Feeding Our Ego

During one of Student Council’s Open-Mic assemblies, senior Rowan McDonald suggested, “Exeter should start failing more students” as a way to improve the institution. It immediately grabbed the attention of the students, especially since some of these students weren’t listening to the disclaimer he had just made. His idea was that teachers should give harder tests and harsher grades throughout the term, but then curve at the end to balance out the grades and distribute as they are now, if they are any good.

I fully endorse McDonald’s comment. Most of us, Exonians, enter this institution with high self-esteem and pride. As we continue our way through “rigorous” Exeter, we believe we are entitled to great things in the present and the future. We really aren’t, though. Despite all the disagreement, students should constantly be challenged. Of course, there will always be the students who get A’s on every assignment, test or paper. But the system shouldn’t allow this. There is no “perfect” individual and even our brightest students have faults that they should acknowledge and seek to improve. By continuing to receive high grades and appraisal, which I don’t deny we often deserve, we are fooling ourselves into great entitlement. We are feeding our ego.

When faculty members muse about the earlier days, many discuss how much harder Exeter used to be. Looking back to when around half of our graduating class went on to Harvard College, there is no surprise. Of course, one cannot simply ignore the fact that the competition has grown tougher as a result of wider interest and skill level. And Harvard is not the only college we look up to—various other colleges in the United States provide opportunities, often even suited to our interests. Are our students not as intelligent or capable of such things? Maybe, maybe not. One thing has changed, however: the different types and amount of challenge for every student. And we will only reach this stark realization of our shortcomings through a more difficult educational program.

One cannot completely ignore the fact that we are a school of many different types of people and interests. Academics may not be the highest priority for some of us, but we also have to think about why we attend this prestigious Phillips Exeter Academy. If we want to pursue a sport, some of our world-class athletes should be training outside of Exeter with greater devotion to the sport. Exeter will only hinder this process by overburdening the athlete with work. Just a dozen years ago, there was no discussion of students missing classes for sport events. The school would plan a schedule first and work sports around to fit the base schedule. Where are we now?—students drop their Saturday classes to go to a meet several hours away. Things may have changed, but this understanding of academics taking priority has changed just too much. For a high “school” such as Exeter, academics should take priority.

Through this rigor, it is also possible to address the dormant issue of mental illnesses at Exeter. We have had assemblies and even Student Council candidates run on the platform for helping students who are struggling. While it is best that we address the immediate issues of students who aren’t dealing well, we should think of possible reasons and solutions. Exeter is not right for anyone and the school cannot cater for every individual student. That is one sacrifice we made as we stepped into the dorms and Harkness classrooms of this renown institution. One more sacrifice to make is to decide, once we’re here, whether this place is right for us or not. A clearer understanding of the difficulties of this school will push the student to accept that this school may not be a right fit. With students leaving to find more suitable environments, the ones who push strong through the end will be our strong graduating class. I write “push strong,” not endure, because many of the mental issues at this school arise from simply living through with how stressful Exeter really is.

When McDonald said “fail” more students, he did not necessarily mean for final grades. That will certainly put all students at the institution on the edge. What we do need, however, are harsher advice and more difficult tests to critique our work and understand how to become better academics. Despite the already harsh nature of this editorials piece, I have one last thing to say: survival of the fittest. There is hope, however, for the students who can’t or don’t acclimatize. The institution selects students who are capable of greatness in character and knowledge. What we need is for these bright students to make a conclusion of whether Exeter is the right fit, because there’s surely somewhere at another school and community that the students will feel comfort if Exeter isn’t. There is sure to be opposition from every angle. This is simply to address our false fantasies of self entitlement and advocacy for perhaps more scathing constructive criticism to “form the noblest character and lay the surest foundation of usefulness to mankind.”