Honor Roll

I graduated almost two months ago from high school--seventh in my class, member of every academic society my school offered, highly involved in clubs, and a recipient of the International Baccalaureate Diploma.  I was involved and motivated, with a high GPA and ACT.  Yet, here I am sitting at a laptop, a month away from going off to college with a great scholarship, feeling ill-prepared for life ahead--feeling as though the public education system has failed me.

I'll be honest, I am probably more prepared than most, because the International Baccalaureate Program did provide me with ample writing skills and presentation/people skills for life, and I am very grateful for that because I think that is more than most have available to them.  That being said, I am sitting here, applying for an on-campus job, clueless as to how to write a cover letter.  I don't know how to do that, pay taxes--heck, I was never even taught how to write a check.  Now, I am fortunate to have parents who are more than willing to help me, but I realize that this isn't the case for everyone.

I feel as though the education system failed me.

I had wonderful teachers who really wanted to help students become the best humans that we could become.  My school has a policy in place to try to make its students "college and career ready," but these goals have been made impossible by the focus on testing and rankings.  Students become defined by numbers, and while these numbers may test the ability of a school to relay information to students, they do not give a full picture to the educational success of the students, that hinges not only on the academic success, but also on the emotional success and team-building skills that students gain.

Going out into the world is a scary thing--well prepared or not.  I only hope that students, teachers, and school officials can work together to find a happy medium for gauging and creating success.  Because it is only when the emphasis is put on overall success for individual young people in life as a whole that growth happens that affects not only standardized testing scores, but all-around growth as humans.