High School Changes

High school is a stressful time for adolescents. A more stressful time is finding in college that high school did not prepare you with the extensive education required to succeed. My biggest problem with high schools is that the same level of teaching is not implemented in schools across the state.

I graduated in the top in my class, with honors and great grades to accompany me in my advancement to college. It took a week for me to realize my high school was not in the same category as the other people I attend college with. On day two of calculus class I realized I had not learned the same amount of information and had no clue what the professor was talking about.

On several occasions I found myself staring blankly at the professor while he continued to explain the rest of the theory or the concepts of the next level of equations. I soon realized that the education I received in my high school was inadequate when compared to others who graduated in the same year.

High schools should stop focusing on the athletic department and place more emphasis on the education level being represented in the schools. My high school was lousy at sports but the athletic department always received the largest portion of funds.

Departments such as the science department, which needed new lab equipment, were forgotten in favor of ordering new weights and workout pads for the football players. The football players in question won no more than 20 games the entire time I attended high school.

I understand the need for athletics. Athletics keep team spirit alive and provide students with a sense of belonging. However, athletic pep rallies rarely help individuals once they have graduated from high school. I have yet to see the spot on a college application for pep rally participation. Many individuals who play sports in high school rarely make it in the college level, never mind anything higher than that.

I'm not saying that athletics and team spirit are not important because they are a central part of the high school experience. Consider that athletics will only benefit a few individuals after high school and good academics will benefit a greater majority.

Many of our academic departments were in need of major improvements such as new teachers, equipment, books or funds, and were often ignored in favor of athletics. Because of this favoritism energy that should have been focused toward instructing students was often wasted in meaningless activities, such as patrolling the football field, to make sure no one stepped on the grass.

So, if I could change the entire high school system (or at least the one located within my high school) I would make academics the focal point. There is nothing wrong with athletics, but when the outcome of the next football game interferes with hiring a highly qualified instructor to teach statistics there is definitely a problem.