College isn’t the beginning

It’s June which, for many of us, is also the time for graduation. Middle school students culminate to high school, (most) high school students graduate to college, college goers are thrown into the adult-world.

Everybody who moves on thinks that there is going to be some great change in their life, but as a teacher once told me, “If you think that your life is suddenly going to be great, that your life has yet to start until college, it’s probably going to stay the same.” My teacher’s advice sounds pessimistic, but so far, from my experiences as an eighth grader moving on to high school, these words of wisdom hold true.

I still have yet to graduate, so I have little to no personal experience with this quote, but why shouldn’t it be true? High school is just a bigger version of middle school, and college is just a bigger version of high school. You’re still dealing with people, you’re still dealing with homework and teachers.

The stress of the work increases gradually of course but everyone seems to handle it well. Yes, if you dorm in college you have much more freedom and some of us with strict parents really do take advantage of that freedom. But is life all of a sudden great just because now you can go out?

You have to pay to be in college and the more time you spend partying and not passing your classes, the more in debt you’re going to be. What’s the point of paying thousands of dollars to enroll if all you’re going to do is drink the nights away?

Surely college is more than just one big four year party. What makes it much more bearable than high school is that at least you get to take classes that will impact your future. You get to discover what it is that you actually want to do with your life. But surely many of us at least have an idea of what we want to do.

College simply solidifies our idea of our future career. And even if we barely figure out what we want to do, is your life suddenly great? Classes are still classes and a lot of the time they result in boredom and stress. Whether you like a class or not, you still have to put in the time and work to make sure that you pass. It’s the same thing as high school, just with more work.

This article shouldn’t be taken as a “your life will be miserable, get used to it prophecy.” College surely is more fun than high school (I’ll take my brother’s word for it) but none of us should be looking forward to it as the beginning of our lives. Too many of us look so far ahead into our future and how great it’s going to be that we forget to enjoy everyday as it is.

The day to go to college is going to come and eventually we’ll be stuck in there, but for the little time we have in high school left, we should just enjoy it. Enjoy the teachers that we love, enjoy the friends that are still here, and mostly enjoy the fact that it’s all free. Once that last bell rings for us to leave high school forever, life is going to get expensive. So enjoy yourself while you still can and make tomorrow, not the first day of college, your new beginning.