I have a lot to say about this, since it echoes life in the "advanced" academic track in my high school. But the difference is that we didn't have this weird pressure to be "effortlessly hot." I blame, of course, the media.
My high school prided itself on breeding Ivy League students, and God help you if you went to vocational school or decided to go into the military. Or if you were, like me, really smart but with grades too low to get into Smith or Wellesley or Princeton, or if your parents - shame! - couldn't afford to send you without huge scholarships. Le sigh.
I like this girl Esther, I hope she does OK on her own.
My class for Sing! wrote a musical about how if you got below 1400 on your SATs you didn't get into heaven. The protagonist died dring the test, scoring only a 1390 (what I got, because I couldn't be fucked to deal with it), and as trying to get out of purgatory.
Exactly. But we were also giving lip service to the lower-tracked kids, like, it's okay to be what you want! but it's not really, becaue you'll get the crappier teachers while we cultivate the smart and/or economically advantaged kids.
I got a 1230 on my SATs. It seems I shouldn't remember that. 720 verbal, and I was mad because it had been a 740 on the PSAT.
That does not speak well to adult life after Stuyvesant.
My split was large, and further evidence that I was not good enough for certain schools, so it's sort of burned into my brain. Remember, I was getting nudged towards Bard, and Hofstra came up only because of the New College within it. I was "special."
Many, many many people I run into from Stuyvestant now strike me as either still or newly deeply unhappy. And they tend to look at me like I have three heads. Why should I be happy? With this?
I'm struck that the reality that SAT scores don't matter much after college doesn't set in.
The thing about the girls in this article is that they have such rich cultural lives, however enforced - will they be able to recreate or continue that joy later, or will they drop out and become stoners just to get a break? Will they only associate it with achievement?
Our after-school drama program won awards, but I am forever indebted to our director for imbuing us with this secret (which, I believe, led to the awards): "If you are having fun, the audience will have fun. They will not care if you screw up. They probably won't even notice." It liberated us from this competetive edge. For better and, you know, for worse.
I'm glad that girl went for more Latin even though she was "supposed" to take a science. Yay Latin.
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no subject
Date: 2007-04-01 04:18 pm (UTC)My high school prided itself on breeding Ivy League students, and God help you if you went to vocational school or decided to go into the military. Or if you were, like me, really smart but with grades too low to get into Smith or Wellesley or Princeton, or if your parents - shame! - couldn't afford to send you without huge scholarships. Le sigh.
I like this girl Esther, I hope she does OK on her own.
no subject
Date: 2007-04-01 04:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-01 04:22 pm (UTC)I got a 1230 on my SATs. It seems I shouldn't remember that. 720 verbal, and I was mad because it had been a 740 on the PSAT.
no subject
Date: 2007-04-01 04:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-01 04:27 pm (UTC)My split was large, and further evidence that I was not good enough for certain schools, so it's sort of burned into my brain. Remember, I was getting nudged towards Bard, and Hofstra came up only because of the New College within it. I was "special."
no subject
Date: 2007-04-01 04:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-01 04:35 pm (UTC)The thing about the girls in this article is that they have such rich cultural lives, however enforced - will they be able to recreate or continue that joy later, or will they drop out and become stoners just to get a break? Will they only associate it with achievement?
Our after-school drama program won awards, but I am forever indebted to our director for imbuing us with this secret (which, I believe, led to the awards): "If you are having fun, the audience will have fun. They will not care if you screw up. They probably won't even notice." It liberated us from this competetive edge. For better and, you know, for worse.
I'm glad that girl went for more Latin even though she was "supposed" to take a science. Yay Latin.