Youth in Revolt: Part 3 - Realization

Graduating from high school throws the teenage soul into a state of masked anxiety; like cockroaches in light, we frantically scatter our emotions, cowering back in the corner, merely trying to avoid them being squashed. The teenager does not show weakness; they want to show parents that they reared strong, responsible, and determined individuals who are ready to make the next giant leap in life. On the contrary, I must insist that unwarranted growing up can wreak havoc on the impressionable young heart and one must express their true convictions from every orifice, with the most sincerity but in the end one must comply.  

To denounce further education in this day in age is blasphemy. Apparently there isn’t any “real” profession revolving around twelve years of grade school learning. As hard as a teenager will struggle with this notion, let your voice be heard. Ignorantly disagree, clasp on to immature beliefs of nihilism, but in the end, let the heart be swayed. College is a place full of experience, of emotional woes and triumphs, all outside of the classroom. Emerson wrote, “The things taught in schools and colleges are not an education, but the means of education.” There is so much more to college than meets the eye! You will meet new faces just as if you were hitchhiking across state lines. You will find heartache in a young freshman just as if you would in any means of dismal experience. You will hold on to the memory of an A paper with just as much appreciation as any glorified accomplishment in the timeline. Yes, you are held to a specific area where you will need to follow rules and have responsibility but the “self” will grow all the same; constantly evolving.