Maegan+C’s+Final+AmEx+2013+Speech

=Title of Speech= The "Perfect" Students

=Text of Speech=

We’re no strangers to the ever stressful life of a high school junior trying to get into college. We put pressure on ourselves, as well as our peers and parents adding to the stress. College competition is a tough battle with more and more teenagers applying for less spots in Universities. So, we all strive to be the one kid who is better than the rest, and an irresistible choice for colleges. I have been tearing my hair out for the past few years for this very reason. However, nothing makes me sicker than to see a perfectly well rounded student in distress over getting into college. Everyone, including me, wants to look flawless on their college application, but it still makes me sad for bright students to lose hope. I know I have felt this way many times in the past year, and it sucks. I’ve been dreading the SAT for months now, because that one single, stupid test has way too much influence on your college options, and if you’re like me and actually have to study for it, consumes a ton of your time. So many of us lose sleep over just the thought of earning a “B” in a class, but why? A “B” is a very respectable grade to earn in an AP level class, but colleges have us thinking that they need the perfect student, and nothing less. I hate the fact that the school system, or college system, is putting us into the mindset that a 4.0 GPA is okay, but not that impressive.

A good student now means that you carry your skills out of the classroom and into the community. My parents want me to be more involved in school programs, extracurriculars and sports just to look good on a college application. They don’t just want me to be a good student with good grades, but the perfect applicant when I apply to college next year. I don’t want to see an America that evolves into something that brainwashes high school students into becoming the perfect student, or since that’s kind of already happened; I can only pray it doesn’t get worse. I don’t want to see every generation to come being obsessed with making themselves the perfect student with the near 5.0 GPA.

Personally, it seems like I have gotten too caught up in trying to become that “perfect student” this year. I got good grades, yes, but I didn’t memorize every physio flashcard or attempt memorizing the history textbook because I really wanted to. I did it to get good grades, to get into college, to hopefully get a good job. I’m proud of the work I’ve done and what I’ve accomplished, and I’m not trying to say working hard in school is pointless, because it’s not. I just don’t like our mentality about grades, scores, and tests. I hate how students are disappointed when they get a B on a test. But most of all, I hate all the things around us telling us that we have to be that A+ perfect student. I can’t stand when parents are angry with their children for not bringing home a flawless report card. I can’t stand how college lingers around my whole high school career, and I can’t stand all these insanely high expectations. I concur that challenging yourself can be a good thing, but I hate the mentality of why we challenge ourselves with difficult classes. It’s as not much as because we want to, but rather that we want to get ourselves to get to the next step, to get to the next step, and so on.

In the America I grow old in, I want to see less of an emphasis on perfection, especially in academics. I want more parents to say “do your best,” and less to say, “Do better”. I hope parents will stop raising children in the mindset that their love is to be earned with straight A’s. I want children to be taught that their best is good enough, that it’s OK to fail one whole test, and that there is more to life than scoring a 2400 on your SAT. I hope to see our children learn because they want to, not because the UC system is telling them they should. I really do hope that one day the scholars of America will not be so much as obsessed with becoming a perfect student, but the best student they can be.

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