At my high school there is a lot of focus on college. It is expected that almost everyone in my class will attend some sort of four-year college, and there are visits every week from universities, trying to gain applicants. So much of what we juniors do is underlined by the fact that the work we do this year, the grades we get this year, the effort we put into this year, will be what universities look at when deciding our future. Yes, it’s a lot of pressure. But that’s not the part that gives me pause.
Activities.
What did I do this summer? For the most part, I stayed home. I started five knitting projects and almost finished three of them. I visited my local library and read a bit. I spent a weekend with my extended family in the Pocono mountains. I relaxed and had fun.
Then I compare that with an article my father showed me from the Philadelphia Inquirer. This article talked about the rising trend of exotic summer vacations for teens, often involving community service opportunities. One girl spent three weeks in Rwanda, advocating for the children of the genocide. Another teen spent her summer in Tanzania, building a house for the local schoolteacher. Someone else spent time in Costa Rica, constructing a water tower. Reading through college handouts, I can’t help but notice that the students they choose to profile have almost always saved the world in one way or another.
This is the point where I tilt my head and sigh. Because, quite frankly, I don’t want to save the world.
Here’s my point: students should be able to participate in what they are genuinely interested in, and forget about whatever looks good on an application. Passion looks good on an application. So I’ll go get some of that, and forget about a humanitarian mission to Africa, because I’m just not interested. My summer this year? I’ll conjugate some verbs, learn some fancy purls, and pick up some books from the library. Oh– and volunteer at Habitat for Humanity. Hey, what’s a junior to do?
A great post. I think many students share your frustrations. I’m the principal of a private high school and I see many students doing projects, taking classes, and going on trips not because they want to and have a genuine interest but because they feel pressured that they must to meet some colleges expectations.
I fear to many students pass on the interesting elective choosing a fourth or fifth honors class because they want the “point”. I’m glad to hear your thoughts on the issue.
I think part of it, though, that shouldn’t be discounted is how someone decompresses, gets rid of anxiety. If doing these things, joining these ridiculous organizations that I never actually participate in, helps me feel more comfortable in an unstable period of my life...then maybe it’s not too bad. If that’s not what helps you, though...well, each to her own. Good for you for not freaking out!
Whatever you do, the most important part of passion: depth and focus. If one truly does care about Africa, by all means demonstrate that commitment with continual humanitarian efforts—not because they look good on college applications, but because you care.
Or, if writing and knitting is what you care about, that is fine too: just demonstrate your ability to commit to your passions.
The good news is that colleges are catching on and realizing that such surface-level humanitarianism really doesn’t show anything.
I would definitely agree that a non-genuine effort to change the world around us is not how we should spend our time. It leads to misinterpretations about one’s character. However, when the interests and opportunities align themselves, why not?
Kudos to Steven... Another person from no whereville. As well as Sean.
Having completed my Junior year I opted to concentrate on my personal life, which this time involved selling fireworks, trying to accommodate my now deceased grandfather, and dealing with a flea infestation... I had plans to work on a Linux server and make it possible to deploy Rails on a local machine. But that died there...
Life’s an endless stream of challenges; it’s something to expect. Colleges, society, and people in general have not come to realize or accept this fact in egoculturalcentrism. It’s just a sad fact.
I hope everyone’s enjoying the ‘holidays’ in the most secular sense, however.
Seriously, the application of a senior that spent a couple of weeks advocating for victims of genocide does look better than a senior that knitted ninety-nine baby booties. But what you are doing is on this site is impressive, at least to me. Sure your probably not sweating and doing your work in a hut under a mosquito net, but you seem to be doing your own bit of advocating. Your just an advocate for your fellow students, not people being threatened by militias. At least your involved. A nice plus is that your involvement, thanks to the internet, spans well beyond an individual country.
The problem that you face isn’t that your not doing anything or enough. The problem is that what you are doing with your summer, at least as it is proposed above, isn’t the exception. So when college admins review your application, there is nothing that sticks out, causes a shift in the perception of what a student is, and makes them want you. You may have to save the world, or a at least a person, depending on what college you are interested in. After all, as you’ve already determined they have a system for finding students. You may have to work with the system in order to get where you want to be. As long as you don’t become corrupted along the way, you can fix the things you don’t like from within.
The point of college applications are to distinguish the kids who go the extra mile. Yes, the application with 4 trips to Habitat for Humanity look better than none. But if it’s not genuine, it’s pointless.
Great post.
Having said that, I think it is also unfair to assume that everyone shares your cynicism when it comes to “helping the world”. Many do service because they discover a passion for it. I refuse to believe that your generation doesn’t care...in fact, I am often encouraged by how much it does. This is not to say that all students who do service do it for the right reasons, but from the perspective of those receiving the aid...it all helps and that should not be discounted. After all, whatever the motivation, isn’t the “help” the real point of it all (not what we can get out of it).
As for some of the comments on schools requiring community service, it is not quite “Mandatory Voluntary Service”, but rather Service Learning. Like learning math, science, writing, collaboration, or anything, there is demonstrable benefit in service learning. Educators know this and so the requirement is to expose students to this learning and to provide them with the opportunity to discover a passion for it. Not all will, but some will. And that isn’t any different than sports, academics, technology or any other aspect of life from which we learn.
Again, awesome post and honesty here. I really enjoy Students 2.0.
Here is a link to my blog:
http://ajoost.wordpress.com/