OPINIONS

Ode to my free period: a time I will forever cherish

Assitant Creative Director To my dearest Free Period, I only just saw you yesterday, but I haven’t been able to put you from my mind. You are my favorite. I’ve adored our time together so much that I rearranged my schedule so I could see you twice a day. I’ve never done that for any other period…just for you. In fact, I countdown the seconds until I see you again. I wake up wanting to see you and go to bed still reminiscing about our time together. I long for you in the morning and in the afternoons, but the time I wish for you most is during lunch. That’s the time we can spend the most, uninterrupted time together. If it were up to me, we’d be together every day. But I had to drop you today and attend Personal Financial Management instead. Please don’t be jealous. It was out of my control and not what I wanted. Believe me when I say that the thought o f sharing my time with anyone else breaks my heart.

So, maybe a break from you today is a good thing. After all, relationship experts encourage taking a break every now and again. Absence can make the heart grow fonder. So, let’s look at this 24-hour break as an opportunity to grow stronger in our love, and take comfort in knowing we will reunite again tomorrow.

That said, I do acknowledge that you haven’t always been the best infl uence on me, lately. On more than one occasion your promises of freedom have lured me off campus to go on adventures to Starbucks. It’s wrong. I know that. But I can’t help but follow you out the door. You are intoxicating, and bring out the wild side in me. To embrace you fully, I have been willing to risk a potential Saturday detention or two. Farewell for now. Xoxo, A second semester senior

Graphic by Rachel Greenberg ’22 & Kaila Kennedy ’23

Flawed perception of intelligence requires conceptual reform

Arts Editor

Iremember in fth grade, the whole grade was divided into two math levels. I can recall the exact moment that I was placed in the “regular” math class, and I thought to myself “I’m just not smart.” Sadly, it had already been ingrained in the innocent mind of my 10-year-old self that trivial numbers were the chief measurement of my intelligence and of my inherent value. What math level I was in, my grades, my GPA, my test scores, my IQ—these were what de ned an intelligent person, or so I had been taught. But in reality, one’s ability to do well in school is less to do with intelligence and more to do with mastering the educational system. Take valedictorians, for example. Though their natural intelligence is not something to be entirely depreciated, their skyhigh GPAs are a refl ection of the system rewarding conformity. Karen Arnold, a researcher at Boston College, conducted a study that followed 81 high school valedictorians and salutatorians from graduation onward. Though 90 percent are now in professional careers with 40 percent in the highest tier jobs, none went on to actually change the world. “Valedictorians aren’t likely to be the future’s visionaries [. . .] they typically settle into the system instead of shaking it up,” Arnold said in an interview with Eric Barker, author of the book “Barking up the Wrong Tree.” The reason for this is the way in which our public education systems are structured. They place more emphasis on critical thinking skills that are applicable to mastering a test rather than life.

“We are educating people out of their creative capacities,” educationalist Sir Ken Robinson said in his 2006 TED talk. “And the consequence is that many highly talented, brilliant creative people think they’re not because the thing they were good at in school wasn’t valued or was actually stigmatized.

The signifi cant emphasis placed on conforming to this single mold—this single defi nition of intelligence—is the fatal fl aw of our educational system. It has taught us to equate high scores with inherent intellectual value. In fact, a 2002 study conducted by a psychologist at the University of Michigan showed 80% of students based their self worth on their academic success, leading to low self-esteem and other mental-health related issues.

I know I have so much to offer the world, like so many of my peers. But how can I feel certain about my individual worth when everyday I have to work within a system that doesn’t value my way of thinking? It’s not merely the school itself, but the toxic mindsets and values it fosters.

Being brought up in this system has hardwired me and my schoolmates to reinforce these perceptions of intelligence, using it as a basis for judging someone’s character and aptitude. I fi nd myself openly question-

ing myself, or invalidating my own opinions when speaking to someone who I know is taking Multivariable Calculus. But when I’m in an AP class working with someone who is in a lower math level than me, suddenly it’s them who is quivering and doubling back on their responses. Our narrow minded, corrupt idea of intelligence has stifl ed creativity and pursuit of individual capabilities. What fi rst needs to be understood is that intelligence lies on a broad spectrum; there is no one ultimate defi ning charof our educational system. It has acteristic. In 1983, the taught us to equate high scores Theory of Multiple with inherent intellectual value. Intelligences In fact, a 2002 study conducted was introby a psychologist at the University of Michigan showed 80% of students based their self worth on their academic success, leading to low self-esteem and other mental-health related issues.

I know I have so much to offer the world, like so many of my peers. But how can I feel certain about my individual worth when everyday I have to work within a system that doesn’t value my way of thinking? It’s not merely the school itself, but the toxic mindsets and values it fosters.

Being brought up in this system has hardwired me and my schoolmates to reinforce these perceptions of intelligence, using it as a basis for judging someone’s character and aptitude. I fi nd myself openly question-

The signifi cant emphasis placed on conforming to this single mold [...] is the fatal fl aw of our educational system. acteristic. In 1983, the Theory of Multiple Intelligences was introduced in the book “Frames of Mind” by Howard Gardner, a psychologist and professor at Harvard College. Gardner explained that there are eight types of human intelligence, including musical intelligence, linguistic intelligence and interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligence (emotional intelligence). If we truly want to produce future leaders who change the world for the better, we need to alter our curriculum and our conversations to value other facets of intelligence. We need to get rid of this narrow perception of “smartness,” so that one day, students can be brought up in a system where they know that they have everything they need to succeed.