I Say you Have a Beautiful Mind Even Though Society isn't Kind. Chapter 1 : Getting your Plate Ready

Even though many said high school will be the best years of your life, getting college crammed in my head in the 9th grade dissipated that feeling at times. The discussion of college would unfortunately follow me through out the rest of my high school years.

In 9th grade , college is slightly mentioned. The first time you enroll in your classes the counselor trys to explain college to you. What most of the counselors give you is a sheet like this by http://www.ed.gov/pubs/GettingReadyCollegeEarly/step2.html

English?4 years
composition
American literature
English literature
world literature

History and Geography?2 to 3 years
geography
U.S. history
U.S. government
world history
world cultures
civics

Visual and Performing Arts?1 to 2 years
art
dance
drama
music

Mathematics?4 years
algebra I
geometry
algebra II
trigonometry
precalculus
calculus

Laboratory Science?3 to 4 years
biology
earth science
chemistry
physics

Challenging Electives?1 to 3 years
economics
psychology
computer science
statistics
communications

Foreign Language?3 to 4 years

At first you are like ???? Why would they give this to you now instead of just waiting to give it to you when you become a senior? It’s bad enough they mentioned all these credits you have to cram within 4 years and now this? Their reassuring answer is that you must prepare for college early because it is a very fundamental moment that will not only forever change your life but change your future of education.

Then they mention that your grades will really effect your GPA and if you will be able to attend AP classes. You would want to get in an AP class because it not only gives you more credits towards your senior class ranking ,but can possibly give you college credit. This helps give you a little relief . But now you are stuck with the decision of choosing the right classes or the classes that you want. Then when you get in the classes you have to make sure you put all your effort into each class so you can get an A or A+ hopefully.This is not middle school where a b or a c is ok and you can get extra work to make up for your failing grade.

Last but not least are the prep tests. The pre-SAT is supposed to get you ready for the real thing. Faculty says that is just a pre test and that it really won’t count against you. Well truthfully it does. When you get the test scores back , on the side of the paper is remarks that the people who scored your test , leave comments like : “ if you just study harder in this subject you can achieve this…..” “ Your weakness is ……..” “the first thing you will need to improve on is………” But this does’nt count against you right? When your teacher finds out what your weakness is from the test, that becomes the new subject for you to study. Oh yeah. Homework is included with that too. Don’t be surprised if a phone call is made to your parents also. Your teacher feels if your parents know about what you have difficulty with, maybe they can help you at home. But when the student gets home, they get to hear their parents nag about what they need to improve on. It’s not like you don’t know what you weakness is but the school and your parents will re-remind you so you “don’t forget.”

Oh yeah. Then there is the infamous question “ So what career would you like to pursue into the future?” Well many of us have known since we first learned how to tie our shoes what we wanted to be. Some have no clue. Others are stuck in the middle of 2 careers. Some will follow their parents foot steps . When you mention what career you are going to pursue in, the counselor advises you to make sure that is the pathway you want to take. When you say you don’t know yet, many believe that you are stopping your education because you don’t know where to go. Even if you don’t know what you want to become you still have plenty of time but teachers and counselors just won’t tell you this. So you do know what you want to become. Well that’s great but when you find out how much you will make ,how many hours you must put in and what school specializes in your career, your career dream could be deferred.

Now if you think you have your work cut out for you now, just wait until sophomore year. More situations about college get added on to your plate. You wanted to grow up and be the master of your own decisions, but with decisions come responsibility. This sometimes makes you reminisce on those times you were a kid and things were so simple. If you wanted something, all you had to do was look to you parents. Never had any troubles that your parents could not figure out. But now you are in high school and that safety net is starting to break. But hang in there because this is only the beginning towards something so much better.