We're More Than Just Competitors

You know what I've realized about school recently?

It's a race to freakin' nowhere.

You try so hard, and push yourself to the point of tears, but in the end it's doesn't matter. Because there's no "Best". You're stuck in this loop of trying to be the winner, but there's nothing to win. 

School doesn't have a trophy to hand you at the end. (Sure, you get a diploma, but so do *most* people) And then, after high school, it's just more school! You keep striving for this goal, and keep reaching for a prize you're never going to achieve. Because this prize doesn’t exist. 

Even when you think you’re done, even when you believe you know all that a school can offer you, there’s more degrees and people who are smarter. There’s more books to be read and mathematical theories to be taught. 

So we’re forced to keep going, to keep topping ourselves, because even when we do great, it's still not our best. You can always know more and you can always do more, but even then it'll never be your best. 

And that’s really, really, really stupid. That, my friends, is screwed up.

(Granted, I’m homeschooled, so maybe I’m biased.)

There should be a stopping point. There should be a “Congratulations! You have done all that you can and that’s great. I am so proud of you!” There should be a Best. A real, honest to goodness Best that anyone can achieve. 

And this Best should be a personal achievement. Not something that’s dictated by others. It should be a sense of completion, of wholeness inside of you, because this idea that no one can ever learn enough and be enough and become the most wonderful version of themselves isn’t good. It isn’t sound, and it’s not healthy. 

And while learning is great, and reading and writing and numbers and science and all these never ending things are amazing, and we’re all so very blessed to live in a world where these things are available to us, something is wrong when students never feel complete. Something is messed up when no one ever feels as if they are good enough, based on tests and grades.

Education should not make people feel burdened. It should not make high school students feel the need to take their own lives because of the stress it causes.

Education should empower people! Knowing things and learning new things should people happy! If education was done right, students would love getting up in the morning. They would want to go out and learn new things. 

But they don’t, because when students hear the word “education”, all they think of is the pressure to win that shiny gold medal that is no where to be found. 

Where you are now and what you know is wonderful! Whether you’ve read 600 books or 6 books is great! You should be rewarded just for reading a book. Reading books is amazing, but if you don’t want to than you shouldn’t be looked down upon for that.

A person’s worth should not simply be measured by how many miles they’ve run in a race that doesn’t have a finish line.