Dear Higher Education,

The higher education system is broken. Public high schools, middle school and elementary schools are not properly equipped to teach students the increasing standards that are required for higher education. There is a lack of materials, lack of teachers and lack of money to properly equip students with the essential skills required for college. Students are provided with outdated textbooks, outdated technology, and outdated teaching standards. Certain subjects have been selectively cut from school systems; sex education, computer classes and all the arts, for the sake of saving money and improving the community, yet hidden within the unspoken shades of grey is the fact that students of this age group of which the aforementioned decisions effect, cannot vote on matters that directly effect them and their future.

At the age of sixteen, students are forced to choose a major; a career path a student is expected to receive a degree for and then follow the line of work until retirement at the age of at least sixty-five. Children at the age of sixteen are not fully developed cognitively, yet the expectation of society is that these students, these individuals, these children have a solid plan for their futures. Many students grudgingly make a choice, some excitedly, the majority hesitantly, and then proceed to place extreme amounts of money into a college or university that the student hopes provides the resources needed to be successful, and then this student is forced to become an adult very quickly.

College is challenging, yes, however, something has gone wrong. Students are thrown into a competitive, highly stressful environment often without any prior help or guidance, and as for the students that did receive help, these individuals were taught how to survive the academic portion of college but have not how to survive the stress. To add to the stress, students must also contend with student loans and maintaining finances, which was not taught in high school, and as for the academic portion of college, students who did not have any problems in high school begin to struggle, students that are incredibly intelligent struggle to maintain a C average and students begin stress. Classes require so much time and effort that students are forced to drop extracurricular activities, focusing solely on academics, never having a break from the stress. This environment as a whole is a cesspool for mental disorders. One in four college students will develop some form of mental disorder while in college. Yes, these situations can be circumstantial, a student could be unprepared for college, or be missing home, or not mature enough for college yet, but this is a problem across the nation. College students are extremely stressed, regardless of the university that they chose to attend. This should not be happening yet it is, there are statistics to prove that this is happening, that students are stressed and miserable yet nobody has been able to pinpoint the cause. So I ask, this; universities, colleges, somebody helps us, because the higher education system as it is presently, is not working, your children are crying.

Sincerely,