One bold, inspiring girl: Erica Goldson with Here I Stand
Monday, July 26, 2010 at 10:57AM I'm sure Erica Goldson made a few people fall out of their seats with her valedictorian speech that boldly spoke her truth about the broken education system. Her speech is brilliant, spot on and important for everyone to read - let's hope it gets to Obama's desk. Erica challenges us to rethink how to value a student's creativity or uniqueness instead of merely ranking them based on a test score or ability to work the system (aka: memorizing everything).
Here's the fast track to Erica Goldson's valedictorian speech.
I have to admit, with one daughter in the public school system, this brainwashing starts very young when it comes to test scores. When we recently moved, we told a 5th grader about Ava's new school. She said, "My school beat her new school on the TAKS test." My first thought was the US vs. THEM mentality starts at such an early age without us even realizing it. Personally, I always grew up testing lower than my peers. I was barely accepted into college because my SAT score and GPA was so low. The big 6 accounting firms wouldn't even give me a chance because of my low college gpa (I guess the fact I worked at an accounting firm all through college didn't count but the student with a high gpa and no work experience did). Were the students with high scores smarter than me? At the time, I would say yes. But now - with success and wisdom under my belt - of course not.
There is one good thing that came from my academic challenges and being an avarege student - I became one determined girl out to prove that a number was not going to dictate my success. I'm thankful and blessed to have common sense, a positive attitude, determination, drive, strong work ethic and the belief that one should never settle for less. These qualities have treated me very well and unfortunately are not measured in school.
"We are human beings. We are thinkers, dreamers, explorers, artists, writers, engineers. We are anything we want to be - but only if we have an educational system that supports us rather than holds us down. A tree can grow, but only if its roots are given a healthy foundation." ~ Erica Goldson
Reader Comments (3)
Thumbs up to you! Unfortunately, this sort of education system is not only limited in America. It's here in Singapore as well.
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dont u mean big 4 accounting firms? either way they want worker drones that dont think for themselves , those are the ones that get the highest grades cuz they devote themselves fully to studying all the material and working hard (usually the case, some are naturally smart)