The Student News Site of Walt Whitman High School

The Black and White

The Student News Site of Walt Whitman High School

The Black and White

The Student News Site of Walt Whitman High School

The Black and White

The “not milk” generation: How Gen Z prompted milk’s rebrand
A piece of our history: A look into the Montgomery Farm Women’s Co-operative Market
LIVE: Baseball takes on Richard Montgomery in home opener
Coach Manon achieves 200 wins and state championship in a thrilling wrestling season
Overtime Elite: A new wave of professional basketball
Proposed bill will guarantee top 10% of Maryland students to 12 Maryland universities

Proposed bill will guarantee top 10% of Maryland students to 12 Maryland universities

March 21, 2024

Embrace your Awesomeness; embrace your averageness

A few months ago, my math teacher told our class about how “incredible” her son was. Having met Corbin, I know that he’s indeed a genuine legend (he’s an adorable dancer with class and sass). But coming from his mom, it just seemed biased.

She noted the palpable discomfort in the room and then said, “What? What’s so wrong with me saying my son is awesome? Why are you guys so afraid to acknowledge your accomplishments? Why are you so afraid to admit that you’re awesome?”

Graphic by Charlotte Alden
Graphic by Charlotte Alden

For some reason, that seemingly meaningless conversation has resonated with me.

Ninety-five percent of teens have felt inferior at least once in their life, according to a Stage of Life-conducted survey.

Story continues below advertisement

Why is it that teens have this inherent belief that we’re not good enough?

It may be because when you excel in something, you can never tell people that you’re good, or quantify just how good you are. You always have to give them the classic, “Oh, I’m okay I guess.”
If we all know that “I’m okay” is code for “yes, I rock,” then let’s just tear down the facade and acknowledge our strengths. If you truly excel at something, you should be able to showcase your talents without the fear of being judged by your peers. I’m not saying that you should post your perfect weighted GPA and 36 ACT score in your Twitter bio, but if you have a talent, you should be proud.

Graphic by Charlotte Alden.
Graphic by Charlotte Alden.

There’s still another side to the coin. It’s also important to understand that it’s part of our biology to be flawed; there are things that you aren’t going to be good at, and that’s okay.

Within the Whitman sector of overachievement, I’m reminded of the time when my mom and I awkwardly ran into that same math teacher while out to lunch. We were talking about how in the Whitman realm, it’s quite possible that the worst thing in the world is to get a B. Regardless of a class’s difficulty, B means bad.

However, in the words of Albert Einstein: “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”

Everyone has their talents and everybody is awesome at something. People just have different niches, which in turn creates such a diverse environment in our school. That’s something to celebrate, not change.

If you’re the chem star, congratulations. We couldn’t be happier for you. And we would hope that you couldn’t be happier for the artsy kid, or the English junkie, or the soccer champ.

Let’s stop wasting our time judging our friends for their talents or being afraid to show our weaknesses. Let’s make the most of our high school experience. Let’s embrace our awesomeness and our averageness, and do the same for our peers.

Leave a Comment
More to Discover

Comments (0)

In order to make the Black & White online a safe and secure public forum for members of the community to express their opinions, we read all comments before publishing them. No comments with personal attacks, advertisements, nonsense, defamatory or derogatory rhetoric, excessive obscenities, libel or slander will be published. Comments are meant to spur discussion about the content and/or topic of an article. Please use your real name when commenting.
All The Black and White Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *