The Post-Paly Plans Map has historically been one of The Campanile’s most highly anticipated pieces. Though its intended purpose was to celebrate the post-graduation plans of every senior, the reality is the map contributes to the toxic, comparison-driven culture at Paly.

Our community fosters a college-centric mindset which erodes one’s sense of value and can lead to students with less traditional plans feeling judged, embarrassed or underrepresented. This worldview sets the bar for achievement extremely high and punishes anyone who falls short.

We believe the burden of improving Paly’s environment falls on the students. If we don’t shift how we talk and think about college, the culture will never improve. This is the reason we decided not to publish the map this year.

In place of the map, we decided to publish a series of quotes portraying Paly community members’ perspectives on the culture at our school and alternative post-graduation paths. We hope this decision sparks discussion about the values and priorities of students, families and community members. We wish the best for every graduating Paly student in pursuing their future goals.

Thanks for reading,

Ethan, Leyton, Kaylie, Ujwal and Waverly

2018-2019 Editors-in-Chief of The Campanile

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“It’s extremely toxic. It’s detrimental to a person’s health, mental health and it hurts not only themselves, but others around them. Because there are kids who can’t pay for colleges like that. And there’s kids that just don’t know how to get better grades; they have some kind of learning disability. And they’re looking at their peers getting into all the top colleges that their parents talk to them about all the time and they can’t do it. There’s a wall. There’s a barrier." - Ingrid Paixao (Class of 2019)