“Don’t misunderstand me, you don’t have to go to college – but if you are thinking about it, let me tell you…”

   I started noticing soon the big weight of going to college after high school here, and immediately I asked myself how students can manage this constant pressure.

   It’s like an obsession: “Did you send your college applications?”, “In which college are you going to?”, “What do you want to do in life?” , “Work hard, so you’ll be ready for college!”. 

   It makes no sense, in my eyes, why and how American society pretends from these kids to know what their life is gonna look like when they are so young. How are they supposed to know at 16 what their 25 years old self is going to be, what life they’ll be willing to pursue? 

   Of course, college allows people to get a better education, a better job – it’s the same in Europe – but there are substantial differences. 

   One of them is that we choose the kind of high school we want to attend and different types open different paths to people. Some high schools require you to go to college because they give you an “incomplete” diploma. Others prepare you to work straight away. Teachers can’t influence or push us because we already made a decision.

   Another one is the price: while in Europe college goes from very cheap to totally free, here the cost is crazy. That’s why the students are also expected to join a sport or get a job to save money or get a scholarship. Most of them will also move from their families, so they’ll have to pay for the rent and the food. It’s such a burden, both on the kids and their families.  

   Sr. Bryan Stegenga said: “It’s all up to the students whether to go or not. I’m not going to say that students are totally divorced from any responsibility for having gone to college with high tuition. The other options, though, are left to the wayside.”

   Studying and following a dream must be something good, an opportunity – everyone deserves to be excited about it. But, instead, most of the high schoolers are stressed out. They feel continuously pushed and it’s taken from them the calm needed to make such an important decision.

   Jr. April Bith said: “I think teens are just put under a lot of pressure of constantly schooling and their insane schedule. It can be harmful to one’s mental health because it can really feel like a lot for someone who’s so young. I believe we’re constantly under the impression that if we aren’t successful now and are on a heavy college prep load, then you’ll be a failure in life – which isn’t true.”

   Many students share this opinion: school passes the message that, if you are not ready for college, you will be a failure.

   An anonymous senior said: “I feel like schools pressure kids into going to college because they make it seem as if you can’t have a good job or be as successful as someone who does go to college if you decide not to.”

   Frosh. Aubree Veltema added: “There’s a lot of pressure because everyone thinks that to succeed in life you need college – without college, you can’t have a future.” 

   Both Veltema and the anonymous also addressed the important role of the family in this decision. Veltema said: “The problem is not only the school, but also the parents – they can force or threaten you to do what they want” and the anonymous said: “Many people feel pressured into going to college by their families, whether they are the first ones that would go, so they are expected to, or everyone has been to college already. If they don’t, they feel they might disappoint them.” 

   If the anonymous justifies the other kids, it’s not the case for the family: “I guess it is also about a bit of peer pressure: kids feel pressured because a lot of people in their graduating class are going and, if they don’t go as well, they’ll be the odd ones and they don’t want to be seen as any less successful. This is unintentional though. But from the family it’s intentional.”

   Some students proposed some ideas about what the school could do better.

   Bith said: “I think the school should take more accountability when it comes to their individual students. Teachers care a lot about scores and grades in assignments but, at the end of the day, it’s going to amount to nothing if that’s the only thing a student knows how to do. We’ve been taught that with only high scores we’ll be successful when it’s not the case.” 

   The anonymous senior proposed, instead: “School could show what it would be like not to go to college as well, instead of just showing the benefits of going to college.”

   Veltema said: “Preparing the students is making them excited about it, not pressuring them. Schools should let the students have more freedom to choose. They have to figure out for themselves what they want for their future.”

   Stegenga said: “Students must have some experience before they know what they want to do and high school does not provide that experience.” 

   The majority, but not everyone, thinks that the school is already doing something for it.

   An anonymous sophomore said: “I think school puts pressure on having a plan. It doesn’t have to be college – trade school and the military are also an option they offer.”

   An anonymous senior said: “I think there is definitely pressure to go to college after high school, but people nowadays are more accepting of alternatives like working for a year after high school, attending community college, or going to trade school. I think most people have good intentions with wanting students to obtain post-secondary education. It can create many opportunities for students, and increase their earning potential which is why post-secondary education is so heavily pushed.”

   Stegenga said: “I think it’s for good reason, as college is best for a society to have an educated and experienced population”, but he clarifies “The school doesn’t do it for the good of the students or the society, but it wants people to go so West Ottawa looks better.”

   Many people who succeed in life didn’t go to college. Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, and many others dropped college or didn’t even start.

   Of course, not everyone is Bill Gates. I think, though, that everyone has unique abilities, talents, ideas, and school must help them follow their passions, not pushing them all in the same direction – which is also the most expensive one.

   I feel sympathy and a bit of anger for all the students and, regardless if you are going to college to not disappoint your parents because you feel you have to, because you think you need it for your future career, because you genuinely think it’s the best for you if you still don’t know what you want or if you are not going at all, I really respect you for the high expectations you have to deal with every day.

   Whatever path you’re gonna take, think about your future by yourself, without letting others influence you. It’s the only way you’ll not be disappointed. Accepting more experienced people’s opinions and suggestions it’s correct – but remembering that your life is yours and you’re gonna deal with the consequences of your wrong choices it’s important too.