Not even thirty years ago, Americans had the choice to either attend college or go right to seeking a career.

Pursing a college education may be deemed the more suitable choice for new adults, but it wasn’t their only option. They could successfully enter the work force and pursue a career, if they wanted to. They would also make a decent salary that they could live on. The times have changed drastically.

In high school, we are prepared heavily to enter some sort of higher education institution. Recalling my high school English classes, I remember spending copious amounts of time preparing for the ACT. When not preparing for the ACT, we studied how to be an efficient college student. In English, we learned how to write a college level paper. In math, we prepared for college level math. It goes to show that we now live in a society that demonstrates a requirement of high education.

In order to obtain a job that provides suitable living wages, high school graduates are now being required to obtain a college degree.

How effective is it to make high school students, who have only just become adults, make the decisions that will dominate the rest of their lives?

By my junior year of high school, I had to start choosing a prospective college. This decision alone was extremely difficult, as I had to consider the scholastic aspects of my high school career, specifically my grade point average and ACT score. I also had to evaluate the cost of attending college, and how well scholarships would be able to sustain the payment. Determining these factors isn’t even enough preparation.

In college, we plan out courses to take over the four years we are here based on our prospective major. In order to get the classes that they need to succeed, many students must decide what they will be majoring in before they start attending college. There are just too many factors for kids aged fourteen to nineteen to make when they can barely do their own laundry or cook dinner.

It is extremely absurd that we live in a country that is becoming too expensive for its inhabitants. We should not aim for our own citizens to have to give up the beginning of their early lives in order to even have a future.