On yesterday’s train, a teacher sat across my table. He was grading a history exam. The students’ longhand writing and little notes he left reminded me of my time in school.
At one point, he moved from one exam to the next, and the style of paper changed. So far, all of the students’ answers had been written on lined paper, but this one had used graph paper instead. “Wait, that’s for math,” my fiancée said. “Why would someone write a history exam on math paper?”
As with many a realization whose depth we don’t recognize at the time that we have it, I just shrugged and said: “I guess they can choose whichever paper they want.”
Now, having dwelled a little more on my own school days, I believe I, too, was free to pick my own paper. Rule-loving creature that I am, I don’t recall ever completing a written exam on graph paper, but in theory, I could have. Mostly, however, the whole incident reminded me of how many freedoms we had in German high school in the early 2000s. There were no school uniforms. Everyone had their own backpack. We doodled on our pencil cases and our homework books. We wore crazy hairstyles. And we left copious notes in our textbooks. All of that was freedom. All of it helped us become more of who we were meant to be as individuals.
You may not have grown up in the most liberal of educational circumstances. But whether you did, didn’t, or did but were socialized out of making the most of them, remember: Life sets exams for all of us, but you can pick your own paper. You can put an essay on quad paper, do calculations on ruled sheets, or draw a perfect rectangle on a blank page—and though it may not feel like the most empowering act of defiance, writing on graph paper sure counts for a start.