"The Organization Kid" - Katie Block

[katieblock]

I’d always thought that school was the most important thing in my young life. I challenge myself with harder classes and after school activities, but after my sophomore year I realize that socializing and having friends is important too. During my sophomore year, I made good grades and still got to hang out with my friends and have fun. The students at Princeton are working way too hard and aren’t getting the full college experience. College is a time for education, but also for breaking out of your shell and having new experiences. College is about learning to live on your own without reliance from your parents; it’s the next step to the “real world”.

Penciling in time for friends in ridiculous; everyone should be able to flex for friends. I wouldn’t want an allotted time I could see my friends. I like doing spontaneous and exciting things like deciding to go see a movie five minutes before it starts or riding out to PetSmart to go buy some fish. Some people would think that’s lame, but I love doing little, dumb things with my closest friends. Sometimes, we even do schoolwork together. Take the other night for example, Sarah Critchfield and I sat in her kitchen and did summer work. She worked on a paper for AP Lit while I worked on an essay for AP Lang. While sitting there, we joked around, caught up on each other’s lives, and still got a good amount of work finished.

Now don’t get me wrong, school is extremely important and everyone should always do their best and set their goals the highest, but there is a line of going too far. I believe that having an education and being able to socialize are equal necessities that a person should have in life. A person who is very educated still needs to know how to have a decent conversation with someone else. They need to be able to take jokes and understand sarcasm. Many people can’t simply carry on a conversation because they don’t have the correct social skills. This is vice versa for people with many social skills. A person who is very social also needs to understand what someone is talking about. They need to know politics, math, reading, writing, and many other subjects in order to carry on a worthwhile conversation and to use their social skills to the next level. Take my friend’s brother, Andrew, he’s an extremely sociable guy. He loves to joke around and can always keep conversations in awkward, quiet situations. Andrew recently moved to Connecticut and has been trying to find a job. He’s had a few interviews and I’ve even witnessed him talking on the phone to a possible employer. Andrew keeps the conversation going and up-beat, but also talks about important issues in the business world.

I believe the students at Princeton really are working hard and trying to do what they believe is best for their lives, but maybe it would benefit them to close the books a few hours and throw around a football or take a hike with friends.

[gracefons]

I could not agree with Katie more. Coming from a student who is not exactly top in the class and can sometimes lose track of her priorities and diligence, looking at the educational life this way is a major plus. Growing up, however, my brothers were in the tops of their classes so it always set some sort of a specific high standard for myself. Although, one brother, Aaron, lived by Katie's example in being social, but studious. Aaron, was in every way social and always enjoyed cutting up with other people and having a good time, yet he still graduated with high honors, took the most advanced classes, and was one of the few who were top in his class. Joseph, on the other hand, lived a little more by the "The Organization Kid"s' lifestyle. He was not very social at all and I hardly remember him even going out on the weekends with friends. Yet, Joseph too was amongst some of the few who were the top in his class as well.

Katie couldn't have had it more perfect. While education is definitely key in being successful and having a successful job, for the most part, you have to get there by being good with people and having good social skills. But aspects are equally important.

[meriahrose]

Like Grace, I agree with Katie one hundred percent. Students should definitely care about school work, and they should be striving for perfection in academics, but not to the point of forgetting about your friends. I couldn’t imagine life without my friends. They help me get through school every day. And like you mentioned, sometimes friends and school go together. Tomorrow night a good friend and I are spending the whole evening together. We are going to do some studying in Spanish and calculus homework, then we are going to see a scary movie and maybe grab some dinner and catch up on each other’s lives. And after all that we are going to go back and do a physics project, followed by a super-exciting best bud sleep over. It’s easy and fun to incorporate academics and friends into one fun packed night. Though sometimes people have different schedules and plans don’t always work out, I could never see myself being so busy to the point where I have to schedule coffee at six in the morning just to spend ten minutes with one of my friends. Hopefully I’ll always have a few hours free on the weekends to spend with a friend and relax a little. All work and no play makes Johnny a dull boy. And I sure don’t want to be a dull boy!

[drewlane]

I agree, Katie. I know we certainly agreed a lot in class today, but I really do agree with your response to the article. Students need to care about grades, but we don't need to forget who we are. I know that as a working student, there just simply aren't enough hours in the day for me to do all that I need to, but I do ensure that I make time to keep up with my friends, and I try to have some time to just think alone every day (even though it may not be working so well as of late). However, those poor kids at Princeton are just a part of a vicious cycle. This just occurred to me: we are a part of that vicious cycle too. We are going to be the generation that was our parent's parents generation. we aren't going to pressure our kids to get all A's and have a 4.0 GPA because our parents forced it on us. Then, our kids are going to just be hard on their kids because WE didn't push them hard enough. It all just repeats. We have one great academic generation that stresses themselves out, and from them spawns a generation that questions authority and doesn't make the best grades. That;s just the way the cycle works, so my only advice is to leave time for our friends, and for our lives because we can't expect to suddenly jump to a 28 hour day. (even though that would be nice.)