In America, schooling is mandatory, meaning every child (for the most part) will find themselves in a classroom for two-fifths of their young lives. Our system begins at kindergarten, followed by 12 sets of 180 days, totaling 2160 sunrises and sunsets over the course of a career. As the saying goes, all good things come to an end, and my “end” seems to be fast approaching. That being said, there are some things I’d like to put in print before my tassel moves from the right to the left. 

To students:

The high school experience is one that, whether you like it or not, directly correlates to the rest of your life. Whatever it is you direct your time and attention to will be what you will take away from the experience, and I implore you to remember that. If you are of the “What’s the point? or “When am I ever going to use any of this useless stuff?” my answers are that the point is to CONTRIBUTE TO SOCIETY and EVERY DAY. School prepares us for real life, it is the idea and concept of the progression of skills that school exemplifies, but the point is to take those skills and do more with them and eventually to do what small part we can to aid the progression of the human race. You can do it, it isn’t that hard function normally.

To teachers:

Thank you. While there’s an entire other world of jobs, you all chose to lend your time and abilities to us students who, for the most part, are too immature to understand the truth that you are legitimately trying to lend a hand to. Without the work you do, people would end up teaching their children who know what- and the kinder would have no other choice or idea that there is any other world than to believe them blindly. No doubt exposing us to a plethora of knowledge and giving us a multitude of different paths to explore does wonders for our future, as well as humanities altogether.

However, over the course of my adolescence, I have come to know many instructors that have truly impacted the trajectory of my life, and a few that have caused nothing but headaches and broken pencils. Though I am glad for the many hoops that I have been pushed through, at times I have wished said hoops held more significance. After 12 years, I have become tired of worksheets on movies that the substitute teacher collects only to throw in the trash or assignments at the end of the quarter that are just to round out the grade book. I have been in enough classes to know when I am learning, or when I’m just doing a filler activity. I encourage any teacher that reads this to chock every assignment full with relevancy and to remember that students sniff out cheesy assignments when they receive them. Every teacher should remember that students sitting in your desks are you in your adolescence, and I hope if you were in my class you’d want a teacher that respected you, supported you, believed in you, could take a joke, and most of all left you with a piece of information that is relevant and helpful to everyday life.

To anyone reading this:

I thank you for the click, and the time you took to read any of my writing. I am thankful for all of the stepping stones that have guided my path from where it began to where I hope to finally end up. A long road is ahead and I know that with everything I’ve learned will be called upon to aid some situation no matter how insignificant. I am glad to have been on this wild ride, even if it is coming to a close.