"Mediocrity Rules"
During finals week last semester, I overheard some classmates of mine talking before class started. From what I could tell, a classmate was expressing enthusiasm about their high GPA this semester, when another student piped in with "future employers are going to look at that and assume you have no life". Now beyond the utter stupidity of the assertion that future employers would look down on a competent student, it peeved me on another level too. It seems that the majority of the students at the school I attend reveal in mediocrity. Where you're failure if your below a C student, but "lifeless" if you’re an A student. Now while this is completely expected in a high school setting, it's depressing that people still hold on to silly social stigmas like that beyond high school.
But I guess that's why I'm not entirely optimistic about starting school this semester. While I always look forward to the academic aspect, I can't stand most of the student body. And no, I'm not bitching about the stereotyped drunk frat boy or party girls. I routinely have to deal with the students who complain about "liberal teachers" and shirk at any attempt to challenge their own beliefs. And this isn't even a rant about their political beliefs or attitudes, so much as their inability to learn to sharpen their own arguments and expand their horizons. Instead I have to hear people whine about how the teacher disagrees with them, and how dare they have to form a coherent argument to counter them! Don't the teachers know that they are special snow flakes!
Now I hold nothing against the people who are attending and have to scrape by, be it because they mentally low functioning or because they just have way too much on their hands (single full time working moms, for example). I'm just sick of dealing with those who refuse to use their academic potential and deliberately cling to their small town mindset in the face of enlightenment. I'm sick and tired of people acting like this is just another round of high school, the fracking 13th grade.
This honestly isn't me trying to come across as brighter than anybody else. Hell, I'm always pleased to encounter students in my classes who do try to achieve more than the bare minimum. I'm just chronically disappointed by seeing wasted potential, in favor of what is deemed average. And I can't wrap my head around why that is desirable.
But I guess that's why I'm not entirely optimistic about starting school this semester. While I always look forward to the academic aspect, I can't stand most of the student body. And no, I'm not bitching about the stereotyped drunk frat boy or party girls. I routinely have to deal with the students who complain about "liberal teachers" and shirk at any attempt to challenge their own beliefs. And this isn't even a rant about their political beliefs or attitudes, so much as their inability to learn to sharpen their own arguments and expand their horizons. Instead I have to hear people whine about how the teacher disagrees with them, and how dare they have to form a coherent argument to counter them! Don't the teachers know that they are special snow flakes!
Now I hold nothing against the people who are attending and have to scrape by, be it because they mentally low functioning or because they just have way too much on their hands (single full time working moms, for example). I'm just sick of dealing with those who refuse to use their academic potential and deliberately cling to their small town mindset in the face of enlightenment. I'm sick and tired of people acting like this is just another round of high school, the fracking 13th grade.
This honestly isn't me trying to come across as brighter than anybody else. Hell, I'm always pleased to encounter students in my classes who do try to achieve more than the bare minimum. I'm just chronically disappointed by seeing wasted potential, in favor of what is deemed average. And I can't wrap my head around why that is desirable.