I hate to break it to you guys, but chances are you're hardly unique. Over 99% of the world's people are the same. That's what it means to be ordinary. In order to be meaningfully unique (a.k.a, the less than 1% of the population whose names are actually remembered after they've passed), you actually have to do something with your life. People tend to be remembered if they've made a meaningful impact on society, for better or worse. On one hand, there are scientists, mathematicians, writers, artists, leaders, etc. who are remembered for making an important contribution to society in their lifetimes. On the other hand, people are remembered in a negative light for causing harm to others, impacting society in a negative way. In any case, these people are not unique for attending school, working for someone else, spending all their money to acquire more "stuff," and then dying and leaving their "stuff" to their families.
Academic achievements are hardly unique as well. Most states have hundreds of schools, and the United States as a whole has thousands. Someone might be first in their high school class, but unless they go on to contribute something meaningful, chances are they'd be forgotten just like the billions of ordinary people before them. Employers generally know this, and this is part of the reason why many jobs that used to accept people with only a high school diploma fifty years ago started requiring a bachelor's degree twenty years ago, and now require a master's degree.
A large concern that I have with our schools rests on the emphasis on uniqueness. If we're all so unique, why is it that we have a one-size-fits-all approach to education, even when presented with obvious (and unique) challenges to doing so with specific students? Most people do not learn in the same way, and people who certainly don't learn in a way typically considered acceptable in society are often ostracized for it, regardless of their actual intellectual capabilities. I certainly don't consider myself stupid, but my educators in college didn't consider me to have any kind of intellectual potential. They are probably right, in one way. Since I can't test well due to my learning disorders, I don't have any kind of potential there, therefore (according to them) I deserve to be treated like a freak of nature.
School does generally work to some extent for most people. By that, I mean that most people will either pass through the system the way that they're supposed to, or they'll be able to maneuver around it, bending it to suit their needs, and still come out with some kind of degree. It's certainly convenient that most people aren't exactly unique, or else the system would work for exactly one person. Considering that many schools emphasize that uniqueness is "great," it's unfortunate that they have no answer for people who are unique in a way that their system doesn't work for them. I guess uniqueness is only a good thing if it helps me be more suited to their system, not less.
It might sound nice to be unique, but should we really be striving to make our children desire uniqueness? Sounding nice is not a legitimate reason in and of itself to continue to do something. I'd prefer not to sugar coat things, and tell people that most of them are in fact exactly the same. But, most people are satisfied with thinking that they're unique while continuing to do the same thing that billions of other people are doing. It makes for more obedient sheep if we continue to tell them that they're special in their own little ways, than if we tell them that they're just another set of workers who can easily be replaced with other people capable of doing the same menial tasks. Society needs lots of non-unique people in order to function properly.
So, if you are one of the millions of people who do the same things over and over, yet still consider yourself unique, I hope you are satisfied. If not, there are ways that anyone could make a meaningful impact on society, and therefore be more unique than the average person. If you want to be remembered for being good, do something good. Start by donating something that you don't need to people less fortunate than yourself instead of throwing it in the trash can. While people are hardly unique anyway, we are all not unique at all in the way that we all have the same basic needs. By helping someone who otherwise can't help themselves by donating something that you don't need anyway, you are helping society for the better. And that is something that's more worth celebrating than being unique for its own sake.
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