My mom was kind of a slacker in high school. She dropped geometry and took Home Ec. Yet, she has a full time job. My dad didn't even earn a diploma, though if he would have he would have been an English major.
I say What The Heck.
Maybe it's just my over-achieving self talking, but I can't imagine throwing my future up to fate like that, hoping I get lucky. Hoping I marry a rich man who also has a nice personality.
It's really fear that makes me an 'over-achiever.' Everyone is talking about The Economy and The Recession, The Unemployment Rate and how it's so high these days no one can get a job unless they have 'connections' or if they 'get lucky'. I'm afraid of failure.
All the 'grown-ups' are warning the Students Of Today to make 'good choices' because You Are Going To Regret It So Hard Later In Life If You Don't. They are practically threatening us with horrid, homeless futures if we don't strive to be The Very Best in not just any career we have an interest in, but specific careers that are 'in demand' for members of this young, 'tech-savvy' generation.
The message is being received loud and clear, my friends. Decoded and stripped to the bare truths, the message is that unless we treat all others who excel as our rivals and try to beat them (particularly in the math, science and 'computer stuff you kids are so good at'- supposedly...I recently convinced myself that I needed to learn css and html code, just so I could add it to my resume, just in case. If you aren't good at those, have fun being unemployed) we will fail, at every aspect in life, and we will not survive in the world come graduation. From a University or technical school. Many *politicians* have spoken about the truth that "there are no longer any jobs for anyone who has 'just' a high school diploma- none."
I get it. If I don't go to college, I will die or live off welfare for my entire life. So I'll go to college. But I can't just go to any college, university or technical school. I have to go to a *good* school, an *expensive* school. Not only that, but it is now harder to get into even the state universities, because everyone is competing *so hard* to be the Best Of The Best Of The Best because they're told if they don't they will fail.
Yes, I am afraid of failure. Not in everyday life, thankfully, I don't think. Just in the future, being a failure. What if I choose The Wrong Career? The Wrong School? The Wrong Major? and I end up looking in the classifieds, desperately, scanning for something that I'm qualified for *and* that pays more than minimum wage? I'm going to need some way to pay off student debt that I will surely have. Will I be able to graduate even when I can't afford to take classes, even though I can't afford *not* to take classes, in the long run?
I'm 17 and a half years old and I'm thinking about how I will ever afford to retire. Thanks to all the adults that have made that possible with your lectures and so-called motivational speeches. Oh, I feel absolutely no pressures from My Elders and The Rest Of Society whatsoever- except all of it that's telling me that I will fail at life if I don't beat everyone else to success.
