As PSAT season approaches, students begin to think more and more about plans after high school; and the big question forms in their minds: What do I want to do when I graduate?
High school is a set of stages for students who are planning on attending college: freshman year, students are able to grow more accustomed to the atmosphere of a new school; sophomore year they take their first PSAT and hope for a good score, even if they did not study. The junior year of high school arrives sooner rather than later, and the college preparation begins with advanced placement classes, SATs, and looking at chances of being accepted into the dream school. Senior year is there in a flash and suddenly there are applications for financial aid, plane tickets, and more standardized testing; that is, if a student were looking into higher education.
The Newsroom conducted a poll among Bella Vista students, asking them several questions regarding their ambitions after high school. In answer to the question, “Who is certain they are attending college after high school,” 86% of students who responded to the poll were sure of their decision to explore higher education. While this leaves those who answered “no” at a measly 14%, the Newsroom asked several more questions inquiring as to the plans for those pursuing college. When we asked whether or not those attending college planned on applying to any ivy league schools, 34% said they would. This begs the question, “Are students pressured into sending in applications for more exclusive schools by parents or teachers,” to which 53% answered “yes,” Despite there being a 19% drop when asking the student whether or not they truly wanted to study at an ivy league.
That being said, not every college accepts SAT scores as a show of proficiency; Bella Vista junior Holden Vigna told us his perspective in regards to applying to more exclusive schools that may not include standardized testing as a requirement, stating, “Increased competition, although good overall, raises weight on individuals. Personally, I plan on going to a UC, which won’t take SAT scores, but the stress is still there because now I have to make myself look better in other areas.”
When asked how one manages the stress and responsibilities that come with the last year of high school, senior Alejandro Lara Perez voices his experience as a senior, stating, “Being one hundred percent honest, being a senior isn’t stressful. This has been my easiest year so far and it’s even easier since it’s online schooling. However, the responsibilities that come with it being my last year of high school, I’ve just been trying to stay positive and keep the right mindset of everything is going to work out. I also keep in touch with my family a lot, which helps tremendously, because if I have any questions someone can always answer it and guide me through the problems that I may have been facing.”
Junior Rachel Lee shared her insight regarding the schools curriculum and preparation for life after the realm of high school, revealing,
“School doesn’t teach to elaborate on SAT topics, nor provides us the proper resources. It’s a test that we pay excessive money towards both tests and studying. On the SAT, reading contains literal questions, in school we are taught to dig and analyze. They simply contrast in curriculum.”
While there are contrasting perspectives on the urgency of standardized testing, some have decided to do away with the topic and not attend a college or university. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, college enrollment in the fall of 2020 was expected to be six percent lower than an alarming 21.1 million students in the fall semester of 2010. A student not planning on attending a college or university after high school elaborated on her decision. Junior Katy O' Brien explains, "I'm considering going a more creative route. Like possibly starting a business, be an entrepreneur, something of that sort! It's still kinda in the works I guess, but it's definitely something I'm considering.”
An article from The Atlantic titled, "The Stigma of Choosing Trade School Over College," by Meg St-Esprit reports, "There is $1.5 trillion in student debt outstanding as of 2018, according to the Federal Reserve, " a statistic that might prove to veer a student's head away from the idea of a college or university.
While a generation more accustomed to a life of higher educaton might gawk at students prepared for a more modern reality, more and more younger generations are faced with options of trade schools and other futures. It is no longer a question of which college, but instead, "which reality?"
Of course, the pandemic has provided many of these paths with a plethora of road blocks and obstacles. Various small businesses and family owned restauraunts have since been permanently closed, and a recently graduated student with no intention of higher education might see this played out before them and think it daunting. The year has played out in a way that a living generation has never seen before. Words like "uncertain times," repeat everywhere people look as they anticipate what life after high school might look like now that a pandemic has given them a lilmited set of options and standards. College goers wonder if spending a cosmic amount of money on education is wise, when all they see is just another face on a zoom meeting.
Students attempts to separate their home life from school have grown feeble and weary; lying in a bed with their camera off is now the most apt version of learning we are provided. The terms "fluidity," and "togetherness," are anything but foreign as pupils grow up in an age of internet connectivity problems and Kamihq.com.
To reiterate an urgent question: is the pandemic a driving force for abandoning plans of higher education, or does it steer students more prominently in that direction? Only time will tell.