Our high school teachers always told us, "When you get to college it's going to be so much harder than this," or the cliche, "this is preparing you for college," but what good was that? Yes it's harder and very different, but words can't prepare us for the change. Actions will, we needed tougher assignments, more individualized papers, more homework, more of a chance to be individuals not a class. Senior year was joke for many or blew by too fast to really figure out how to be ready for next year. Taking the easiest possible classes because you could, never having homework, out enjoying life until, SMACK! College hits you across the face. Now here we are, what did that do to help? Did high school really prepare us for college? Was it just an illusion we were slowly taught to believe that a world of blending in would help us stand out?

The society within high school I believe has shocked us heading into college. Homework the majority of nights for me was nonexistent and being able to relax often was normal. Then college is this nonstop ebb and flow of assignments each night that keeps us up until insane hours wondering why there isn't a Starbucks in our dorm common area. It has been that very unpreparedness for this massive influx of work that has me questioning if high school really had me prepared.

The teachers so often had control of what we were doing and when we were doing it. They would hound you for papers that you didn't turn in, but do teachers do that now? What did they teach us? To be independently responsible or cumulatively irresponsible? Now we are on our own, doing our own essays, no professors looking over our necks for late papers. We don't get put in group projects where some care and some don't (at least usually) since everyone is here because they want to be not because they have to be. How could we be prepared? We've been growing up living in a reality that was never like college and now we see the results of that.

I could point out more but I just want us to stop and maybe help those coming after us that it's up to them now to avoid the false preparations. We have been prone to not wanting to do work, skipping class simply because, "It's my money, it's my choice". That's a stupid thought, you wanna make the most of it not the least of it. Don't lose touch with the reality of college, it's preparing your future don't lose sight of that. Take hard classes, do the assignments, try new things, keep an open mind and never give up no matter what!

It seems the very thing meant to help us and prepare us for the future seems more like a trap for many. We feel like escaping it in the end instead of being grateful for it. I can't deny it did teach me lessons, the teachers rocked, and I had good times. But I would say maybe we should reconsider what it means to prepare students for college and see what can be changed. The potential is there but the way we've been using it can be tweaked. High school is still worth it and we can learn. However, as for college prep you might just have to wait to discover true college on your years here on campus. Learn but enjoy, focus but be open to anything!