Bryant

Yeah, Joel did this too.

Four years of high school lay in front of you. Along with these years come numerous decisions that will define your entire high school career. I’m not going to sit here and pretend I know everything, because I certainly don’t. But one thing I have learned from my experience in high school is that you shouldn’t try too hard.
If you try way too hard you will be classified as an overachiever, someone who pitifully attempts to exceed the limits of their own intelligence. What does this mean? Number one, school becomes your life when you overachieve. Sleep, extracurriculars and friends take a backseat on your non-stop ride through the academic world. Instead of wasting your time in nerd land, you’d be better off taking a break and getting a B, or six. Number two, if you are truly intelligent, you don’t need to prove anything in the classroom. Your activities outside of the classroom in addition to decent test scores will speak worlds more than an artificially inflated class rank. Finally, number three, working too hard gives you an ego bigger than Marty Kauffman’s waistband. This causes you to look incompetent and arrogant all at the same time, costing you the respect of your wiser peers.
So how do you prevent this? If you’re spending several hours each night on homework and studying…stop. Take the B+ or B and move on. The A isn’t worth the trouble or stress, and no one will think any less of you for getting a B.
If you’re involved in many school activities, keep it up. If not, give them a thought. They are truly worth your time and have provided the most meaningful experiences of my life. Don’t let homework or classroom commitments scare you away from being involved, you can survive with scarce additional effort.
I can attest to this entire paper because of my own personal experience. Being a runner, member of show choir and heavily involved in church and the community all four years of high school should bring me some level of credibility on the issue. Along the way I’ve taken my share of B+’s and B’s and haven’t thought twice about them. I’m in the top ten percent of my class and am positioned to have a successful post-high school career. I tell you all of this not to impress you; if that were the case, I’d be the pompous ass I lambasted earlier. This information is only presented as a valid testament to my advice.