Top Ten High School Myths (#1-3), by Susane Colasanti

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If I had the chance to experience my teenage years all over again, there's no way I would go back.  Surviving mortification has definitely made me a stronger person, but reliving those horrific times would require a superhuman amount of strength.  However, if I had to go back and do it all again, I would want to take what I know now with me.  There are some really important things I wish someone would have told me when I was in high school.  There are also a lot of things people always say are true about high school, but are such lies.  From these, I have compiled the Top Ten High School Myths.  Today I will share the first three with you.

Myth #1.  This is the best time of your life.

Uh, no it's not.  It's the worst time of your life.  I never get it when grownups say how being a teen was so fabulous.  Either they were super popular jock types back in the day (in which case, that's great and all, but most of us cannot relate) or they just forget what high school is really like.  It's amazing how much pain time erases.

Here's the good news.  The more pain you endure now, the stronger you will become later.  This strength will help you be the best version of yourself.  Things will get better after this.  When I was a teacher, my students would always ask me why I was so happy all the time.  They wanted to know how I could be so perky at 8:00 on a Monday morning.  I was so annoying that I actually had a whole TGIM thing going on, all how you should live for every day, not just Fridays.  Here's the secret to my grownup happiness:  high school was the worst time of my life.  Even when things are bad, life is so much better now.  That's something you can look forward to.  So hold on.  And never give up.

Myth #2.  You're going to use this later.

As I'm sure you already know, you're learning a lot of useless stuff.  When are you ever going to have to know what endoplasmic reticulum is in the real world?  Unfortunately, the curriculum for most of your classes is decided upon by people who don't really have a clue about what's best for you.  It would be awesome if the topics you had to learn were both interesting and meaningful.  Schools need to be improved in ways that most of the people who can implement those changes are ignoring.  I worry that these improvements will never be made.  It's a disgrace that so many kids hate school.

The thing is, classes aren't really about interpreting what some line of Shakespeare is supposed to mean, or determining the value of x, or memorizing all the state capitals because you already did that in sixth grade but no one can remember so everyone has to memorize them all over again.  Classes are about acquiring skills.  As you're learning all of these random things, you're establishing a skill set that will make you more successful when your better life starts.  You learn about astronomy so when you watch I Love You, Man, you get the "Tycho Bro-he" reference.  You learn about psychology so when someone refers to a "Pavlovian response," you know what they mean.  You can interact with society in a more meaningful way.  You can also make sure that you receive the correct change at ShopRite.

So yeah.  You don't need to know most of the stuff you're learning.  But exposure to these things will help make you a functioning member of society.  Which is, you know, a good thing.

Myth #3.  We will take care of you.

In way too many high schools, students' basic needs are not met.  Which is unacceptable.  Cramming 34 kids into a classroom that might comfortably fit 20 is inhumane.  Or having to share books because there aren't enough to go around.  Even things like when there's no more short paper so all of the handouts have to get copied on long paper and you have to fold up the bottom of every paper to get them to fit in your binder.  And don't get me started on how there's never any soap in the bathroom. 

Dude.  It's just soap.  How hard is that?

Susane Colasanti, Waiting for You, Viking Children's, Penguin Books