLIGHT and I mean slight possibility
that we have truly learned something of value. Maybe we learned not to smoke
pot in the first floor bathroom or perhaps we found out that in science you
shouldn’t eat the mystical substance that looks like caramel. We are given a
book to shove into our cranium (here’s where you have to fit a square into a
circle) and at the end of the school year, we can drop it off at the nearest lot.
In this traditional high school we must all learn the same
exact things. These things, these knick knacks designated as ‘knowledge’, have
to reside in our brains for a time. We all get a high school diploma. My
question is this: what makes us any different from the next person? How is my
diploma any different than yours? I went to AP English, you went to regular
English. We both went to English. We both got to sit down and write essays and
read Shakespeare. All a high school diploma says is ‘I went here for four
years, filled in the requirements, got good grades, and now I’m out. Peace’.
This is the worst kind of uniform you could bestow on a student.
That is why I whole-heartedly support a style of school such
as mine. Don’t get me wrong, it isn’t for everyone. Some people need the structure
of a traditional setting. Otherwise, you should be going out and interning,
actually having a desire to learn, not go to school just because the law
requires you to. School should be a place to learn. It should also be where you
claim your individuality. And that is why one person’s high school experience, or life experiences, shouldn’t
be a replica of someone else’s.
I also would like to
take this opportunity to say this: CONFORMITY IS DEAD. It really is a lot harder to
conform in my opinion, because you end up keeping track of other peoples’
achievements instead of being aware of your own. Life gets so much easier (and a lot
more fun) when you follow YOUR dreams and forget about caring what others think
of you. Also, many colleges, even
workplaces, really like it when students go out of their way to accomplish
something off the less beaten path. It sets you apart, and that is the beauty
of diversity.
So if you are in a traditional school, make that diploma count. Do things that you enjoy. if you are in my kind of school or similar, awesome. Don't waste the opportunity.
