Jae+Hee+P’s+OpEd+Article



At age seven I told everyone I was going to be an artist, and drew caricatures of my friends to increase publicity of my works. I was encouraged by my friends and family, who said I had talent, a steady hand and an observant eye. But it was a lie. I didn’t have a talent for art, I copied off a style of drawing that my friend had. Whoever had the memory and the eyes for it was called “talented”. A talent supposedly the person was born with. Yet I knew that wasn’t true, for all I had done was put in a little more time and effort into drawing, and the effort paid off. It’s what I had believed all along.

High school was what made me realize that that wasn’t the case. There were indeed people who were born talented than I was, and could do things better than I could without putting the equal amount of work as I did. As school went on, I realized that it would be the case for everything. It wasn’t just luck. It’s been at least an year since I’ve started training for SAT’s, and yet some people get 2100’s on their first try. It wasn’t luck, they were already that smart. and some people, who work much harder than I do, receive C’s. School became about measuring intelligence, rather than efforts. But I’m still stuck in the middle. I want to hold on to the belief that if I try hard enough, everything will go my way, but I can’t help but stop when I know there is a biological limiting factor. Why is life measured in the wealth we make, the wealth we are born with--our brains? No matter how much society improves, there won’t be a time when everyone will be happy with the place they are in. H e r e I a m t r y i n g m y b e s t b u t h o w c a n I w h e n I k n o w I t h e r e w i l l a l w a y s b e s o m e o n e o u t r a n k i n g m e ?

Ignorance is bliss.

I don’t want to believe that a million students outrank me, but we’re supposed to know our places.. We need our strawberry pickers, rehabilitators, cubicle workers. Everyone has their place in society, but honestly, why would anyone become a strawberry picker if they had the chance of working in a well paid and respected job?