Introducing The Next Generation Of Leaders And Thinkers

Why Asking Teenagers To Make Life Decisions At 18 Is Unrealistic

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In high school, we have to ask to go to the bathroom or to go anywhere, but as soon as we graduate we have all this responsibility propelled upon us. We’re expected to become adults and make decisions that will alter our lives forever. We are expected to know who we are, and who we want to be. How is that fair? None of us are prepared for that, and what are we to do if we make the wrong decision? Why do we put so much stress on teenagers to figure out their lives so soon?

As a 17-year-old who will be graduating this upcoming June, the question I hear at least twice a day is, “so, what are you doing after high school?” I know almost every junior and senior can relate too. How am I supposed to answer that question? Most 17 or 18-year-olds are not prepared to make these decisions as almost every choice has been made for them up until the point of graduation. High school doesn’t prepare for the real world.

The moment we graduate we’re supposed to know exactly what we want to do, and how to do it. All of a sudden We’re expected to be adults when no one bothers to give us advice or tells us how to be adults.

Why don’t high schools offer classes to help their students understand taxes, or how to balance a check book, or how to fill out a college application? There are so many people who don’t have anyone to help them or give them advice about real life and then they end up in a lot of debt through not only college but the rest of their life.

It’s hard to make a living in this world, and in this economy, so sending 18-year-old kids out with no information of how real life works isn’t fair to them; it’s basically setting them up for failure. High school needs to do more to prepare these kids for what’s to come. We need someone to teach us how to live in the real world so we don’t fail before we even start.

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