What is an Honor Student?

Okay, let's be honest, I posted this pic because the guy on the right is real cute. 

     I've been thinking a lot lately about being an honor student and what that has meant to me over the years. While on the whole I'm grateful for it, I am coming to the realization that I've missed out on some major things because of it. "Smart kids" are labeled so quickly, and "average kids" never get a real chance to catch up. I know some really really smart people who were never given the opportunity to be in classes other than bottom of the barrel you-don't-read-at-a-12th-grade-level-in-1st-grade-so-you-must-not-be-smart classes. Because of this, some of my best friends who are also some of the smartest people I know have never been in learning environments that encourage them to thrive. And from my point of view, I've never been around anyone else except other so called "smart kids". It's almost as if the education system is trying to keep us all separate. It's so annoying because it makes it hard to be friends with people who aren't in the same classes as you, and I don't think friendships should ever be made difficult by school. That's just dumb. Plus, if "smart kids" only ever interact with "smart kids" and "average kids" only ever interact with "average kids" then really, no one is being challenged. No one is learning how to act in an actual social situation, because SURPRISE in the real world, not everyone is the same "intelligence" level as you. I just think it's kind of dumb to bracket off kids from each other, to separate people based on intelligence. I mean, isn't that a little too close to Brave New World or The Caste System or something?? We all need to intermingle, to try and understand each other, nurture each other's unique learning styles and whatnot. Plus, let's not beat around the bush here: the kids that teachers consider "dumb" KNOW that. No one is clueless as to their place in the hierarchy. And kids that know they're in lower classes often have a complex that that's where they belong and they'll never be better than that. And you know why they have that complex? Because kids in "general" classes aren't allowed to  be scheduled into honors or AP classes without a ridiculous amount of special permission. Like if I had to go to my principal and my teachers and my parents to discuss whether or not I was "ready" and "able" to take a more challenging class when I myself truly believed that I was ready for it, I'd probably just back down too, like just about everyone in that situation does.

This is kind of unrelated, but this is a pic from our school's graduation two
years ago, and I just think it's a really cute picture. 

     The more I think about it, the more I'm unsure of the good that honors classes and AP classes really do. They create an elitist mindset, for one. I'm not immune to this. I know that because I'm in AP classes and am perceived as smart and responsible, I can get away with way more than most other students. I also know that I'm looked up to and seen as a "smart kid" by my peers. That's definitely an ego boost sometimes, but do I really need an ego boost? Is it really beneficial to pat kids on the back their whole lives and tell them they're so smart when looking at their peers and telling them they're dumb and need to try harder even though when they DO try harder, they don't really get to accelerate academically. I guess all in all, there are some flaws in the system. And lucky for me, I've been on the good side of those flaws for the most part. I do feel that I've been wrongfully punished for having an interest in music and wanting to be in Orchestra--my schedule is super out of wack because of all the rearranging I had to do just to keep Orchestra. But other than that, I've been spoiled and pampered when it comes to school. I've been patted on the back every day and looked at with admiration by my teachers and students because I'm "An AP student!" and I'm "a smart kid!" When really, in many ways, it was the school itself that made me into what I am. If I hadn't been put in "special classes" in elementary school, if I hadn't been recommended for merit classes and honors courses and AP credits, would I really be perceived as smart? Even if I had the same exact level of inherent intelligence, and even if I got good grades in on level classes and tried my best in the general courses, if I weren't actually placed in the highest level classes possible by none other than the school officials themselves, would people still think I'm so smart? I truly don't think that they would. And I think that's very wrong.

-VaughnDL