This is a Limitation; This is the Box. by Lael

This is a Limitation; This is the Box. by Lael - October 2018 Scholarship Essay

In a sense, teachers nationwide--and even globally--are generally teaching their students the textbook or teaching to the test that occurs at the end of the course. We as students are told to follow a certain format or to put our work in terms of a criteria. We are doing what our teachers are telling us, and the same goes for teachers in regards to the school board or whoever is superior. This is a limitation; this is the box.
The box is defined as boundaries that are set based on a common opinion. For example, young children are told to color inside of the lines of a picture, and as they get older, they continue to do so, and even tell their future children. If one decided to color outside of the lines, people who look at their picture will categorize it as lesser than the one with color inside of the boundaries. Famous artists, in accompaniment to the previous metaphor, do not have lines on their canvasses to paint. They paint how they feel, and depth is included through colors and shades. Putting this example into real life, people, specifically students in the classroom, are often disregarded because they "colored outside of the lines." They defied what is considered normal. As this happens, we lose our creativity and confidence to go against the grain. This is a limitation; this is the box.
We need to think outside of common thought; we need to think outside the box. Many of those in the younger generation are found smoking, drinking, doing drugs, committing crimes, stealing, etcetera. It is so prominent, it has become a commonality, and people are harming themselves by choice, or to fit in. To put this in perspective, the teachers pressure us to follow guidelines and not to be spontaneous by essentially saying no. Though this behavior does not originate solely from school, we are at school for thirteen years out of eighteen (when students usually graduate) and ten out of the twelve months of those years. This means that school has a huge influence on our thoughts, and these same schools are telling us to think inside of the box. Our teachers should be teaching outside of the box, and teaching us to think for ourselves outside of the box. This is a limitation; this is the box.
In another comparison, the "box" is like Pandora's box. The seven deadly sins are inside, but so is hope. Teaching someone to stay inside the box is congenial to enforcing the engagement between one and the seven vices. However, among these vices is the spirit of hope, hope that we can break free from the mental, physical, spiritual, and any other barriers keeping us in the box with the evilness. Thinking of it this way enforces the type of mindset we should have for those who are willing to defy what is common. This is a limitation; this is the box.
To conclude, to even think outside of the box is considered thinking outside of the box. Being original and "out there" should be encourage and not retained. Creativity is a trait that is different from others that humblize people. It is distinctive and tailored to an individual alone. Prohibition of our imaginativeness is going to result in a colorless world. Let this serve as a reminder: this is a limitation; this is the box.