YYYTuesday, April 03, 2007
There is a really good article here from the International Herald Tribune!
For girls, it's be yourself and be perfect, too.It's about this top college in the US which is filled with high achievers and how everyone feels an overwhelming pressure to excel. It's a really really good article! Sigh I thinks so sad the way everyone's lives are centered on being the best and beating the rest.
I shall quote!
"But being an amazing girl often doesn't feel like enough these days when you're competing with all the other amazing girls around the country who are applying to the same elite colleges that you have been encouraged to aspire to practically all your life."
"You want to achieve... but how do you achieve and still be genuine?"
"You're supposed to do well in your classes and still have time to go out. You're supposed to do all these things... and not go insane."
"By age 14... the school's highest fliers are already worrying about marketing themselves to colleges: You almost have to be superhuman to resist the pressure."
"There is something about the lives these girls lead - their jam-packed schedules, the amped-up multitasking, the focus on a narrow group of the nation's most selective colleges - that speaks of a profound anxiety in the young people"
But I think its consoling in a sense, that the article ended with this girl saying that she is "aiming for a decidedly nonlucrative profession". She wants to be a theologian like her father. She said, "I have such a strong sense of being supported by my faith... It gives me priorities. That's why I'm not concerned about making money, because I know that there is so much more to living a rich life than having money."
YES I agree! And this is what we must all hold on to, and not lose sight of. We must not conform!
Oh and there was an interesting part in a sub-article about the
appearance of effortlessness. A student explains: "I think that part of being a high-achieving girl is the appearance of effortlessness. It’s not that you can’t complain, it’s not that you can’t say you’re stressed, but people I think love the image of a girl who can take four A.P.'s and who can be well-dressed and who can do all these extracurriculars, and still wake up with a smile." How true!
K I shall go off now. Back to school again tmr!
Through It AllYou are forever in my lifeYou see me through the seasons
Cover me with Your hand
And
lead me in Your righteousnessAnd
I look to YouAnd I wait on You
I will sing to You, Lord
A hymn of love
For Your faithfulness to me
I'm carried in everlasting armsYou'll never let me goThrough it all
9:58 PM
