What Are Your Plans For Next Year?

Botstein starts his argument by stating the various parts of the high school experience that are harmful and pointless to students. The first is the “untouchable” category which consists of coaches and high school athletes whose exclusive ranking is based off of the team’s success rather than their own educational achievements. Secondly, Botstein addresses teachers and curriculum that “hold so little sway” over the minds and attitudes of students, since the average student is constantly worried about growing up, popularity, and their friend groups. Next, Botstein claims that the “primary reason” high schools are flawed and broken is that the teens in the twentieth century era are maturing “substantially earlier” than in the past decades. Lastly, Botstein develops a new method for teenager’s education experience by eliminating the 10th through 12th grades, permanently making high school obsolete. If Botstein’s plan is achieved, teenagers will have many different options to choose after their secondary schooling. Students would be able

The needs of the students go unheard and are masked by insufficient teachers, cliques, and the need to prioritize popularity and attractiveness. According to Let Teenagers Try Adulthood, "By the time those who graduate from high school go on to college and realize what really is at stake in becoming an adult, too many opportunities have been lost and too much time has been wasted." Instead of promoting individuality in students and offering educational opportunities, vain ideals are promoted and have little effect outside of high school. Students have thus neglected their education because of false expectations which are promoted along with unsatisfactory educators. To address the issue high schools must promote the importance of receiving education instead of focusing on vain ideals which students believe define their importance. Also, qualified teachers and faculty members should be put in charge of molding and shaping students into successful individuals who are prepared for life beyond high

High School culture has changed since the “old days.” Students from all grades are not only striving for academic success, but also participate in many extracurricular activities as outside forces continue to impact social life. With this comes the typical struggles of students figuring out who they are, and what kind of person they want to become as college becomes a daunting factor.

High school, for many students, is prison. A prison that holds us for seven hours every day, five days a week. This type of attitude is what ruins students. Students with huge potential and bright futures are falling victim to this epidemic every year. It is time we try and change that.

Whispers fly around the hallways, yelling can be heard from classrooms, the lunchroom is in no regards a sanctuary, but rather a social jungle of cliques and cliches. A high school is the perfect example of the decline in morals in America, but that’s a common misconception across many generations. Being a rowdy teen is a part of growing up and discovering who you are. Even though some teenagers can be difficult and exhausting to deal with, it’s a rite of passage and an important part of their childhood. Morals aren’t declining in America, instead teens are going through a series of mistakes that will shape their lives and will develop who they are as a person.

As a senior in high school, questions regarding college and my plans for the years following graduation are asked to me on a day-to-day basis. College is definitely the most important thing I am focused on this year, and although a college degree is highly valued in the job field today, many argue that not everyone should attend college due to the fact that it brings a new level of responsibility that many cannot handle, many careers now do not require a four-year degree, and because students no longer have the desire to learn.

Everyone looks forward to their senior year, whether it’s to rule the school, or just to simply graduate. There are many changes that go along with a final year in high school. At every family gathering one is asked those loaded questions about where they want to go to school or what they want to be in five or ten years. Those questions are what some students dread being asked, especially those who have absolutely no idea what their plan is. Today’s society has made it the social norm for young people to know what they want to do, and have made it difficult to go to college not having already declared a major on an application. Often this request is unrealistic. For some students, going to college is not what he or she wants to do. Students

Although high school experiences are of value and contribute social skills to the lifestyles of teenagers, Leon Botstein’s critique of the American high school sufficiently addressed the concerns with the high school educational system. Botstein articulates his opinion at the beginning of paragraph three with the clear statement that “the rules of high school turn out not to be the rules of life” which teenagers are expeditiously learning. Students are not being properly prepared for the trials they will encounter in their adult lives after they graduate from high school and into this true barbarous world. This generation of graduates will be innovating society and reaching new heights. Schools should be shaping creative and problem solving individuals that can be easily integrated into society. The president of Bard College and the author of Jefferson’s Children: Education and the Promise of American Culture, Leon Botstein, outlines the issues that are affecting high school education in his 1999 writing of Let Teenagers Try Adulthood.

In a world for teenagers, there is high school. Attending these high schools are millions of students who are all so diverse. In the U.S. today, the adolescents are more isolated from adults and children outside of their age group than ever before. Age segregation has created a youth that is different from adult culture in its values and attitudes. Society is constantly changing from generation to generation causing teenagers to rely on one another to teach them things that adults cannot. Adolescents have survived by creating groups and growing with each other as people.

High school…last steps we take before we ready the adult world, but are they really preparing us for it? What we need is more freedom and changing some school rules can help. During our lunch periods, we should be given more freedom like being able to leave school grounds and buying our own lunch.

More tests to study for. More money to make. More sports to practice. More people to impress. It’s mind-boggling the amount of pressure that society places on teens in this generation.

Being a high school student myself, there is an excessive amount of competition between everyone. Every student wants to go to the top college of their dreams, but not everyone gets accepted. Each individual tries their best and works hard every day, but it is never enough. Students are ranked against one another and it becomes grueling when everyone is competing to reach the same goal that can feel unattainable at times. High school has become a marathon, and there only so many medals to go around.

Seeing students push themselves so far they end up crashing. Taking advanced class available to them, join clubs, and have to sign up for college on top of it all. Watching parents trying to help their kid, but are turned around because the curriculum has become more difficult and advanced. Stating in his article, parents, want to pull their kids “on the fast track” but worry about putting them behind. Being told by parents, their high school career felt easier than what they have seen us go through shows how things have changed

High school is the time where students feel the pressure to make sure their grades

“Contemporary American society pulls teenagers away from school toward social and recreational pursuits. There is widespread peer pressure not to succeed academically. One of five students say that their friends make fun of people who try to do well in school. More than one-half of all students say they never discuss their schoolwork with friends.”