Was That Supposed To Be Chemistry? by Nicole

Was That Supposed To Be Chemistry? by Nicole - August 2013 Scholarship Essay

     Throughout my high school career, I've had a strange allergic reaction to anything that combines math with science; as you can imagine, Chemistry must have sent me to the ER. Surprisingly enough, it didn't. Better yet, I learned way more than I thought I ever could, and most of it wasn't chemistry-related at all. Instead, this teacher ended up telling us that anyone can be a genius, regardless of how they appear or think of themselves. To this day, it has been that lesson that I always reflect on whenever I remember high school.     Everyone is judged in high school; no exceptions. There are your athletes, your normal kids, your freaks, thugs, etcetera. Everyone is stuffed into a category, and no one can help it. However, the largest group out of everyone seems to be the "smart" people versus the "stupid" people. The people who are in all AP courses, who study for hours on end every day, with massive summer reading lists and tons of community service hours are just assumed to be smarter. Yes, they show achievment, hard work, determination, and maybe some of them are geniuses; but certainly not all them. People in general not only need to recognize that, but also that the people in lower level classes aren't stupid. Really, school and intelligence in general is just one giant gray area. Who is one person to say they're superior to another? Just because you're in a lower level, it doesn't mean you're stupid or should feel bad about it. Out of all my high school courses, only one teacher has managed to mention that to her students. Her name is Mrs. Ashworth, and I owe my love of education to her.     Attempting to teach my loud, rambunctious, lower-lever class must have been tough for my teacher, even with her veteran knowledge. Students, and I use the term loosely, screaming, throwing things, mixing solutions on "accident," among other shenanigans that would have drove every other teacher I know to pulling their hairs out one by one. However, she had a mantra that seemed to do her well. "My level twos are smarter than the threes," rinse and repeat. Eventually, some of us got curious as to what she meant by that. Higher levels were the smarter kids, the ones who had enough time in the day to study hours on end, the ones higher in the class rankings. So, in a rare moment of near-silence after a test, we asked why.     "Well," she said, "In all my years as a teacher, the ones who tend to learn more, who explore more, are my level twos."     Imagine a heated political debate; that was my classroom in that split second. The incredulous "What?!" and "Why?" questions were thrown out first, then the reality of what she was saying started to kick in. We were smart, too. It didn't matter that we were her lower level class, we were just as good as the upper level kids were. That right there gave me a whole other view on education. Everything I ever wanted in life became achievable after I realized it was possible. Yes, with a lot of hard work and grit, but possible. It's a wonderful thing when someone opens their eyes and suddenly the world is in the palm of their hands; it's downright magical, and I wish I had this experience earlier in life.