Great Expectations
Note this is an English assignment I wrote about "expectations" for me. It really has nothing to do with Charles Dickens' book, but more a look at the differences and similarities between now and then.
Everyone in my family has different expectations of what I should be when I'm out of college (The one thing everyone in my family likes to pound into my head: I should go to a good college. This decision was decided for me when I was like two days old). My dad would very much like to see me go to a very, very good college (think Ivy league), but that would be very hard to do since my grades are in no way anywhere near perfect, and there are perhaps, 50 people who, at this moment (if you were to do the math) have a higher G.P.A. than me. My grandmother would love to see me take some acting classes (because as of now, I have never been in a play, not even a kindergarten one, and I'm really shy in front of large crowds) and then see me go to an acting school for performing arts. When she was younger she was an extra in several movies (her two favorite experiences as an extra: You can see her ballroom dancing in some wacko scene in "The Muppets Take Manhattan", and you can see her play the lady who dies in "The Fan:, most of the way through the movie, after the more popular actress playing the lady who dies, actually died herself and had to have a double, my grandmother, be in the rest of the scenes, which I believe was only one or two. ), and she was in commercials a lot. If I actually followed her path in life, my grandmother would probably die of happiness. It is her dream, no fantasy, to turn on the television and see me on a commercial (which has about a 1 in 1,000,000 chance of actually happening in real life). My mother would like me to go to a good college, and then maybe start a small business. Although she would be happy to see me do whatever makes me happy, in terms of a job, she, strongly (very strongly, in fact), dislikes lawyers (one of the jobs I considered doing at one time or another) and can not see why anyone in their right mind would want to be president (another dream I had for about two seconds in sixth grade). She also strongly dislikes bad actors and actresses, which is what I would be if, by some weird, bizarre, twighlight-zone type occurrence I actually made it to a movie screen near you (again, I remind you there is a 1 in 1,000,000 chance of that actually happening, even as an extra). I think if I had more money and lived someplace else I'd have different expectations. I think everyone would with a few thousand bucks to throw around. It would make my expectations higher, and although I hate to say it, I'd probably be motivated more to do well in school. In fact I probably wouldn't be in this school if I had more money, and ironically this paper would never have been written and I wouldn't be here pounding away on my keyboard. If I moved someplace else, I think I'd use the adjustment period for my advantage. Teachers would expect me not to know what they're doing, so if I did well it would make me look smarter. On the other hand (particularly science class) if I have no idea what's going on, than it would be easier to get help understanding. The again, though, it could be horrible, and I'd miss my friends, and fail all my classes, in which case it's probably better for my "expectations" if I just stay here and grow up (and after that go to college) As for my own expectations, I'd like to suddenly find out that I'm really the princess of a small European principality and that my dad's really a multi-millionaire, just like in The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot (one of those books that's a hundred times better than the movie, but because the movie was made by Disney, everyone assumes it's horrible). But I know that's not going to happen (although there is a slightly better chance that that will happen than I actually become an actress). So I think I might want to be an archaeologist and go all over the world (I've never even been to Canada). And who knows? Maybe I could actually become an actress (anything could happen, right?) All I know is that I'm undecided, and by the end of the year, chances are my expectations for myself will have changed, as I'm only in ninth grade and still have at least three years to decide what I'm going to try and major in, in college. I have the rest of my high school career, and most of my college one to decide what I want to be when school's over. In this day and age, I could be anything!
Note this is an English assignment I wrote about "expectations" for me. It really has nothing to do with Charles Dickens' book, but more a look at the differences and similarities between now and then.
Everyone in my family has different expectations of what I should be when I'm out of college (The one thing everyone in my family likes to pound into my head: I should go to a good college. This decision was decided for me when I was like two days old). My dad would very much like to see me go to a very, very good college (think Ivy league), but that would be very hard to do since my grades are in no way anywhere near perfect, and there are perhaps, 50 people who, at this moment (if you were to do the math) have a higher G.P.A. than me. My grandmother would love to see me take some acting classes (because as of now, I have never been in a play, not even a kindergarten one, and I'm really shy in front of large crowds) and then see me go to an acting school for performing arts. When she was younger she was an extra in several movies (her two favorite experiences as an extra: You can see her ballroom dancing in some wacko scene in "The Muppets Take Manhattan", and you can see her play the lady who dies in "The Fan:, most of the way through the movie, after the more popular actress playing the lady who dies, actually died herself and had to have a double, my grandmother, be in the rest of the scenes, which I believe was only one or two. ), and she was in commercials a lot. If I actually followed her path in life, my grandmother would probably die of happiness. It is her dream, no fantasy, to turn on the television and see me on a commercial (which has about a 1 in 1,000,000 chance of actually happening in real life). My mother would like me to go to a good college, and then maybe start a small business. Although she would be happy to see me do whatever makes me happy, in terms of a job, she, strongly (very strongly, in fact), dislikes lawyers (one of the jobs I considered doing at one time or another) and can not see why anyone in their right mind would want to be president (another dream I had for about two seconds in sixth grade). She also strongly dislikes bad actors and actresses, which is what I would be if, by some weird, bizarre, twighlight-zone type occurrence I actually made it to a movie screen near you (again, I remind you there is a 1 in 1,000,000 chance of that actually happening, even as an extra). I think if I had more money and lived someplace else I'd have different expectations. I think everyone would with a few thousand bucks to throw around. It would make my expectations higher, and although I hate to say it, I'd probably be motivated more to do well in school. In fact I probably wouldn't be in this school if I had more money, and ironically this paper would never have been written and I wouldn't be here pounding away on my keyboard. If I moved someplace else, I think I'd use the adjustment period for my advantage. Teachers would expect me not to know what they're doing, so if I did well it would make me look smarter. On the other hand (particularly science class) if I have no idea what's going on, than it would be easier to get help understanding. The again, though, it could be horrible, and I'd miss my friends, and fail all my classes, in which case it's probably better for my "expectations" if I just stay here and grow up (and after that go to college) As for my own expectations, I'd like to suddenly find out that I'm really the princess of a small European principality and that my dad's really a multi-millionaire, just like in The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot (one of those books that's a hundred times better than the movie, but because the movie was made by Disney, everyone assumes it's horrible). But I know that's not going to happen (although there is a slightly better chance that that will happen than I actually become an actress). So I think I might want to be an archaeologist and go all over the world (I've never even been to Canada). And who knows? Maybe I could actually become an actress (anything could happen, right?) All I know is that I'm undecided, and by the end of the year, chances are my expectations for myself will have changed, as I'm only in ninth grade and still have at least three years to decide what I'm going to try and major in, in college. I have the rest of my high school career, and most of my college one to decide what I want to be when school's over. In this day and age, I could be anything!