We are all well aware that DSST encourages students to go to college and emphasizes it from the first day of summer school. We wrote where we wanted to go to college on orange and blue feathers and hung them on the wall. We had big dreams of the majors we wanted, of the jobs we wanted. We were told that we were building important habits that would ensure our lifelong success in achieving our dreams. Being a sixth grader, I remember writing that I wanted to go to Yale because Yale was a.) one of the only colleges I could think of and b.) I really liked watching the Gilmore Girls. What did I know? I was only in sixth grade.
DSST Public Schools has excelled in graduation rate, and college going rate. These are things that can be measured. They influence school funding, the school’s reputation, the school’s pride. College is ingrained in us. DSST’s statistics are something to be proud of. Students perform better on standardized tests than most other schools. After all, we have a banner hanging in the gym that celebrates academic achievement.
At the middle school orientation, I remember seventh and eighth grade speakers from other DSST campuses talk about how prepared they are for college. They talked about how rigorous the classes were, what a college prep was, and the college-going culture at DSST. Is any seventh grader qualified to speak about how prepared they are for college?
Academic achievement is certainly an important part of being a school. School isn’t school without academics. However, a school is not made up of academics: a school is made up of students. Academics are not the only thing that make up a student, therefore school is not only made up of academics. Every experience of everyone in the school: the students, the teachers, the janitors, the administration, the school director. Education is not merely regurgitating facts on a piece of paper. Education should shape a person, not an encyclopedia. “Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school”( Albert Einstein).
People are shaped by the experiences and people that they spend the most time with. Students practically live at school. The lessons we learn in a classroom are significant, but the life lessons that we learn are more important. Some pressure to excel at academics is important. It motivates us. Yet, pressure and high expectations can cause students debilitating stress. Since sixth grade, DSST has linked your performance on tests and everyday habits to your future success. We were told that “Excellence is not an act, but a habit”. On a daily basis, I was reminded that how I studied for a math test directly impacted if I would achieve my dreams. On some level, everything has an impact, but on the other hand it was one test; one day, is insignificant.
In sixth grade I was a motivated student. I did well in school, I took advanced math, I worked hard. Coming from a small private school, I was shocked by the rigor of DSST. I had never heard so much about college before. I was constantly reminded that my daily actions influenced my future job, my future success, my future happiness. The only way I knew how to calm my panic about how much I thought a homework assignment would change my life was to perfect every assignment. Striving for perfection certainly impacted my grades, but test scores don’t reflect the things that I gave up. I spent many late nights stressed out and concerned. I thought doing poorly on one Mastery Check determined where I could get into college. As DSST sounded like a broken record about the importance of college, it became background noise. Instead of being excited about how prepared I was for college, I sighed when it came up. Building habits for college consumed all of my time and I wished it would go away.
Only looking back can I realize that many of the things I thought were important weren’t and that the things that I was giving up to spend every minute trying to get the best grades possible wasn’t worth it. I eventually learned how to manage my time and have balance, but nothing accounts for lost time. I gave up the ending of the childhood and became a high school student applying to college. I will never get a child’s innocent happiness back.
DSST values hard work, but fails to recognize the sacrifices it requires. DSST demands you to give 100% and then asks for more. They forget that college does not define you; it is not everything. Stress takes away students’ happiness. I refuse to live a life absent of happiness. I always see students that are overwhelmed. I see students that are desperately trying to cram information into their brain, thinking they must prove they are worthy of DSST’s education. I have seen students doubt their self worth after being disappointed about a grade. Basing a school’s success primarily on their test scores forces students to be encyclopedias. Using numbers to define a group of people takes away their humanity. It is not representative of their dedication, nor is it representative of their achievements in what is not tested. It causes them to think that they are only represented by their test scores. Is stress on students worth the higher test scores, sleepless nights, and stressed out students? Does DSST need to pressure middle school students to seriously consider college? Why do rigorous academics have to be so demanding and stressful? Why do academics leave out the whole person?
But most importantly, What can we do about it?