I am not sure where this is appropriate to post this, but I have been going through Reddit and looking at the recently released Stanford results and I have already seen a few posts about kids on the verge of suicide and an apparent suicide letter from kids who were rejected. I hope these are not true but they seemed genuine. What are we supposed to do to teach kids that a college acceptance or rejection does not define them? I found this extremely disturbing as well as students blaming others for not getting accepted (even though 96% don’t get accepted), and students losing motivation to apply for other colleges
Sigh…Sometimes people put their entire self worth and opinion of themselves into the hands of the committee, and often get a rude awakening when they are rejected. There isn’t anything you can do about the fate a complete stranger, but if we were to make a societal change, maybe change college from being the goal to being a means to an end. Maybe instead of seeing it as our final destination (in which being reject makes everything leading up to it as a failure) we should begin to perceive college to be part of a larger plan (so that being rejected is a setback rather the end all be all).
The rejection letter is not the end of the story, but rather the dark moment before the hero rises again.
We live in a society of harsh judgement and little empathy. At a time when the line between “winners” and “losers” can be brutal and vulgar.
Our country is also steeply hierarchical at the moment, with the wealth & power pyramid extremely sharp and pointed at the tip.
Many folks seem to think one golden chance to the top is a name-brand university diploma. They put all their hope in that, not realizing, I suppose, that life is more complex and can be unexpectedly rewarding.
It’s difficult to recognize in our circumstance that each person has value; to appreciate that poetry and music should be at least as valuable as STEM; or that you may be precious even if you don’t get into Stanford. All that because money is king. In part because of greed, and in part because if you don’t “make it” your story quickly can become terrible and tragic. (Inadequate social services safety net, little recognition that’s important.)
These are not gentle times. Somewhere, somehow, we each must be kinder and more principled than the relentless treadmill allows.
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
Please don’t turn this into an affirmative action thread. 2 posts deleted.