Marching Band Perfection Essay

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In marching band there is this high level of performance expected from each member. In fact, the directors expect perfection from everyone. We all share the mindset that “I have to be perfect, if I make a mistake, then the directors will call me out, and then everyone will know that I am sucking at this”. We get in our own way of succeeding, we don’t want to fail, so we don’t try; then we can never be good. The socialization of perfection in children creates unrealistic standards that are impossible for a child to achieve and causes the child to feel unworthy and give up. I was socialized to expect perfection from myself and others throughout my experiences in school and with interactions with my peers. In school, I have always been expected …show more content…

The expectation that I needed to always get straight A’s made me feel like I was ‘stupid’ and could not live up to my parents’ standards. This would cause me to spend way too much time, when completing any task, to make sure that it was perfect and there were absolutely no mistakes. During my junior year of high school, I had a teacher that would randomly call on students and have them answer his questions, but then ridicule them for getting the answer wrong, instead of helping them understand the correct answer and learn from their mistakes. The teacher criticizing mistakes instead of correcting them was extremely harmful to the young minds in that classroom, it made students scared to make a mistake and made them less willing to participate in class. Among peers, the expectation of perfection causes people to make fun of their peers for making any kind of mistake. For example, in band class, if someone plays during the rest, everyone turns around and laughs at them for the obvious mistake and humiliates the person. This resulted in people being timid while playing and being scared to make mistakes and taught the lesson; it is not acceptable to make …show more content…

Perfectionism can be extremely unhealthy for some people when it turns into an obsession, however, perfectionism does have some benefits for society. In the workplace, it helps make sure that services live up to a high standard. It also helps people create innovative technologies and inventions that help improve people’s lives. I regret being socialized in this way because it has given me a harmful mindset and taught me unhealthy habits. When my parents expect me to be perfect in school and always get good grades on every assignment, it puts too much pressure on me and forces me to prioritize school over everything else. This makes me scared to admit when I fail and makes me feel very ashamed of any mistakes that I make. I was terrified, at first, to try skating. When I went with my friends, I sat on the bench for a long time, scared because I knew that I might fall and that I wouldn’t be good at it. I was so terrified of messing up and failing in front of my friends that I refused to even try it. I knew I couldn’t be perfect, so I didn’t even want to try. I can resocialize myself to create a better mindset and healthier habits by accepting things that are not

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