The Problem

Not surprisingly, there is a lot of wrong in our world. There are a lot of things that humanity has failed at. With issues not only taking effect at the global level, like climate change, but also to the small battles we fight independently, as humans. In today's fast-paced world, only the most important of issues are glanced at by the people in power. Others are viewed in an inferior light. The way most people view it is: there are already enough problems in the world, why make more?

I have talked about school, and the faults in the American education system before, but I am very passionate about the topic, so I will talk about it more. Last weekend, I attended and competed at the Texas HOSA Area 1 competition. It is very competitive and only the top three from each event go to state. I did not qualify for state, nor did I make the top five. It was my first time, and I did not work on my event as much as I should have, so I was not expecting a win. But after the competition, when I saw how distraught the people who did not place were, I took out my phone and wrote what my brain was thinking.

“In today’s society, your whole self

worth, as a human, is built off of

your intellectual ability to obtain and

keep a high academic standing.”

Even though those are a lot of big words put into a sentence, the more personal connections you make with it, the more you relate to and understand it, you start to realize that it is true. All colleges care about is where you are academically. All the Indian aunties want to know is your high school rank. And the way the education system is designed is setting you up for failure, if you don't fall through the cracks. One slip-up and your GPA plummets, one wrong move and you are likely not going to get into the college of your choice.

The way America has set this system up now is so that people can only see you for your test scores and your grades. Some of it may include your passion, but it doesn't matter if your rank is low. I feel like that system needs to change. Why don't colleges judge you solely based on passion? For example, if you are interested in pursuing a pre-med major, what are you doing to prove/show that you really want it?

Now, there are people, and careers that don't require college, but for the majority of high schoolers, especially Indians, college is a must. And not just any college, a good college. So when you are the first Indian in your family to start and hopefully, finish schooling in the U.S, you make a lot of mistakes, unless you have someone guiding you the whole way. There are so many things I wish I would have done sooner or paid more attention to now. It is true when people say high school is the fastest four years of your life. I am going to be applying to colleges in a few months and I still feel like a sophomore. So take it all in while you still can.