Herzliyya Lopez
English Composition 1101
Professor Hall
Final Draft
As I wake up from my nap, I hear my parents conversing in the living room. “Look at your cousin, she’s an honor roll! It’s because she works hard, maybe you will get an honor roll one day if you work harder”. My mother tries to show it to me with a smile as I walk past her. This scene was very familiar. In an Asian household, it is very normal for parents or any adults to subconsciously compare you to your other relatives. Especially in education wise, because to these Asian parents, your grades are what defines you. It is very saddening to think that this is normalized and one of the toxic traits of an Asian household that every Asian kid knows about. However, I do understand that this was the generation they grew up in. The generation where they prioritized their education over their happiness, over their contentment, and over their mental state. Because for some, education was their only way out from their life’s misery. I knew my mother didn’t mean any harm when she showed me that picture and said what she said. However, many generations have passed, and this new generation is learning that not everyone has to fit in this box many generations have created it to be. They are learning to be successful in many ways, not just through education.
I remember being in third grade and taking the state test. Because I didn’t meet the passing score that they set, I needed to go to summer school. If I did not pass the test the second time, I would have repeated third grade again. Luckily, I passed it and enjoyed the rest of my summer. However, my other friend who also had to go to summer school did not pass her second exam. This meant that she needed to repeat another year of third grade, even after her hard work to go on to fourth grade. She still needed to repeat another year because of one test. But, this also meant that she needed to go back to zero of trying to make new friends as she sees her current friends move on without her. Just thinking about this again makes me wonder how lonesome it must have been for a third grader to see her friends move on while she needed to repeat another year in order to go on to fourth grade. It’s great to see this new generation unlearning the stereo type of fitting in the box in terms of the education system. However, this standardized test that evaluates your academic ability, is preventing other young people from believing that they are more than their test scores and worthier than their average grades. When will we get rid of this system that evaluates you if you are good enough to get promoted. Generations of generations have created this system that prevents young people who are excelling in other things, to shine and be confident of what they are good at.
I go back to my room and open my social media. It’s that time of the year, graduation season. I see so many posts of parents posting their children’s academic excellence. There is totally nothing wrong with that, but it did make me wonder. Do the children that excel in different things other than academic excellence get posted in their parent’s social media, as much as the children that excel in academics? When will they ever be worth bragging about in their parents’ social media?
Growing up, math and sciences was never my strength. I was average and under average for some subjects. However, I was always into creating and building. I was also into photography. It was only until high school that I realized I also had my own strengths. Because of this one class, in visual arts. There I’ve grown to love art and learned to use it as my strength. Although I was an average in my major classes, such as math and sciences, I was excelling in my elective class. Junior year, my photo portrait was chosen to be put in the Borough Arts Festival of the New York City Department of Education. This was also when my parents learned that their daughter may be average/under average for her major classes, but she was good at what she loved to do.
Nonetheless, education is important. However, it should not be used to prevent children from growing and glowing in their own ways. Education should nurture their interests in other things, and it should not limit what they can and cannot do. It’s the simplest things like one elective class, that can help you thrive even more on the things you love. Maybe if the numbers on your report card did not have to define your intelligence. Maybe if the school recognized your other talents and offered more classes and freedom to do what you love to do, to support your strength. Maybe if you did not need to sacrifice your whole summer in order to be in school again to retake that test one last time. Maybe if the education system did not have a test score that you had to reach just so you get promoted to the next grade. Then maybe, these kids that excel outside the four cornered rooms, away from the rows of desks and chairs that make them sit still and have no space for them to move around. Maybe then, they’ll be worth bragging about. Maybe then, they’ll be good enough, not to get promoted, but just good enough. People are worth more than their academic excellence, and this current generation is learning that. Unlearning the idea of putting your education over your happiness, contentment, and your mental and emotional state . Learning that you are good enough, no matter what you do and how you do. They are unlearning the stereotypes of having to fit in the education system box.
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