Imperfect by Evelyn

Imperfect by Evelyn - July 2022 Scholarship Essay

Every system that's been established has flaws. Flaws affect one person, a handful, or many people.
I can only speak for the time I am writing this essay. I can only expect so much from this world. I can hope for many things and wish for them to be true. But this world was meant to have its imperfections.
I wish I could've been allowed to be imperfect.
I hope in the span of these new years, I don't have to see my children or any other child diminished by their efforts. One person can only do so much for themselves and others.
I've lived my whole life trying to be perfect. Why? Because it was demanded of me.
I've noticed a pattern with the peers I come across. The lack of motivation is what I evaluated. Schools are labeled as tedious, stressful, and mentally draining work environments. It felt like a restrictive chokehold placed on me to continue a grind of perfection. It has lost its sense of fundamental purpose among students. To them, it feels like a chore more than anything. It is an expectation for them. They come to school because they have to be there. That's not to say that students shouldn't be going to school. They should be motivated to attend school, receive an education, to be excited to learn. Education has become standardized more than anything. A student's individuality starts to mean nothing. When all they are simply another number inserted into the school district system.
One thing for sure I know that is imprinted on a student's file - it's their grades. It seems a letter can determine how we can base a student's value. We are humans who have the capability of forming quick judgments on anyone. It is our nature.
When you notice a student's grade that appears to be an F, what do you think that says about them? On a graded spectrum, an F is deemed as failed. You can gather a selection of ideas or details that you gain from this impression of a student's grade. Though if you were to see someone with a grade letter of a C, what would you think then? It's passing on a grading spectrum. Well, how about the grade letter A? A is the first letter of the alphabet, it is the highest level on a grading spectrum. What would you think if you were to see someone with straight A's? Your image of that person must differ from the first person, right?
I am a straight A student, though I am not perfect. Do you want to know my reasoning behind pushing myself beyond my limits to achieve those grades? It was because I wanted to be accepted. I wanted some sort of approval. By my family, my friends, my peers, and adults. Is this the motivation that other students are supposed to feed off? I wouldn't wish this upon any other person. I relied on numbers and letters to define my purpose in this world. In a system that could not fathom who I truly am as a person. Who am I to them? For all I know, teachers have used me as an example of a role model student. My grades are what defined me. Not any of the creative liberty that I had to offer. Why is that?
I've had other students come to me who themselves felt defeated within themselves. They were unmotivated. They'd lack the energy to care. They felt unengaged to push themselves. Their spark starts to get lost in this one-size-fits-all grading system. I don't believe that mental and physical health is shared as much as it should. Doctors have done the research, and specialists have examined the data, but there is still little to no done for those in need. Not only are students losing their touch of individuality but their touch among themselves to engage in life. Education should be the place to discover and open a student's eyes to what a developed world has to offer. Instead of letting students be so fixated on a letter grade and percentages that only make them feel nothing more than a database. Just like I was, and just like many others. As a society, we cannot allow students to lose the key purpose of receiving an education.
Students are the breakaway to a newly found future. It is up to them, they are in charge of this world's future. Students are being stripped away from their curiosity, individuality, creativity, and interactivity. The education systems need to adapt to open up room for growth and uniqueness among students. It is the only way for the world to blossom and flourish to lengths of development that humans can't even foresee.
I solely ask for a human's well-being to be heard and seen in education. Because a human cannot function if they are stuck unmotivated, nothing can get done with an empty vessel.
The change will not come overnight. Change is a matter of progression that only has the potential becoming appreciable with the desire to change.
To hope for change is one thing. But to have change go beyond our hopes and dreams is what should be strived.