The Real World by Austin

The Real World by Austin - November 2015 Scholarship Essay

The real world is what students are warned of after they graduate. Many students do not realize there is a world outside of high school that is far more difficult. Elementary is merely a make-believe place full of coddling and nap time. Middle school prepares students for high school, and high school attempts to prepare you for the real world of college and careers. I learned what the real world is like, and it is exhausting. Having a job drains students and adults while school forces students to figure out who you want to be and where in life, but not everyone gets that choice. High school is nothing like the world after, but my years of high school did prepare me for what it will and will not be like.
As a high school senior, I have had the same job for nearly two years, began college classes to give me a jump start when I graduate, and have been forced to be an adult with financial responsibilities. I can recall several times throughout my classes in high school where teachers would repeatedly remind us that this is not the “real world” as if we were in an imaginary place in which nothing exists until we graduate. Failing classes and making bad grades does not exist in this real world, but bankruptcy and stress do. Problems that exist now in school are maximized in a different way when you graduate, and I could not understand what those teachers meant until this year. Classes, bills, and responsibilities continuously consume your mind, giving you a small feeling of what the real world is like.
In the real world you are not allowed to skip or decide you do not want to go to your job that day or else you will be fired. If you are fired then you cannot pay your bills; if you cannot pay your bills then you live off the government to survive. In the real world, success is judged by fame and fortune. In some aspects, high school and the real world are similar. In high school you have nerds and jocks; in the real world you have the CEO s and the labor workers.
High school is a precursor to the real world. It gives students a small taste of the main dish before they graduate. Teachers may not be able to fire you or give you raises, but they control your grade, just as a manager controls your hours and pay. In high school you have marching band, and in the real world you have symphonies. High school consists of students while the real world consists of employees. They may have similarities, but once you’re done with high school, it is over. You graduate and move on. In the real world, you’re only finished when you die.
It is a sad truth but it is a truth I have learned here in high school. You may have been able to coast easily through high school, but you cannot in the real world. No high school student is fully prepared for what life will put at your doorstep, but at least I can expect it to be difficult at times. Challenges will always arise, and if my education has taught me anything, it is to never give up. Anything can be accomplished if you try hard enough, and you can do anything in life if you are dedicated and work hard. I believe that my twelve years of education and life lessons I have gathered has given me a different outlook on life, and that outlook has better prepared me for the real world.