Ainan Celeste Cawley, 11, is a scientific child prodigy. Hamad Al Humaidhan, age 11, has already distinguished himself as a professional artist. Gregory Smith was nominated for a Nobel peace prize at the age of 12. These children, among the long list of many others are the very people who schools use as role models for their students. The very people that we are striving to become. More importantly, we are told to strive to become those people as fast as possible.

I’m 16 years old, a junior in high school and I have undergone vast amounts of pressure and dealt with unmeetable expectations, ever since the 6^th grade. Here is a short list of some of the things I was expected to do:

-By the 9^th a grade, I was supposed to know what college I wanted to go to.

-By the 10^th grade I was supposed to know what major I wanted to have.

-By the 11^th grade I was supposed to have a GPA over a 3.5 at least, and participate in several extracurricular activities and preferably a sport.

-By the 12^th grade I am supposed to have multiple AP or college-level classes completed in order to prove to colleges that I can handle the curriculum before even I even arrive.

I can only assume that by the time I get to college I will be expected to have my entire life plan figured out, how many kids I’m going to have and know when I’m going to retire. The expectations that I, and many other kids across America, have had to face in high school and even in middle school are outrageous. The list of extracurricular and high level classes we have to take, in order to be expected to get into college, puts extreme pressure on us.

So far, I have luckily been able meet most of these expectations, but that does not change the fact that the expectations in the first place are higher than they have ever been. Any parent I talk too can vouch that the curriculum today is ten times harder than when they were growing up in school. Not to mention that as the expectations increase, it seems so does the price of school itself. College cost more than it ever has, and kids are struggling to keep minimum wage jobs all throughout high school while juggling school and extracurricular clubs just to get into and pay for college.

All this can be considered very good in some situations. Smarter kids, more expectations, a brighter future for the country and the world. I’m afraid though, that while children and teens are being packed full of math equations, vocabulary, and other academic knowledge, they are missing out on the true lessons that life naturally offers through childhood and growing up. Since the 6^th grade I have been told to act like an adult. It’s a phrase I hear every day. “Act like an adult,” “Work hard in school,” “Get a job” and “Be prepared,” so many whipping phrases branded into our memory. For once I would like to hear, “Just have fun,” “Be creative” or “Use your imagination.”

At the start of the article, I mentioned a few child geniuses that we are thought to become. But not everyone is a child genius. Not everyone is meant for the same path. Not everyone should be forced to become an adult without ever having the opportunity to truly just enjoy our childhood.

I look forward to college and I look forward to having a successful career. However, do we have to start planning our lives 10 years in advance? Am I and many other American teenagers being forced to grow up too fast?