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Plato's Allegorical Cave

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Plato describes his allegorical cave as a “cavernous cell under the ground,” fit with prisoners “with their legs and necks tied up.” It’s described as a very undesirable place, yet I’m situated right in the middle of it. By choice. Okay, that was a bit of a dramatic start. Let me explain. I interpret Plato’s cave not as a physical place, but in a more abstract sense. To me, the cave represents the various pressures that are placed upon me by society; the notion that success is achieved by blindly accepting and begrudgingly completing tremendous amounts of schoolwork. How people believe that intelligence is defined by test scores, and the reason to pursue extracurriculars is to look good for colleges. In many ways, Stuyvesant represents the

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