It takes courage to break out of the herd.
My daughter attends a very high achieving high school. It gets ranked nationally each year. The SAT scores are high and there are a huge number of kids who take Advance Placement courses or AP for short. The teachers and administrators really push these classes and harp on the fact that the kids can actually get college credit if they make a certain score on the final test, which by the way, the colleges raise every year. I suspect this has to do with the funds they lose on the kids not having to pay for their classes, but I could be mistaken.
My sophomore drank the proverbial Kool-aid this year and took one of the AP classes. It’s been a miserable and stressful experience for her. Quite frankly, I can’t imagine college being as ridiculously difficult as the questions that she was asked on many of her Work History tests. I’m a fairly bright gal with a college degree myself, and when I can’t understand the question, I’m crying foul, here.
Anyway, when she registered for classes next year, we had some long heart-to-hearts. The choice was hers, but she decided to register for honors classes instead of AP. I totally supported her choice. It’s just high school after all, does it really need to be that stressful? And if it takes her four whole years to finish college, so what?
She was happy with her decision. I was happy with her decision. But, her classmates, well, that’s a different story. You wouldn’t believe the pressure she has gotten to change her mind and register for AP. Her home room teacher, who doesn’t even teach her, has pressured her to change her mind. “Everyone is taking AP.”
Everyone is also talking about how miserably hard junior year always is. Many students have at least two AP classes if not more.
As she and I were talking about it this morning, I talked to her about herd mentality, one of my favorite analogies on being an individual.
First of all, I reminded her that God made us to be individuals. He gave us all different gifts and talents. Secondly, I don’t believe for a moment that His plan is for her to spend a miserable four years in high school because she took ridiculously difficult classes. If all she has time to do is study, how can she serve Him? If she is constantly stressed, how can she ever have time to be still and listen to His voice for guidance? How can she develop the gifts that she has been given?
Then I explained that when people are part of a herd, they all do the same thing. They may be miserable, but they are miserable together. When someone breaks out of the herd and the misery, and makes different choices, the ones who don’t have that desire or the courage, don’t like it. They try to use whatever means necessary to reel them back into the herd. After all, misery loves company. Shouldn’t we all be miserable together?
I don’t think so. I think that God made us all unique. Therefore, we shouldn’t all fit into the same mold as our peers. When we find ourselves in miserable circumstances, it’s usually best to take a time out and listen for His voice and His direction. I often find that He directs me to a different path.
My teenager needed that reminder today. Perhaps you did too. Forget the herd. What is He calling you to do?
Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂