A Very Necessary Evil

The institution of school has been something has has haunted young people for thousands of years. Many view it as a place where they are forced to go and not do what they want to do. Students would rather be on the lake than in the classroom. However, the institution we know as school has often times proved to be more productive than an outing on the lake, or watching a movie with one's friends. School is what enables people to do these things, to gain the knowledge to create these forms of leisure. So in essence, school is a catalyst for change, not a captive place for teens.

For me, school starts on Monday, and it is my last year of high school. Last time I will be forced by law to go to school. Last time I will have to arrive early to pick up my schedule. Still, although I know it is better for me in the end, I find myself resenting the fact that i have to go to school. Isn't America the land of the free? Why am then forced to not be free and go to school?

Over the years I have adopted this mindset: It's a law for a reason, someone older and wiser than me knows what's best in the long run. That's how I explain why the drinking age is 21, yet the voting and smoking age is 18: someone with more knowledge knows why and made it so. And so this mindset must be adopted to the institution of school. We are compelled to go because it will give us more knowledge in the long run and make society more productive. And although I myself know this, I still do not want to go back.

Teenagers, and all young people in general, are instant gratifiers. We want what we want, when we want it. So obviously the thought of sitting in a classroom is not as appealing as sitting at home watching a Law and Order marathon, but nonetheless, it is something we all must do. Without school, or at least the mandatory schooling, many people would not have been inspired to go on and do great things. Technology would not be advancing as it is if it weren't for school. I know that I myself would probably not be the motivated young man I am today if it were not for some of the teachers I have been fortunate to have throughout my life.

So school is better for everyone in the long run. It sparks interests and thoughts and inspirations that otherwise might not have ever been discovered. And as only natural, kids have adapted to the rules of the school to make it a place where they actually look forward to going, whether it be through texting in class (which I do NOT promote), or even creating a lunch ritual by goiung to a certain place on a certain day (like taco bell tuesday). Nonetheless, school has found its place in society as a hated institution that kids these days can't live without. School, in a very tainted light, is a necessary evil.