Rants

School Rant

Lately I've felt like I am accomplishing very little by being at school. I feel like I could be accomplishing so much more outside of the primary education system. Not that a primary education isn't good, I just feel that the only reason I'm still here is because I have to be. If myself and others like me could just move on to college when we were ready rather than when the state says is okay so much more learning would be done in so much less time. Lately it just seems as if the majority of my classes are pointless and are nothing but busy work. I don't mean to discredit any one or any class, but I HAVE LEARNED NOTHING. Because I took physics last year so far AP physics is all review so far, Econ is just common sense, so far calculus is a review from trigonometry and algebra and there is very little new material. It seems that my English class is the only place I'm learning anything and the things I'm learning aren't typical things one would learn in English. School just seems like a waste of my time, like nothing but busy work. If college would just hurry up and arrive already I could be done with the monotony of school and move on with my life and really accomplish things.

Workload Rant

I felt like I was managing myself fairly well with the whole college thing approaching until English today. It wasn't that English stresses me out, it's that the journal really made me think how I am spending my time and made me realize just how busy I am and suddenly I felt tired and burnt out. Applying for college and scholarships and the stress it causes has concrete research behind it showing that it's overbearing for seniors. So not only do I have that huge weight on my shoulders, but I have the heaviest course load I've had my entire academic career. The classes I'm taking have all seniors in them. The teachers know that I am going through one of the most important processes of life trying to start my adulthood, yet they still assign wayyyyyy too much homework. I have such a long laundry list of things to do it gets to the point where I just have to do them and move not really paying too much attention to quality. On top of this course work load I do a sport that has the biggest time commitment of any other sport. We have four hours of practice and we aren't even in season. On top of this I have to manage my weight outside of practice and even do extra workouts on my own to watch weight. During season we miss a day almost every week for league or tournaments. I have a huge time commitment. I know I put that upon myself and I could just quit, but in reality I can't if I want to stay competitive for college. Wrestling puts me in a leadership position and shows commitment and colleges apparently like to see that. I would busy enough just with wrestling but I also have an extraordinarily heavy course load and the combination of these things is ridiculous, and then college is piled on top of this. Trying to balance school college wrestling and enough sleep is proving to be impossible. The only reason I even have time to write this is because I didn't go to wrestling today. But I wouldn't have to skip if teachers would just back off with the homework and assignments. If all I had was extracurricular activities and college, I would be fine. I would be able to manage and get my sleep. But no. Teachers don't seem to understand what I have to do outside their class for the future of my life. I'm not saying don't assign any homework I'm just saying take it easy until college app's are done. Please

College Rant

Today I was asked to find a scholarship I qualify for as an assignment and it made me think, why should I need to do this? Why should I to go into so much debt for education? What is wrong with our society that education is for a select few in relativity to the masses of the uneducated? In much of Europe the equivalent of college is free for those with the grades, no matter your income. I could avoid the thousands of dollars in debt by not going to college and not advancing my education. Doesn't that seem like the better option? Why should I put myself into debt when there isn't any guarantee of employment either way? Trying to get to college has become an extraordinarily stressful feat. Colleges focus on so much more than grades. It's already extremely difficult to maintain my over 4.0 GPA, and now if I want to go to a good school, I need to play a sport, be in clubs, have a ton of volunteer hours, and present myself in less than 1,000 words to someone I've never met, and convince them to admit me. Also, colleges are looking at things that are out of my control including race, sex and my parents income. Why should someone of Mexican ancestry or African American ancestry with the exact same qualities as me be admitted and I'm white and I'm declined. I understand that colleges are trying to make their campuses more diverse, but by trying to "not be racist," they are being racist. Why should the fact that I'm male influence whether I'm admitted or not? Why does the fact that my parents make more money than someone else influence the admission officer? Because I am a white male from an upper middle class family I am not going to get any favors from the admissions officer. To get admitted I have to be the best of the best instead of just the best. It may just seem like I'm some spoiled privileged brat who doesn't realize what he has, but my parents make to much money to qualify for financial aid and not enough to pay for college easily, and because I'm a white male from the upper middle class, if i get admitted, I'm not going to get much money from the school. While my family may be better off than others, the fact that these "less well off" families get  tons of financial aid is really an equalizer because I will graduate with debt.  How is this an equal opportunity? The American Dream is to take whatever circumstances you begin with and improve them, not backtrack because of debt from trying to better yourself through education.