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Post-secondary an opportunity for high school students to mature, grow and learn

By Larissa LaFrance

© some families college is like a
bar mitzvah; a rite of passage that
every student graduating from high
school should go through. Society puts
a lot of pressure on kids to at least apply
and keep their options open.

I lost count of how many times I had
someone tell me: “If you take a year off,
you won’t end up going back to school.”
This might be true about some people,
like my older cousin. He went to Australia
over the summer and was supposed to
attend Douglas in the fall. It’s the winter
semester now and he still isn’t a student.
However, the same can’t be said for
everyone. ;

“(I took a year off) because I didn’t
know what I wanted to do with my life,”
says Sarah Topping, 19, who is currently
taking general studies at Douglas.

A lot of high school students feel that

 

way about their impending graduation.
They are so focused on high school that
the idea of being thrown into the “real”
world causes some distress. That begs the
question: should high school students go
to college immediately after high school?
The politically correct answer is that the

choice differs with each individual person.

I agree with that— different people will
make different choices.

“Tf the student has no idea what
they want to do, taking a year off might
help,” says Topping, and that tactic might
have worked for her, but Print Futures
(Professional Writing) student Deanna
Carrier, 18, disagrees.

“(I went to college right away after
high school) because if I stopped then I
wouldn’t go back to school,” says Carrier.
She makes a valid point—a lot of students
could get lost along the way to education.
Life is unpredictable. Taking one year
off could quickly turn into taking five as

responsibilities mount.

“T think that going to college
immediately after graduation is the best
idea for quite a few people, even those
who don’t know what they want to do.
Instead of running the risk of never going
back, they can experiment with different
courses and find something they truly
enjoy and may pursue as a career one
day,” adds Shelby Jurak, 18, a fellow
Print Futures student.

Not going to college after high
school can be a hindrance due to time
requirements. I had a good friend in high
school that wanted to be a doctor and I
commend him for that, but he has a lot of
school to get through. Another friend of
mine is going into marine biology. These
are two very goal-oriented people that
have their eyes set on a particular career.
Taking a year off after high school would
cause them to lose momentum and lower
their expectations for themselves.

High school is supposed to be a
training ground for life, and preparation
for college. Entering a post-secondary
institution immediately after graduation is
keeping oneself in the habit of homework
and going to class.

“Nothing can prepare you for the
huge difference between high school and
college. Waiting a year, two years, three
years, whatever, might make you more
‘mature’ but it won’t make college any
easier,” says Jurak. “A job—the kind
you can get with only your high school
education—won’t ease you into the loads
of homework and responsibility and
stress.”

I take college for what it is, a
learning opportunity; it’s about furthering
ones education and any knowledge thirsty
or driven high school graduate should
be welcome to apply and attend. College
will give these students the place and
opportunity to mature, grow and learn.

 

Should high school students be allowed in college right after graduating?

Post-secondary straight out of high school a waste of time, money and effort

By Kennedy Kierans

for, anyways? Is it to teach people

specific job skills, or life skills, or
critical thinking skills, or to keep them
out of the workforce to help manage
unemployment? Well, it depends. For a
lot of parents, the purpose is to teach their
kids the skills necessary to get so-called
“good jobs.” However, sending kids to
college or university directly from high
school does them a serious disservice.

Some post-secondary education,

like nursing or technical training, is very
focused on skills for specific jobs or types
of jobs. Some education is very general,
intended to give a broad knowledge base
and help develop reasoning, researching,
and writing skills. It also provides a
foundation for deeper studies in that
field, or for law school. Often all it does
is qualify a student to get a job ina

S o what is post-secondary education

restaurant... or to go back to school for a
few more years.

Except in the most unusual cases,
students straight out of high school do not
know what they want, what their interests
and values truly are, or what they want
to do—or are willing to do—full time
for years on end. They wind up wasting
their time and energy, and their parent’s
money—and often their own too—in
pursuit of a goal they haven’t really
defined.

And they haven’t really defined it
because they can’t really define it. High
school does not look anything like the
work force (a.k.a. “real life”). Yes, there
is a lot a student can learn from part-time
jobs, job shadowing, interest inventories,
hobbies and volunteering. Those are all
very different, however, from being in a
job 40 (or more) hours a week and having
to do that job, keep that job, succeed at
that job, in order to pay rent and buy

groceries.

Until then, there can’t be any
real sense about goals, needs, dreams,
priorities, and preferences. Until
these things have been assessed in the
laboratory of daily life, they remain
theories and guesses. Working for one’s
own survival raises the stakes; it’s the
great clarifier. It may not provide all of
the answers, but it certainly gives more
direction and focus.

Putting oneself through school can
also raise the stakes. It’s hard for many
students to focus or take their studies
seriously when they are not paying for
them. They are studying for the degree or
diploma that their parents have picked for
them, attending classes (or just as likely
not attending classes) that their parents
have paid for, and reading textbooks (or
just as likely not reading textbooks) that
their parents have paid for. Kids straight
out of high school are not invested

financially in their education enough to
really gain from it.

It’s also really hard to take education
seriously when all a person has ever
done is be in school. Having to change
one’s life in order to go back to school
makes one put a lot more thought into
that process and value it far more than
one might otherwise. There’s a lot more
attention paid to budgets, timelines,
outcomes and goals. And the results
reflect that.

Most high school students lack
the self-knowledge, discipline, and
commitment to really benefit from going
directly to college or university. Working
after high school is the only way the
majority of them will truly gain from their
post-secondary experience. Going any
sooner will just waste time, money, and
effort.

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