Dear fellow Country Dayers,
Summer’s over, and I know you’re all very excited for the upcoming school year! Country Day kids tend to be very smart and sincerely interested in learning. However, even for those who really love to learn, sometimes school can still get monotonous and some classes can seem pointless. For my very first blog of the year I’d like to share with you all what motivates me to do well in school.
I am one of those people who really loves to learn; however, I can totally learn without getting good grades. Although in a perfect world we should be studying and going to school simply because we want to gain knowledge, it takes more than just love of knowledge to stay awake until 3 a.m. to study for a test. You do it for the grade. But I try to get good grades so I can get freedom.
Doing well in school brings me freedom right now: If I keep my grades up, my parents leave me alone (for the most part). They trust me to get my own work done so I can go out and have fun when I want to. Because I’ve done pretty well in high school, I have a lot of options in choosing what college I want to go to. Continuing to do well in school in the future I hope will continue to bring me freedom in other ways. Doing well in college and beyond will bring me the opportunity to obtain a job I want. At my future job I hope that doing well in school and at my job will put me near the top of the chain of command so that I don’t have to answer to the man too much. This is especially important because I want to go into the medical field, so I want to make sure I can make my own decisions and do what I think is ethical.
Doing well in school can also bring you financial independence. Money isn’t what’s most important, of course, but I’m not going to pretend it’s not important. I don’t want a high-paying job to buy a mansion or lots of diamonds, but being able to support myself leaves me free, for example, to be with whom I love regardless of their financial situation, support as many kids and cats as I’d like, live where I want to, etc., etc.
Some of you might find motivation in getting into Harvard or in getting that new guitar your parents promised you if you get all A’s this year, and those are all great reasons. However, I find it is easier to motivate myself if I think a little bigger. It doesn’t matter what you want to do or study, doing well in school will expand your options and give you much more freedom to do what you want to do in all aspects of your life.
