It's graduation time. Not for college students, not for graduate students, but for high school. Or at least, my high school. It brings back a lot of memories as to what happened in my four years at public school, and it makes for a time that I am appreciative of. I've come to terms with my dislikes and likes about high school, and now I just want to share what I've learned from my two years away from a public institution.
I've had a lot of time to think about why I didn't like high school. It's more personal than the argument that the public school system in itself is broken, where competition is encouraged inside and outside the classroom to the extreme. To an extent, I agree with that argument. Many people lose sight of what K-12 education is supposed to be; a learning experience in which is to be taken further in life, whichever route you take. But in high school, at least for me, it became a battle for GPA and extra-curricular, as well as cranky teens being all shady in the sense of wanting to get a better grade than another.
I had my fair share of bad grades. I probably deserved them as I probably didn't work as hard as other students. I will admit that times, I was really frustrated at the fact that even though I did try, I would still get a grade in which I didn't find satisfactory, or even passing. Out of all the classes I took in my high school career, I only failed two, one in which I withdrew from because I knew I didn't have it in me to continue. But out of all things, I didn't think I would be humiliated for the classes I did subpar in. An instance comes from the time I miserably failed a practice AP exam which we graded in class. I remember a friend telling me that during that time, my practice exam was passed around the group of friends, being laughed at. Even though my name wasn't on it, it still hurt knowing that my work was basically a joke.
Which brings me back to my main point of why I don't miss high school. I realized every moment leading up to then, school is not my thing. I didn't like grades. I didn't like the competition. I would get made fun of if I didn't do well. Even if you do well, you are held to a standard already and if you fall below it, there is something wrong. There is a kind of weakness that is shown, and that's supposed to be normal, right? I understand. Don't get me wrong. I understand the struggle of having to do your best. I understand what people have to do to get the grades, to get that place in regionals or state UIL competitions. I understand what the late nights are all about, or why you do them. Most definitely, I understand why we had to compete.
For a long time, I thought I hated high school. I hated how things had happened during my time in high school, but I am still appreciative of the experience. My own accounts of school are varied, but not all of them were bad. I learned through my mistakes, my failures, and my triumphs. But most of all, I gained an understanding of what I liked and didn't like. Overall, high school was okay. But I'm glad I don't have to go through it and feel what I felt during my time there.
So if you're a recent high school grad, get ready, because college is a whole other game that you get to play in.
