South Carolina has been my home since I was born. I have countless memories of sitting on the sandy beaches of Myrtle Beach, feeding deer under the palms of Fripp Island, hiking with my father around Peach Tree Rock, and exploring the plethora of historical parks that this state has to offer. Garnet and black is a requirement in our closets, and Saturdays are spent tailgating in the shade of Williams-Brice. South Carolina is the backdrop of my past, and I want it to be the backdrop of my future. But what could make this state even better?
Through multiple rough drafts of this paper I cannot seem to pinpoint anything that the individual could not fix. Drivers can start using blinkers, the less opened minded could accept others, and manners can be retaught. But nothing impacts me more than the flaws of high school.
The struggles of a high school senior ranges from drama with friends to having to ace an AP test. Droves of students move throughout their halls everyday filling their heads with cookie cutter knowledge that liquifies once they take the test. We are required to take classes that we may need to help find our strengths and weaknesses but do not stretch beyond the required core credits of college. We waste hundreds of days droning on about complex formulas for volume, unbalanced chemical equations and dead writers that most students will forget about after the last word is read. What is our time being spent on? Why must we all chant the words of a text book in order to be considered intelligent enough for college?
I worked hard my first three years to finish all my core classes. The valuable space in my schedule was taken up by the state regulated information that I would regurgitate, forget, and relearn again. I felt unhappy. My time was being wasted and my GPA was suffering because of it. I was told to take science and math at depths that the shallow demands of society would never call upon. English classes hammered dead writers, poets and literary styles into skulls that didn't care in the slightest. The more that was force fed to us, the more I began to realize that I would be so much happier if the schools taught usable information and saved the details for those that desire it.
Most high school seniors know what they are going to do in college. Whether they see business or art in their future, the college path has been laid. Naturally these students would desire to further explore their desired major, not that final chemistry class they will never use again. As a future journalist major I'm craving more literature classes. Yet my schedule is filled with uninteresting courses that had been picked at random. I have enjoyed the in-depth discussions of my required English classes and the extra two I managed to squeeze in, but was too busy trying to just get through the others that I missed the depth of history classes. Science and math classes chopped away at my GPA as I took notes on formulas and reactions that had no meaning to me other than a bad grade. My time was wasted on the heavy medicine of required class that I barely got to enjoy the light happiness of being taught what I love being taught.
The average students grades differ from class to class. Some may earn 90's in math and science, but fall to the lower 70's when forced to pick up a book or look at a map. Student confidence goes up in classes where the information is retained and enjoyed. When a teacher asks a student a question in a subject they love hands shoot up and confidence is in the answer. Why fill the students with in-depth information that leads no where except stress when the educational environment and student outlook can be improved by changing the way students get taught? Teach joy and passion, not force feed information that won't get called upon again.
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