What do rules actually measure?

 

    Why do we have so many rules in school when in society we don't have to worry about them? I don't mean rules like "be kind" or "don't steal," I'm talking about testing rules, or guidelines if you will. For instance, why have a non-calculator portion of a test when at no point in life will you not have access to a calculator in this day and age? Calculators are predownloaded on all smartphones, which everyone owns now, so why do we test students' abilities using these unnatural standards? Some will say that they use these tests to evaluate the basics so that the student may use this math skill with ease in the future. But what difference will it make when success isn't guaranteed? 

    In my opinion, school shelters kids a lot in this sector. We're given this clear set of defined rules and are told that following these will lead to success, and not following them will lead to failure. The real world is so much flimsier than that. In comparing a persuasive essay to a business proposal, the two are drastically different in terms of outcome, while remaining similar in terms of structure. For the essay, there are strict guidelines in the rubric that push an essay towards a higher or lower score. While in reality, the business proposal written by someone who scored higher may be better than the one written by someone who scored lower, but it does not always guarantee that the higher scoring ex-student will have their proposal selected. 

    We're taught to fall in line and accept the rules because we are told that they will lead us to our goals. But good grades don't lead to success. It's the feeling of passion that schools need to foster rather than this competitive race that has us swarming  to fill up our schedules with AP classes. Personally, I've

enjoyed my classes the most when they were something I chose because I WANTED to take it. Not because "it's the next course in the honors track" or because " you're so smart GBBE will be a breeze." Let me tell you, GBBE was pure torture. And it was an elective. Gross. When I moved here from Virginia, I had no idea that taking AP classes and skipping math courses was the "norm." I was just sitting there bouncing around in my Theatre class and enjoying myself while I saw my friends with migraines because they were taking AP Human Geography, Algebra 2, and/or Calc BC. How chaotic is it that these classes were encouraged upon freshman because they were supposedly going to "boost their resumes?"

    Last year, I was debating between going into the medical or law field and I chose law because I absolutely DETESTED GBBE. But it wasn't really a contest in my mind because I always knew I wanted to go into law and debate. But I had to prove to my parents that I actually tried to like biology before I crushed their dreams of me being a doctor. The only way to do that was with my grades. DUN DUN DUN! Yay I came full circle. My grades are put before my passion in this society, so it feels like schools are conditioning us to feel that we are only our GPA, and everything else is secondary, or, as colleges like to call it, "holistic."