By Staff writer, Royze Adolfo

            For a substantial duration, the concept of attending a university has been engraved in students’ minds. However, though education proves to be a wise investment for many, it also stifles the creativity of individuals who are passionate about other values aside from education.
            In a society that glorifies lawyers and doctors with success stories over artists on curbsides chasing after their dreams, people do seem to place a greater emphasis on the practice of pragmatism over creativity and unconventional ventures.
Take, for example, the student who aspires to be an artist, but is dissuaded from such profession and introduced to the world of pharmacology. Consider the young musician advised against a career in entertainment and guided towards financing and economics. These are the kids that lose their dreams and become the people Corporate America wants them to be.
Success stories.
            However, at what costs are parents, or America, impeding children from living out a fruitful life and a fulfilled dream of their own?
            Success is not everything, but that is what people are all taught from the start. And in the purpose-driven America, and to most parents, it seems that is what most, if not all, people live for, being the best, and being at the top, because that is all that matters.
            Consider the administration of standardized tests throughout the nation or more so the entire world as a means of validating a student’s progress or success in specific studies or general knowledge. A great example is the notorious SAT that all students are required to take in order to be admitted into college. More than two million students take this test each year. The Advanced Placement tests administered in May are also another means of student assessment. These tests seem like the most effective evaluation for students everywhere.
            But what must be understood is that although some students are extremely intelligent, interactive in the community, and holistically amazing in their classrooms, their Achilles’ heel may be their lack of luck and/or talent on standardized tests.
            And perhaps students that hardly prepare for tests are good at taking them because though they may be lazy people, they are strategic thinkers.
            In this case, standardized tests are not a fair assessment of students, but it is what nations everywhere use to measure the achievements of individuals. This is what causes students to become the in-the-box thinkers our nation is infested with, instead of creators and inventors that our nation should thrive on.
            While the sweetness of success is what many yearn for, perhaps it is not the best and most profitable medium by which to live life.
            It must be considered that happiness and fulfillment can be attained through our freedom of choice with regards to professions.
            America is a society that harbors thriving individuals in corporations, businesses, and industries. However, does the public encourage the artistic individuals with separate ventures in our communities? Do people appreciate their unconventional talents as well?
            The answer seems to be that many individuals do not, because parents are still telling their kids to do things that would benefit their economic status because of the stability and sureness of certain professions.
            By doing this, people surely are suppressing the talents and capabilities that the youth of today may harbor.
            In a society that insists on encouraging liberal-minded individuals and a variety of creative enterprise, such a limited view from a one-dimensional scope is almost paradoxical.
            Our nation was founded on the creativity and inventions of many free thinkers, and we, too, need to continue being free thinkers.