Sitting in a recent Diversity club meeting, there was a realization the school has become unusually competitive—and not in a good way.

Before entering high school, students talked about how there are two different kinds of students: those who couldn’t care less about their grades and those who care way too much.

Sounds like an over exaggeration, right? Wrong.

Coming into a new school as a sophomore, it’s hard to tell what to expect. So instead of taking easier classes, challenging classes sounded like the best bet. Despite taking AP U.S. History and Honors English, students still shrugged at their peers as if it wasn’t enough. After getting the same response from students, it got harder to brush off.

Halfway through the year, it wasn’t hard to notice students were cocky and all together rude when it came to another student getting one percent higher on a test than they did. Students make fun of others for making a small mistake in class.

Competitiveness isn’t a bad thing. It’s only bad once students start acting like being smart is a social status.

It’s understandable some kids act like they need to be the best because they feel pressure from parents to be in the top of their graduating class and get into Harvard; but in the end, students need to stop caring so much about being in the top of the class and start caring more about the learning aspect.

Students should want to learn because it’s a privilege to be able to receive an education. Not everybody in the world has the same access to a good education as students at this school—and most people take that for granted.

After attending this school for two years, the words “I actually learned something in class today,” don’t come out of students’ mouths enough.

Fast forward to 10 years into the future, living in a nice house with a good job. But wait, to have a good job, understanding what to do is a major part.

Once adulthood comes, bosses aren’t going to care what college a person attended or how many AP classes they took in high school. They’ll only care if an employee understands their job and presents quality work. It’s not always going to be about the competition.

So get a head start while the chance is still offered in high school. Try to not only focus on the competition, but actually learn and focus on the material.