Too Much Pressure on MLWGS Students

Dear Editor,

Every year, the administration and some students wait for Newsweek's “Top High Schools” list to come out with baited breath. Not one to disappoint, Maggie Walker tends to deliver, making it onto the list of “20 Elites” almost every year.

Along with this prestigious recognition, Maggie Walker is gifted with a framed blow-up of the list with the name of our school highlighted so all can recognize the triumph as they bolt past. What does this award really mean? Plain and simply, that Maggie Walker students are some of the smartest students out there, all thanks to our beloved school. Then why is it that so many of us seem to be unhappy? I mean, look at our PSAT scores! Rather than base their list off of values and scores that essentially mean nothing to the common student, Newsweek should really rank high schools according to student happiness and stress level.

It's not a stretch to say that Maggie Walker would fall in the bottom 20. Obviously, exams are a common time for these emotions to come to the forefront. The sign outside says, “Testing Times are Here. Study Hard,” yet hidden beneath that clever play on words is a grave insult.

What exactly do they (read: administration) think we're doing when we aren't in “testing times?” Are we out seeing a new movie or hanging out with friends? Doubtful. In fact, many of us are locked up in our rooms, tackling the multiple hours of homework that we are bound to have.

Our school loves to praise its abundant “freedoms.” Things like eating lunch anywhere we want or simply signing out to use the restrooms. Yet, that lack of freedom is exactly the problem with our school. We are trapped, constantly chained to school. We carry school with us, just as we carry our 20 pound backpacks on our shoulders. Maggie Walker is robbing us of our real freedom. Many of us no longer have free time, no longer have time for friends, for family, and even, for ourselves.

Next time Maggie Walker appears on the “20 Elite High Schools” list, don't look at it as a triumph, but as a tragedy. Let that ostentatious framed poster be a reminder of all of the wasted hours spent on arbitrary busy work and over demanding tests that could have been used to enjoy life as an actual teenager. Let it remind you that you are a prisoner, and it's not the school doors that contain you.

A new semester. A great time to start fresh. A great time to realize that there's more to life than school. If this semester is the one that manages to keep us off of the “20 Elites” list, then I can guarantee that it will be a semester to remember.

- Nate Morawetz (’10)

Editor’s Note: The Jabberwock would like to remind readers that opinions expressed in letters are solely those of the letter writer. Furthermore, publication of a letter does not represent any sort of endorsement by members of the Jabberwock staff.