High School is just one giant game of telephone. A bunch of gossip passed on from person to person and getting twisted into a lie somewhere along the lines. Who is with who, what party is happening over the weekend, did you hear about what happened to so and so. A bunch of immature kids who just want to impress everyone. School has lost its main purpose, education.

In the morning you have to wake up and think about what to wear, because if you wear the wrong thing you will be judged. What to do with you hair, because again if it looks bad you will get dirty looks from people you may have never talked to before. Why do people pick on others just because of what they wear? You should wake up and think about your homework to make sure it's complete or what you are going to learn that day rather than your outfit. School is meant to be a place for learning, we should be able to wear whatever we want to be comfortable without getting judged by the people around us.

Then you have the athletes. First, you have the one that are successful and wear their varsity jackets every day to show that. Then you have the ones who had their dreams crushed. The amount of people we have to compete for a spot with is insane nowadays. What happened to just being able to play with our friends and having a good time? It has gone way too far, making kids practice 5 days a week for hours at a time. All for what, saying you won a state title. Only 3% of high school basketball players will end up playing in the NCAA, and only 3-4% of high school football players end up playing in college. Is all the effort you put in worth the friends, family times and other opportunities you may have had to give up.

You go through high school always feeling like you have to belong to something, whether it be a sports team, a club, or your friends. But if you look at the big picture who's going to be there in your life. Maybe a few people but why waste your time trying to impress them. High school is supposed to be a time to make friends and make memories,  but why do we let our “group” dictate what we do all the time? Why don't we do something because it is what we want to do, to make ourselves happy?

I know from personal experiences that in the past, I have gone to a party because everyone is going to be there and I didn’t want to feel excluded.. People there were giving into peer pressure and doing things they may regret because again everyone was doing it. Surveys have been done and say that 75% of kids from the ages of 12-17 have been pressured to partake in using illegal substances. Why risk getting in trouble for an hour or so of “feeling cool”? When will people learn to do things that make themselves happy, and not what makes those around them happy?

Many kids think high school is a waste of time, that they learn nothing. Well I know I still have one more year, but I have learned skills that will help me for the rest of my life. It may not be taught in a classroom but it still has value because it comes from my own experiences.

Why care what others think? You are coming to get an education. It isn’t prom.

High school lets you know who your real and fake friends are. You’ll be in situations where your real friends will shine through and help you, and then sometimes you’ll be disappointed when a friend you thought was a true friend won't pull through.

Do what makes you happy. Don't be a follower be a leader.

Don’t take everything so seriously, it's four years of your life. There may be times you do something embarrassing, get a bad grade, your boyfriend/ girlfriend breaks up with you, so what! Less than 2% of people end up marrying their high school sweetheart. Time is going to fly by and you’ll forget about that time you tripped down the stairs.
Lastly, be yourself. There will be people that like you and people that don’t that's just how life works. The people that like you may be with you till the day you die. But you may never find them if you aren't true to yourself.
I hope that this changes someday. I hope the day I have kids and they go to school they do not have to go through this. I hope the walls of school which are supposed to be bully free, actually follow through with the meaning.