Are We Prepared For After High School?

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Rachel Foreman, Opinions Writer

In a way, we are preparing for after high school our whole lives, but I feel like we won’t truly know what to expect until we are in that moment.

When you were younger you always had some sort of picture of what you want to do when you grow up. It is usually along the lines of wanting to become a teacher, an astronaut or an athlete. It seemed easier to come up with something back then, but when you are actually in that moment where you have to choose you come up blank.

How are you supposed to know what you really want to do when you have never done that one thing and going to college is a pretty big commitment. Yet what if you decided that’s not your calling?

Teachers and counselors try their best to help guide us in the right direction by either telling personal stories or pushing you into going to college. Most of the time it’s pushing you to go to college because it seems like the right route to go or it may even seem like the easiest route.

I don’t blame them for pushing us in that direction, but it may cause some unnecessary stress for students. 

In the United States, there are currently 15.4 million high school students and research has shown that it’s expected that 50% of them will be unprepared.

But what can help you prepare for after high school as much as you can? 

Well, the easiest thing you can do is actually come up with a plan (which seems self-explanatory). You can start researching colleges or careers that you think you may want to go into and have an open mind. You may have a career in the future that hasn’t even been invented yet.

While I interviewed students at Lakeland High School, it was mostly a 50/50 response when asked whether they had a plan for after high school. 

One student said that they had their whole plan in motion and they were ready for college life. Another student said they were stressed and had no idea what they wanted to do.

Personally, I am not prepared for after high school at all, I keep changing my mind on what I want to do after high school. I went from wanting to become a nurse to a nail tech and now I’ve changed my mind again.

I don´t know what to expect yet, and I still don’t have a clear picture. I don’t think I´ll truly know what I want to do or be until I’m in that moment where I have to know.