The Burden of Competition

In the video, “I JUST SUED THE SCHOOL SYSTEM,” Prince Ea argues that the modern school system should stop teaching students as if they all have the same gifts, interests and aspirations. Ea is not wrong when he says this as school systems have not changed since the expected job after completing school was a factory worker; schools still promote the monotonous actions required for working in a factory. However, the school system is not the only one to blame for this lack of passion and creativity. Today, we as students are surrounded by an immense amount of competition, which can influence our actions and decisions. Although the modern school system suppresses creativity and passion, ultimately the overwhelming competition we face can discourage us from our passion and, instead, forces us to do what we think looks best to colleges.

In the video, Ea displays images from 150 years ago of a car, telephone, and a school. Then he goes on to show the jury what a car, telephone, and school look like today. Ironically, the image of a school stayed the same. The desks are aligned in rows, and students raise their hands to speak - the same conditions factory workers deal with. Ea states that schools were, “originally created to train people to work in factories” (Ea 1:40). That explains, “why [schools] put students in straight rows, tell them to sit still, raise their hand, if they want to speak, give them a short break to eat, and for eight hours a day, tell them what to think.” (Ea 1:45). Now, however, we are told that we can be whatever we want to be. The school system needs to adapt to modern times and prepare students for the future, not the past. Instead of acting like robots, we need to be able to think critically, creatively, and innovatively. When in fact, teachers’ ideas of thinking critically is being able to write 900 words in 45 minutes. Schools need to change their ways and provide us with skills that are actually helpful - not speed typing.

The competition that plagues us also contributes to the lack of passion. In school, we can be so obsessed with outperforming our classmates that we forget about our passions. And, instead of taking classes we are interested in, we take classes that will beef up their resumes and look best to colleges. But, we face competition outside of school as well. The ACT, SAT, AP Exams, SAT II’s, and PSAT are standardized tests that colleges expect us to take and outperform others. Soon, we get caught in an exhausting cycle of competition and lose sight of what we are truly passionate about. However, Prince Ea is still hopeful as he states that, “if we can customize Facebook pages, then it is our duty to do the same for education” (Ea 4:09). While customizable education promotes a our passion, there is a chance that we will not be well-rounded students. In order to alleviate competition in pre-collegiate schools, colleges need to reassess what values matter in a candidate. Standardized testing does not accurately reflect our knowledge; on the other hand, what we achieve with their passion is a better measurement of our capabilities. For colleges to attract the brightest students, passion needs to have a larger role in the admissions process.

Although the modern school system suppresses creativity and passion, ultimately the overwhelming competition students face discourages them from their passion and, instead, forces them to do what looks best to colleges. As college becomes more readily available to people, the amount of competition is bound to grow, and school will become more of a quiz bowl than a developmental process. In order to create a less competitive school system, the pre-collegiate and collegiate schools need to communicate and discuss how to better integrate passion into their curriculum.