One day I was searching through a basket of colorful finger puppets at Spectrum International on Thayer Street. As I approached the counter, the shopkeeper smiled. "You picked my favorite one," he said. "The snail. Do you know why?"
I shook my head.
"People speak often about conserving natural energy - water, fuel. But they often completely overlook the importance of conserving human energy, which is the most important energy of all."
"To make slow, steady, progress," continued the shopkeeper, "without the collapses that come from too much speed, is to construct oneself in health and peace."
The wisdom of Spectrum's shopkeeper moved me, but when I thought about implementing his advice in my own life I was filled with apprehension. Why?
Brown students are young. We are not yet wise, but most of us are passionate and brilliant and motivated. When our personal drive intersects with the prevalent cultural pressure to excel academically, the result can be an internal firestorm that produces prestigious opportunities and public acclaim, often at an incredible speed.
Every day Ivy League students do incredible things. But during our launch through the academic stratosphere, we sometimes experience a lack of direction and support.
Recent literature, ranging from Harry Lewis' acclaimed book "Excellence Without Soul" to Newsweek, whose most recent cover features an overwhelmed first grader next to a stack of books taller than she is, has discussed the encroachment of increasingly intense, high-stakes competition.
His book discusses the encroachment of academic pressure into the lives of young people. Academic competition has stretched deeper into childhood and increasingly crafts the world views we carry into college. SAT courses have become standard for middle school students; will we soon see fifth graders preparing college portfolios?
Such a state of affairs has wreaked havoc on the collective emotional health of America's youth. Our generation's widespread feeling of confusion is a reaction to our cultural shift from a healthy respect for free thought to an atmosphere of merit-based self-obsession.
The ultimate pitfall of such an atmosphere is that it fails to be sustainable. How can education be healthy when it promotes so much stress and guilt in America's youth? How can we perform in careers that allow no mental space for daily rest and recuperation? How can we be happy if we are always seeking a prize just out of reach?
As these pressures mount, frustration at what we are unable to do grows as well. This is especially true for Brown students, to whom so many amazing opportunities are afforded. Doing fieldwork in a distant village, backpacking through the Himalayas, winning a prestigious research fellowship, meeting prominent newsmakers - all of these opportunities are open to Ivy League students.
But if we don't take full advantage of these opportunities or are unable to, should it be a source of shame? I'm sure that many of my peers share my secret dread of an observer casually - perhaps even spitefully - commenting: on what we did not achieve.
While many laud Brown for being the most relaxed of the Ivies, I see an increasing focus on competition and unneeded academic pressure here. Almost every senior I have spoken to this year has expressed feelings of chronic stress. I would challenge the class of 2010 to reject this growing tide of academic pressure and set a tone of intellectual collaboration instead of competition.
Freeing ourselves from this pressure to succeed is a question of balancing values: perseverance with patience, speaking with listening, achieving with relaxing. While many of us gauge our responsibilities in terms of grades and income, perhaps a better criterion would be mental and emotional health. Slowing down becomes much easier if we stop looking at it as an indulgence but rather as an investment into our futures.
For many of us, the real challenge at Brown is not winning the respect of our peers through our intelligence and hard work. The most difficult task for today's emerging college students is to move beyond individual ambition. For our own sakes and for the health of our communities, we must consciously examine our lives and decide where and when we should slow down.
Natalie Smolenski '07 is taking the time she needs.
