Un-iversity

So I'm not in school like I should be—and want to be, because quite frankly, I'm bored—but all of that will change very soon. I just don't want to be in the wrong school, so I will go out of my way, with plenty of time and dedication, to apply to a good school in a place that suits me.

Hopefully I'll be able to WWOOF myself into California residency, work and find a place to live and then go to a good school over there, where I don't have to fight the humidity or the scary monster plants. For the next few months I can peacefully learn all about goat farming and vineyard work, glide through apple orchards and sustain those beautiful scars from blackberry picking. And during that time away from all the stress and fighting, I'll be able to put myself onto paper in the form of a "college app."

Honestly, I don't think that I was ready for college at 18, fresh out of highschool, and in a way, it's really sad that so many kids are pushed into that direction. "You gotta apply, you gotta get in, you gotta go. If you don't know what you want, just study something... as long as you're in school. "

Clearly, that didn't work for me. Straight to med school, and straight back out. At 18 I was terrified to even consider the idea that I might want to study something other than medicine. Mostly because when you tell your parents at age 6 that you want to be a doctor, they beg and pray and hope and convince themselves that that is exactly what will become of you. And subconsciously, you realize that you will let them down if you don't. What a terrible load to have to carry when making such a grand decision as college-application.

 All of the essay-prompts that the colleges give ask about 'who you are as a person,' 'why you're worthy of their acceptance,' 'what things you've done in your life that make you stand out from the rest.' Now those questions don't really frighten me, because I've taken enough time off to explore myself. But how in the world is a 17 year old, who's been locked down doing homework for 12 years supposed to know what they want to do with their lives, especially if they've never had the opportunity to try anything out. It makes no sense to me. There should be a mandatory gap-year between high-school and college. Requiring some form of work, travel, service to others, or apprenticeship. Germany used to have the year of military service or the opt-out of community service, but this was only for men (which is ridiculous, as women should also do some sort of social service.) But this practice has now been disposed of, and is optional.

What if we took a new approach to going-to-college, and really encouraged a year off? I wonder how we would fare as a society? Would people be more oriented and sure of their practices? Would stress-rates at college be reduced, yielding healthier students and teachers alike? If students didn't worry about "wasting money" during that exploratory, undecided stage of college, perhaps the national debt would be reduced. There could be all kinds of pros and cons, but we'd probably have a lot of happier, sounder people in this first-world country.