Why do we even go to school? What is this doing for me? Why do I even bother going here? Of course, these are just some of the questions that ramble through a student’s head, along with due dates scribbled in a worn out pencil and flashes of knowledge from the variety of courses. The school is coursing with complaints from students, but they refuse to quit. These people arrive through the entrance doors with blood shot eyes and a cup of coffee ready for seven hours of torture. “School feels like a chore,” Claire Holley (10) says. If so, why not quit?

“I have go to school because I have to go to a good college, get a good job, and get rich,” Gerrit Rummel (10) states. Of course, nothing in the world is free, but is school seen as the source of a bank overflowing of money instead of a center of learning? The people at Portage Northern believe that it is both. Nowadays, school is unavoidable, there are even laws established to prevent students from dropping out of school until age 18. Going to school is definitely a routine for every student but what comes after this stage of life cannot be predicted. If people don’t have a good education, it would be impossible to buy the things they need in life! People can basically kiss that Ferrari that they’ve dreamed of since they were a kid goodbye and end up working at McDonald’s bathing in grease. “The teen years tend to be somewhat materialistic. Of course we want a nice house and a nice car and go on vacation, but we have to be realistic that those things cost money,” Mrs. Meyer inputs. As of now, high school is a must because without it, there would be no way to make income in life and no income is the equivalent of being a hobo.

The reason why the state makes laws to raise the age of dropping out is because they do not want teens to be out on the street when they grow older, they want people succeeding in life. Students need to learn how to be more grateful that the state is making an effort to make the future; even brighter.  “People pretty much need an education to have a good future, students realize it is important but they don’t like what they do,” says Wyatt Cunningham (10). Thankfully there are things to help students get through the day, like socializing with friends and the awesome teachers that understand what kids at this age are juggling, from drama to school work.

Overall, no matter how much temptation there is to burn down the school, in a few years people will be thanking their high school self  for all those late nights because by then, they have already found the career they would drop anything in the world for because it just bought them that new car sitting in their driveway.