Thirteenth Grade by Alani

Thirteenth Grade by Alani - March 2018 Scholarship Essay

I was in second grade, like you, when an older kid proudly announced, “I want to go to college.”
“College? Isn’t that more school?” I asked. I already had ten more grades to go before I was done. Wasn’t that enough?
He nodded.
I furled my eyebrows and crinkled my nose. “Why would you want to go to more school?!” No way could I spend the next ten years of my life scribbling on handouts and waiting for recess, and then not stop when I finally could. Who would do that? “That’s like thirteenth grade!”
I was right; college is like thirteenth grade—it’s just that thirteenth grade goes past college and lasts forever. And it’s nothing like second grade. In thirteenth grade, you choose what you learn. You give yourself recess, plan your own P.E., and make your own lunch. Nobody makes you go to art or music class; you choose to be creative your way. Nobody checks your homework before you turn it in—and that’s if you even have homework. Worksheets are a thing of the past. Teachers don’t take attendance. You can go on field trips any time, and you don’t need chaperones.
Sounds fun, right? Yeah, thirteenth grade is the life. Actually, thirteenth grade is life. And thirteenth grade, like life, is a time of “continued learning.” That means exactly what it says: you continue learning.
What do you want to be when you grow up? I bet that’s a question that adults ask you a lot. And it’s a good question; everyone’s got their “thing,” you know. Maybe you want to be an astronaut, an athlete, an author. Or maybe a singer, a dancer, a firefighter, an engineer. Maybe you want to own your own bakery one day. Maybe you want to be an auctioneer, or a beekeeper. The possibilities are endless. But whatever it is you want to be or do, you’ll have to learn how to be or do that. And you’ll want to.
That’s what continued learning is: it’s the learning you want to do, to be what you want to be. Because even when you’re done with twelfth grade, you won’t know everything you need to know to be great at being what you want to be. Everyone is still learning—even the pros: actors still take acting classes, chefs learn new recipes, athletes train for months on end to be ready for the Olympics. Even your teacher had to learn to be a teacher, and is still learning how to be a good teacher every day. Why? Because there is always more to learn.
In second grade, school has a classroom made of four walls, and a desk for you. In thirteenth grade, the world is your classroom—a classroom not surrounded by walls. Isn’t that awesome? You set up your desk anywhere, and you learn how to be the astronaut, author, engineer, baker, or lawyer you want to be. Those are the things you don’t learn in primary or secondary school—that is, school up until twelfth grade. Primary and secondary school give you the basics and a little bite of many things. But if you want to really taste what life has to offer, you’ll go beyond and continue learning about the thing that you’re crazy about—whatever your thing is—so you can do your thing. That’s what thirteenth grade is.
And that’s why that older kid wanted to go to “more school.” Life is more school, but the more fun, more “you” kind of school. Why wouldn’t somebody want to do that?