Finished with Ready or Not....

I finished reading Ready or Not, Here Comes Life. I think the book can best be summed up for me by the following passage:

"Becoming acquainted with oneself is often a highly confusing teenage mission. It can be almost impossible for some adolescents to distinguish between who they actually are and who they want others to believe they are."

and

"Throughout high school and college, students seldom get any respite from performing and being judged - academically, socially, and often in other arenas as well. Their teachers, their parents, and their classmates are constantly checking out how they're doing. The relentless pressure to impress can make it hard for a person to get to know himself. So much energy may be channeled into performing that there's not much left in the way of resources for exploring the caverns of one's true self.

and

"People have to live a life that's right for them, not an existence that sounds right."

Across the nation and in my own area, there is a push to improve high school performance. From all accounts, the idea seems to be to increase standards and measure performance through testing. I am left wondering why we aren't hearing people like Dr. Levine and Bill Gates (see Gates Foundation) more loudly in the press. They are saying our high schools are obsolete designs, and that we need to redesign them completely, not just test more. I would guess that it boils down to money and politics, like many issues. Perhaps I can effect my own small change as we move into the high school years.