Face it. When you graduate high school, you're either the person who never wanted to leave or you're the one who couldn't wait to get out. Those of us who couldn't wait to get out are all too familiar with others telling us that "we are going to wish we could go back, maybe not now— but some day." We are all too familiar with being told that "high school is the best four years of our lives."
I am here to tell you, though, that I will never wish to go back to high school. High school will never be in the running when I look back at what may be the "best years of my life." Getting my high school diploma wasn't bittersweet or sad — it was pure satisfaction.
High school life is a blur to me. High school is nothing but a routine. You wake up at the same time, get to school by the same tardy bell, attend the same classes, potentially participate in your typical extra-curricular activities, head home and go to sleep so you can wake up and do it all over again. Quite possibly, ladies, there was petty high school drama in between. Just lovely.
I am not here to say that I didn't enjoy high school. Sure, high school was fun. Of course I enjoyed it while I was there. I am only here to say that high school is not a stage in my life worth repeating, nor a stage I feel anyone should have a strong desire to repeat.
High school is a time where you're supposed to be climbing toward adulthood, toward who you want to be — yet you're frozen in time by routine and regulation. You're not an early-bird? Too bad, the tardy bell rings at 8 a.m. You don't like biology, nor will it help your future career? So sorry, that course is required.
Academics in high school do not reflect or pour into a student's abilities and likes. Being forced to take courses that 1. you aren't interested in and 2. you don't understand is not a practice to being well-rounded. Sure, my basic statistics class is helpful when I am doing my bills, but learning graphing in Calculus will never be of help toward my degree or future career. I would not consider four years of stressing over classes I couldn't wrap my head around as "the best four years of my life."
The restraints placed on high school students are belittling. Preparing young adults for the starting line of life is extremely ineffective when there are such constraining regulations on their lives throughout the entire school year. Girls, you cannot show your shoulders. Students mustn't go to the bathroom without a pass or for more than three minutes at a time. If you're an 18-year-old senior, your parents still must consent, and your adulthood isn't taken into consideration. Leisure was essentially non-existent in the walls of the school.
So, no, I do not wish to revisit my high school years. And no, high school sure wasn't the best four years of my life. High school students are preparing for the rest of their lives — for who they are going to be. Frankly, they deserve more.
The best is yet to come for you, high school students.
