Carving An Alternative Path

These days there is an immense pressure on high school students to go to college after we graduate. From the moment we start high school, we are told to do well in school so we can go to college and have a good job.  Verona is no exception.  Everyone talks about where they are applying, acceptances, majors, etc. Yet most people are going into college not even knowing what they want to do for a career when that is the whole point of college; to prepare yourself for your future profession. So many people waste money at college, spending thousands a year, just to figure out what they want to do.

A friend of mine, currently a college freshman, did not want to go to college directly after high school. She said she did not feel prepared for it, and wasn’t ready to be on her own or choose her major yet. However, she said she felt pressured into going to college right after graduation by her family, friends, and classmates. Because of this, she went to a college she did not want to go to, and was miserable for the entire first semester.

We are told that college is our only option after high school, and that the only way to be successful in life is to spend thousands of dollars at college. However, there are so many more options out there for graduating seniors. But we aren’t told about these options in school, and with everyone talking about what colleges they got into, it can be very isolating for someone who doesn’t want to go to college next year or maybe ever.

If you aren’t sure you are ready for college yet, one option is to take a gap year. Gap years are a very enlightening and can help a person figure out who they are and what they want to do before going to college. If you have a specific skill, talent, or interest, you can go to a trade school of some sort. There are trade schools (which usually consist of schooling for one or two years) for so many different careers; makeup artists, fashion designers, musicians, artists, actors, even mechanical engineers or plumbers. There is also the option of going into the military, which is an extremely noble choice, and can teach you skills to use for the rest of your life.

The usual reason we are encouraged to go to college is that it will help us make a higher salary in the future. But that is entirely circumstantial. Someone who went to a $60,000 dollar per year school, majored in philosophy, and is stuck with hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt may never be as financially successful as someone who went to a trade school to become a plumber. And may not be as happy either.

Just because we are told that college is the be-all-end-all after we graduate does not mean it has to be. We carve our own paths after high school, and what is right for one person might not be for someone else.