Relax, Silly: Advice for Exam Week

As the seniors leave for the last few weeks of school to work on senior projects, juniors face the daunting task of successfully completing the SAT’s as well as college resumes, essays, etc. The underclassman, namely the freshman, are most likely already cramming for their first ever final exams at Waynflete, stressed that they will “fail school” (this is an actual quote). As for the sophomores…my best guess is they are hyper-focused on prom and eager to sit in the junior section at assembly (for those of you underclassman who are reading this and think that there are no sections, that is false).

Nonetheless, it dawned on me the other day that most people, including myself, are so involved in their own dilemmas that they are forgetting that none of  this really matters. I mean, in the grand scheme of things, will your third to last latin quiz change your life in such a profound way that it’s worth getting worked up over? I do not mean to suggest that school does not matter; in fact, getting a good education is life changing and perhaps one of the greatest things we could ever hope to receive. That being said, we put too much emphasis on the material output-the immediate tests and demonstrations of knowledge that occur on a daily basis. I realized that if I want to do something, I’m going to do it, regardless of how my SAT’s turn out or much Lowell, who is my English teacher, loves my short story reflecting contemporary American culture.

We are all here, and we will continue to be here if we ace a test or fail one. As I look around at students rushing to finish term papers and scribbling math solutions onto scrap paper, all I want to say is, relax. Watch That 70’s show, eat a bowl of ice cream, and breathe for heaven sakes.