text: High School Culture Shock – Reflections of a Teenage Dreamer
  High School Culture Shock
  On December 3, 2014 August 26, 2015 By Autumn Hope
  I was not mentally prepared for school today.
  Coming off of a week-long break from school, I became accustomed to days dedicated to pleasure; the leisurely afternoons spent reading a novel on my couch, long showers in the evening, nights enjoying a game of monopoly until 3 in the morning with my siblings, waking up the next day on my own to warm sunlight on my cheek.
  So you can imagine that opening the doors to my dear old high school today was like a slap in the face to my sanity.
  Why is high school so focused on drama and cruel stereotypes, the locker-framed hallways used as a fashion runway to show off, leaving little room for carrying books? I find it frustrating.
  I think we take for granted the fact that we are offered a free education. Guys, education doesn't cost us thousands of dollars a semester! It's FREE! (Well I guess there are taxes that cover it, but the advantage we have to get education provided to all citizens at no additional cost is pretty incredible.)
  Most people do not get this.
  Women in the Middle East are often denied education at all. Third world countries don't provide any education, unless you have money to pay the high costs it demands. (Which sadly, most can't) On a missions trip to Guatemala I met kids my age that can't read, but live only a mile away from a school.
  A lot of times high school seems hellish and it's the last place I want to be. I'll admit it. But sometimes a perspective change helps a lot. 🙂 Sure, everywhere you go there will be people you don't like and situations you never want to find yourself in, but every day I find myself in a place a lot of people my age dream about being in.
  So tomorrow morning as I weave my way through the mass of clicks, couples and teachers with headphones blasting in attempt to drown it all out, I'll try to appreciate the fact that I'm in school.
  I'm learning, I'm reading, and I'm working. Yes, there are problems with the public school system but in the end, I appreciate that I get the go to school every day while so many others can't.