We are told right from the beginning of freshman year: “College is right around the corner.” Yes, for most high school students, attending a two-year or four-year college is in their future. But for some high school students, college isn’t for them.
Every LHS student is socialized to the idea that they will go on to college. It is how the system works because it is easier to group a bunch of kids together and say the same thing than to go to each individual to see how they want to go through the system.
Some students decide to go overseas, maybe to Europe, to get an education. Others take a gap year, a year off, before they decide on where they want to go to school.
I’m not against the regular path of going to college and then getting a job, etc. I am going to the University of Missouri, which is a four-year institution. Yet sometimes I think to myself: What if I did it differently?
Dr. Randall S. Hansen, a marketer and educator, states that, “A generation or two ago high-school graduates rarely went on to college, yet somehow through the years, college has almost become a rite of passage for teens to pass into adulthood and a good career. But teens do not need to attend college to become adults and they certainly do not need to attend to land a good career.”
This statement is less true as the years go on as more and more jobs require a college education, but with rising tuition rates, college may not be an option for some, and that doesn’t mean they’ll be lesser than any other person who did attend college.
I think that is one of the main issues with today’s education system. Instead of prepping us for life and the lessons that come with it, we are prepared for college, and that’s about it. Even though we live in a fortunate town where most of our families can afford our educational aspirations, there are many students around the country who have to take a different route.
There is a stereotype that not going to a four-year college means you’re a lost cause for society and that you’ll get nowhere in life. Yet taking a gap year or getting a job right out of the gate is not a bad idea at all. For some, it is what they need and what they want to help them prepare themselves for their upcoming endeavors.
A different path is always an option; you don’t have to fall into the conformity of society. Do what you want to do — the masses aren’t always right.
