Learning. Novel idea, no?

Have you ever felt that feeling where you read an entire chapter of a book, only to realize you don’t know what is going on? Welcome to my life.

Arcadia has received countless accolades for its academic achievement. We can safely say that any Arcadia High student is well equipped with the work ethic and drive needed to succeed in college and beyond, as proven by our top-ranking exit exam, state testing and AP Exam scores. As far as the record books are concerned, our school is an educational utopia. However, our student body has become so obsessed with these very scores, that the true meaning of learning has lost all its value. Students today are so consumed in competition, that they seldom retain the life skills that our schools were established to offer. And, consequently, our generation is gradually straying from the invaluable education our founding fathers intended for us, propelling us into a truly stagnant and homogeneous future.

Schools initially were created to mold young adults into functional and contributing members of society. But our school has taken this to an extreme, as we have created a cookie cutter in the shape of the letters “AP” and stamped each and every student with it, turning into a factory of robots, rather than a warm environment to foster the growing minds of tomorrow. Society is somewhat to blame in this little predicament because it has skewed the definition of education, so that what is required to get into college will not necessarily prepare you in any way for life. For example, students no longer analyze subject matter. Instead, they merely memorize it, regurgitating information onto an exam, only to forget it the next day when the new lesson begins. Teachers, administrators and students alike have fallen into a pattern of short term goals that do not benefit the learning process in any way, thereby completely disregarding the bigger picture.

In order to repair the damage that has been done to the lazy mindsets of both students and teachers, I suggest we take the Mr. Keeting approach. I do not mean to advocate the entire student population mounting their desks, while passionately declaring, “O Captain, My Captain!” but, rather, defining the importance of learning for themselves, individually. Indeed, students are known less and less by their unique qualities and interests, and more by their SAT scores. While they pressure themselves to clinch those all-important A’s, they neglect that the lessons they acquire from the material reflect far more on their character than the letter grade sent home on a sheet of expertly watermarked paper.

I, personally, still dream of living like the Jetsons-- with flying cars and robot maids and talking dogs-- the whole nine yards. And, unlike many, I still have faith that our generation can crawl out of our AP Chemistry books and scrape up quite a nice little future for ourselves. Join me, wont you?