Damned by Excellence

The later you start you education at a private school, the harder it is. Some people put their kids in private schools right from elementary schools. Others wait until high school, and yet others don’t start considering private schools until college. *There are some people who don't even look at private schools throughout their entire life, but they are not the subject of this dissertation.* The difference between private and public schools is great. Though public schools are apt to have stronger curricula in the maths and sciences, private schools more often better prepare student for the rigors of the liberal arts or college education. On the college level, once again there is a difference. Those who note it most are the students coming in from public schools. Readjusting to a new way of life dissimilar to their old school's methods of training, these students often complain that classes are hard, the expectations are great, and that they have to work and study very hard. This is often frustrating to those students who come into a private college after years of private schooling and find these "challenging and demanding" classes to be easy review. It is not fair to the students who have been better prepared to be held back by their less-prepared compatriots. Yet it is also unfair to the poorly prepared students to deny them entry or give them special consideration while they struggle to catch up with their peers. Or is it? In "Screwtape Proposes a Toast" C.S. Lewis talks about the spirit of democracy and the I’m as good as you ideology.
“In that promising land the spirit of I’m as good as you has already begun something more than a generally social influence. It begins to work itself into their educational system...The basic principle of the new education is to be that dunces and idlers must not be made to feel inferior to intelligent and industrious pupils. That would be “undemocratic.”" Is this to be the way we suppress individuals? I am saddened. At dinner tonight, a few of my friends were talking. "I hope the required curriculum classes we have this semester won't be as hard as the ones we had last semester." "Wait a minute guys!" I interjected. "Last semester's classes weren't hard. They were depressingly easy. I had so much free time. After studying all that stuff years ago, the hardest thing for me last semester was to not fall asleep in class!" “ Well that’s nice that you've studied it already!" was the retort I got. Turns out that everyone else at the table had always attended public schools, one even came from a Math/Science magnet school. Is it fair that I am to be held back while the others work to catch up to my level? Is it fair that some of them, who are obviously smarter and harder workers than me, have received such a poor preparation for college? Is it fair of the college to admit such a disparity of intellects in the first place? I dunno. I'll just do my work and get my grades, and hope to high heaven that my friends catch up and that we stop reviewing high school soon.