In every college recruitment letter and session with a high school counselor, students hear that they need to be “well rounded.” This mentality as well as the competitive school system currently used in America has created overworked, overtired students who only try to keep up with each test rather than learning the whole curriculum and a teaching system that’s main goal is to prepare students for tests.

To be considered a well-rounded student there is an expectation by colleges to be educated in many different subjects. For students to achieve this, it means a full and demanding schedule of classes, as many extracurricular activities as they can fit in, and usually, a lack of sleep. All this adds up to students who are constantly stressing about the next task or activity they must accomplish, and God forbid they take a sick day.

Students attempting to become well rounded often find themselves performing a juggling act. The goal is not only to juggle as many things as possible (classes, clubs, sports), but to do it well, and make sure not to drop any of them, because that will ruin the “act.”

America’s overly competitive view of education does nothing to ease this workload. A large part of competitive schooling is standardized tests. Roughly one third of any college or university’s admission decision is based on standardized test scores, according to About’s college website. While there are colleges out there with holistic admission, or even colleges who do not require test scores, most still rely heavily on test scores to determine admittance.

This reliance on test scores has resulted in what is commonly referred to as “teaching to the test” or only teaching students information that will benefit them for a specific test or standard, not skills they will need later on in their life or career.

In recent years, competitive schooling has grown larger and become a global trend, one that very few countries defy. One such country is Finland, whose education system has come into the spotlight lately after its success in preparing a majority of its students for their future careers (they have over 99 percent of students successfully completing basic education, as opposed to the under 75 percent of students who graduate from high school here in the United States, according to a 2012 study by the Program for International Student Assessment). So what is the difference?

The biggest difference, according to a 2012 study by PISA, is that Finish schools place an emphasis on gearing their curriculum towards the needs of the economy, and teaching cooperation and skills, rather than the competition and memorization found here in the U.S.

While I am not saying the entire mentality of U.S. schools needs to change, the way both students and educators look at learning does. High school should not be just four years every teenager must get through to get to college, but a building block for the future in which every student learns skills essential to their future.

Schooling and grading today is so black and white, pass/fail, that students are simply trying to get through the test rather than actually learning the material.

Even Advanced Placement classes, which are supposed to mimic undergraduate college courses, teach to the test as the goal of the class is to prepare students for the AP exam, so they do not need to repeat the course in college.

Both students and educators need to reevaluate their views of learning and the proper way to evaluate students, and consider alternatives to improve education for all students.