High School – A Terrible, Useless Place

High school is a terrible and useless place. At least, that is the view of most of the inmates. However, this is not entirely true. Unfortunately for those who relish in incessantly whining about high school (yes, I do indeed fall into this category), high school serves a purpose. More than one, actually: high school serves multiple purposes. High school serves to educate those who find themselves trapped within its walls. Not only to educate in the traditional academic sense, but to educate further than that-in not only the scholarly sense, but in the social, physical, and mental senses as well. There are a myriad purposes for high school, despite the merciless whining that can be observed in most, if not all, high school students. To put these purposes in a neat little verbal box, high school provides education and facilitates maturity. These certainly seem like positive results! Why, then, is high school so detested? Well, that can also be put into a neat little box-stress. The path to these conclusions is not always easy. With this high school experience, beneficial or otherwise, there comes an unfathomable amount of stress of all kinds. Naturally, stress leads to whining. The energy spent on whining, though, would be better spent on schoolwork. (Yes, I know, that is easier said than done.) Because, after all, high school is effective in educating each of its inhabitants in some way or another, and facilitating maturity. High school serves to educate and encourage maturity, and, despite constant abhorrence, it is effective in facilitating these conclusions.

It is a question that has plagued society since the very beginning of anything. Since man could think, man has been pondering the question: Why are we here? Why am I here? This same question is also quite common in high schools. Among frustrated students who are tired of working late into the night only to get up the following morning to do it all again, and again, and again, and who do not see any value in it; among (mostly) seniors who want desperately to get out of high school and move on with their lives; among students who truly, simply, think it would be no less beneficial to sit at home and play Xbox all day. Fortunately for high schoolers, there is an answer to this question. The short answer is: to get an education. This seems obvious, cliché, and redundant, of course, but it is very true, and students often seem to forget that they are getting an education by going through what they do day after endless, tedious, day. Throughout four years of high school, students do, or at least have a plethora of opportunities to, learn much more than they knew before. After passing four years of classes, it is nearly impossible to not know any more than a student did before high school. Of course, this is not nearly the only purpose of high school. High school serves the extensive purpose of facilitating maturity, and causing its in habitants to mature. To not only mature mentally through gaining scholarly aptitude, but socially and physically, as well. It is a well-known fact that, socially, high school can be absolutely brutal. High schoolers learn about friendships, often relationships, how to avoid being the kid who gets shoved in the locker or put in a trashcan, how to fit in (regardless of whether or not this is a good thing), how to make friends, and simply how to survive in the high-tension, high-emotion, and raging hormone-dominated social world of high school. It is also obvious to everyone how different people look when they are freshman compared to how they look as seniors. It really is remarkably self-explanatory how much everyone changes physically over the four years of high school. Not just physically, but in many other ways as well-far too many to list. The point of all of this, though, the education, the heightened and increased maturity, and all the rest of it, is to prepare students for life after high school. For college, for the working world, for life. The ultimate purpose of high school really is to prepare students for whatever happens next in their lives. And, despite students’ merciless whining, high school does this quite effectively.

If high school serves these purposes, then why is it seemingly so awful from the point of view of the students themselves? Once again, there is a simple, short answer: stress. Stress of all kinds and from every imaginable direction: friends, family, teachers, coaches, instructors, regarding school work, chores, responsibilities, and a myriad other things. One of the biggest struggles for high school students is social life. Students struggle with discovering their identity, conforming to and breaking out of social stigmas, being pressured about who to be friends with and who not to be friends with, who to like and not like, who to date and not date. Not to mention the gossip, drama, and rumors. Put simply, high school is the ninth circle of hell. Social struggles are only a part of the stress of high school. In addition to that, students are pressured with academic workload, including often copious amounts of homework, having to get all of that homework done after spending all day at school, possibly all afternoon participating in a sport of some kind, and still having to juggle having a social life, keeping up with family responsibilities, and maintaining all other sorts of responsibilities. On top of all of this, students often get very little sleep, and nowhere near the recommended eight hours per night. All of this adds up to ridiculous amounts of stress on students. When taking into account all of those pressures, it is impressive that students do not complain more!

At the end of the day, though, high school is effective in achieving its purposes. There is much to be learned in high school. Academically, it is all but impossible to not learn an impressive amount over four years, even if one takes the most basic courses possible. Additionally, it is inevitable that a great amount is learned over the four years in other aspects of life. Even if a student is quiet or not a very social person, a great deal is still learned socially. From friends students make, to friends lost, to relationships of all kinds, students learn a great deal throughout high school. And, if in no other way than naturally from being four years older, students mature. During the time between freshman and senior years, a great deal of maturing occurs. A part of high school is facilitating this, and based on the obvious complete changes in everyone from freshman to senior year, this is done effectively. And, to add a positive aspect to the grandiose amounts of stress and pressure throughout high school, that stress and pressure does make people more mature from dealing with and working through it. All in all, as bad as high school can be, and often is in some ways, high school is a beneficial and effective endeavor, and, despite all the grumbling and whining, it is a wise way to spend four years of your life. Because, at the close of your high school career, you will be, in one way or another, more prepared for whatever life has in store for you next.