Being a high school senior, graduating this year. It is weird to think that I will be finally transitioning to the next stage of my life, college. Although I took the opportunity to spend my senior year at my local community college. The next 3-4+ years will be a huge transition for me, like all seniors in high school who are transitioning for being dependent to independent. Although some seniors upcoming years may not be as radical as others, it doesn’t mean it is not a big step into adulthood. I don’t know about you, but viewing this change make me think of my past education and how much I developed as a person throughout my entire life. The educational life styles help shape us and who we become. It is not the only thing that helps shape us by any means. However, for the focus of the blog post, I will just be talking about the stages of education and how it has helped shape who we strive to be.
Pre-K to Elementary School Years
When first starting our educational journey, we are first starting to become independent from our parents and branch out to meet new kids your age. Kids have no sense of cliques and they all somewhat get along. However, when they do get into little quarrels, it is resolved in a matter of minutes. However as kids move up in grades they start making friends that are similar to them or friends that their parents friends. This is the start of social groups or cliques. They are also starting to gain the intellectual ability to make their own decisions, which results in many of them getting into trouble or not listen to their parents, which most of the time gets worse as the mature.
Middle School
Now in the educational years of middle school. Kids are starting to become interested or more passionate on a certain topic. They also have their certain friend groups that may or may not be the same friends they had in elementary school. Dispite the increase in intelligence, this is a very physically transitioning few years of a child’s life. Puberty begins to develop which can make boys and girls emotionally and chemically imbalance. These educational and developmental years effects them emotionally and physically. They want to make their own decisions and tend to not listen and often rebel against their parents on purpose to prove a point. This is to show their parents that they can make their own decisions. Although, many of these kids may be intellectually intelligent, their developmental process is most of the time not completely developed. This can hinder their decision making.
8th Grade
Although, I know this lies under the middle school umbrella. I want to focus even further upon the 8th grade year. Lets face it, most young teens in 8th grade believe they are the top dog. They are the oldest at their school and have superiority over all of their peers. They also have the excitement of high school just around the corner, which is a big and exciting change in their lives.
High School Years
The high school years are 4 years of transitioning into independence. These four years I would view them as trial and error years. Many people try new things and exhibit new characteristics of themselves. These four years of a student’s life can be a confusing couple of years. Many people are trying to find their identity among society and easily conform to peer pressure to fit in, especially the first couple years of high school.
The Freshmen and Sophomore Years of High School
The first couple of year oh high school can be the most difficult years of high school, emotionally and socially. The transition from being a middle school student to a middle school student is a difficult transition. You are no longer the top dog and the social dynamics are very different from when they used to be in middle school. Students are beginning to become more mature. However, they are still trying to deal with new stresses and situations which they have never faced before. Many friends they used to have in middle school (similar from the transition from elementary to middle school) will start to drift away from them. This is due to many things. This can be caused by their own personal life choices, an individual’s rate of maturity, personality development and differences compared to previous years, social conformity, and many other aspects.
Junior Year of High School
Junior year students have at this time transitioned into high school and are part of a friend group. Many high school students would agree that their Junior year was their most difficult year. Due to rigorous academics, SATS, looking at colleges, and many other elements that make up Junior year.
Senior Year of High School
To be honest Senior year is how you make it. You can breeze right by or you can make it your most difficult year. However, I believe that Senior year is one of the most stressful years of high school because of the many application that are exhibited in this school year. College applications, scholarship applications, finical aid, applications, and much more. Also many students work a lot more there Senior year and are trying to cram in many more aspects of high school due to being their last year. This causes much stress. (For my blog post on the topic of stress and how to handle it better check out the link here.) Also, people tend to stay and hang out with only their most trusted friends. Nonetheless, many people can agree that Senior year is the most fun year of high school and exciting due to the next step on their educational journey.
Post High School
Many people believe that the next educational stage is college. However there are many other journeys people could take. Many students go to technical school, join the military or go right into the work force, which is an entirely different educational stage of itself. Even after the required educational stages. Throughout a person’s entire life, they are constantly learning. I guess that would make your entire life an educational and learning experience. However, now graduated high school Seniors can create their own educational stage that benefit what they want to do in life.
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