Is there too much pressure on teenagers to go to college?

The 21st century is the fastest growing in technology, population, health, and many other things. Being a teenager in this fast growing society, where new discoveries are found everyday is not easy.

During childhood there’s really no complications on children, but as they grow up and enter their teenagers and high school years that all changes. Teenagers are brainwashed into thinking the only way of “making it” in life, is by going to college and getting a job. Being a senior in college I’m sick and tired of pamphlets and brochures piled up on an already-crowded desk, personalized and repetitive, advertising colleges of all kinds.

Older people don’t understand the possibilities us teenagers have at our finger tips. Not all options require college to make money. In my case my parents don’t understand the concept of making money without college. I get home to receiving lectures about college. About how i need to make a change in the family by gaining further knowledge and making a difference. At this point in my life i don’t bother mentioning any of these concepts to my parents, because it goes in one ear and comes out the other.

The pressure to get into college mounts. Just when we believe we can relax and coast through our senior year, suddenly we are forced to realize the future is out there and we have to face it. Soon. We realize our life is just getting started, and High School has’t prepared us one bit for college. Our last year of freedom has suddenly turned into yet another year of stress and still more work deciding on a college and trying to get in, even if the last 11 years have already been spent preparing.

Whether i like the concept of going to college or not, i will end up with a college diploma in my hand. I know I will end up going to college. Today, the idea of getting a job that doesn’t involve flipping burgers with only a high school diploma is laughable.

So while the pressure builds and tension mounts, the stack of brochures grows ever taller and the dean of admissions takes too long to respond, I remind myself that being uncertain of the future is not something to fear, but rather embrace. I’m no expert, but from what I’ve learned always focus on the present. The future might be tempting, but you might just miss a huge chunk of the present for trying to plan out your future.