Straight A's and the Road to Hell

"But you are so gifted."

"We all know you are going to get an A."

"Stop worrying, you'll do fine."

"Shut up! You are so clever."

"Of course you are going to pass."

"If you're failing this, we all are."

These are just a few examples of the comments you get when you express your worries as a straight A student. There is no doubt that everyone means well, but that does not remove the pressure from the student. When you have entered the stream of A's, there is no way back. It is all going downhill from there. Why? Because your grades can only go one way, and that is down. It is not only stressful, but it's also an unhealthy educational culture. And people tend to not recognize it for what it is: pressure.

We all have worries, especially regarding school. Are we doing all right? Are we going to pass? Are we good enough? Should we even bother? In an unadulterated world, the school would be about learning and not about grades. In a pure world, pupils would ask each other about the mistakes they made and learn from them instead of asking, "What grade did you get on the paper?" We have become so focused on numbers, weight, and measurements that we tend to neglect that, behind all that, there is a human being.

We are all insecure. We all want to do well. But someone is always better than us, and it is in no way easier to get straight A's than to be mediocre. With good grades comes the pressure to continue to be great. Straight A's means going to university to study medicine, law, or economic science. But what if I do not want to do any of that? What if I want to live in a quiet place, reading books and prosecute artistic production?

That is simply not an option because then I am wasting my life and my potential. Good breeds better, and better breeds, "it is never good enough." Instead of becoming who we want to be, we evolve into what everyone is expecting us to be. Instead of striving to be happy, we tend to strive for success.

People have always had a tendency to focus on success and wealth, but we have reached a point in our development, where success is everywhere except within ourselves. Students are stressed, depressed and buried in debt, and just as life could not seem any worse, everyone around you succeeds. We have become a society of insecurities. Is that really how we want to live? I sure as hell do not.

Education should be about learning and to feed our peculiarity. But somewhere along the way school has become an assembly line only producing brainless, preprogrammed workers for the CEOs to manipulate. From a very young age, we are told that we need to get an education in order to get a gracious job and provide for our families, but they never taught us about the fine line between getting by and getting along.

"But you are so talented." But I do not want to be.

"We all know you are going to get an A." But what if I'm not?

"Stop worrying, you'll do fine." Maybe I won't.

"Shut up! You are so clever." No. I just know what the teacher wants to hear.

"Of course you are going to pass." Failing is always an option, and worrying is always alright.

"If you're failing this, we all are." That is a lie. I am allowed to have bad days, and bad assignments will occur, and that is OK.

I do not want to be alive. I want to be living.