We've all seen those posts: "to the seniors that think they are ready to graduate." You know, the posts that praise the experiences you have in high school and discuss all of the things you will miss after you're gone. Well, guess what? Here's an unpopular opinion: High school isn't the greatest time of your life. And it shouldn't be.

High school seems to last an eternity while you’re living it, but in the grand scheme of things, you are only just beginning the rest of your life when you celebrate your high school graduation. It’s the odd stage of life where you are not a child anymore and can legally register to vote or get married, but you’re definitely not an adult yet and have no idea where life will take you next. No matter what happens, never forget that a mind is a terrible thing to waste. Make the most of your youth and figure out how to use that brilliant brain of yours to navigate the next steps of your education.

The best way that I know how to describe the true heartbeat of homeschooling is to first compare and contrast the difference between an entrepreneur versus an employee of a company.

The recent years have brought several issues to major news attention. The world is going through climate change at a rate fast enough for it to be called a climate crisis. In some parts of the UK, life expectancy has fallen (Source: BBC). So is it time to reassess what is being taught in British schools, and modernise the content being used in the classroom?

For my final drama class in high school, a few of my friends and I decided to direct the school’s musical of the year. This would start the worst semester of my life, academically and emotionally. We started the semester with the plan to put on Peter Pan Jr. It was an easy musical for the talent level in our class, and we were excited about it. That is, until the issue of the Indians were brought up. This is obviously a very racist depiction of Native American people, and we had a few ideas, some of which were making the Indians another group of Lost Boys, or scrapping them all together. We ultimately decided that we couldn’t do Peter Pan, and it was back to the drawing board.

Allow me to start by clarifying my expertise in this matter. I am a former police officer and a medical professional. I have degrees in criminal psychology, criminal justice, emergency management, and public administration. I own a security, preparedness, and safety consulting and contracting firm. I specialize in mass shootings for schools and hospital, and medical facility and large complex safety. That being said, I have noticed there are some places that are not eager to seek the services and or training needed to make themselves better served to protect their students, patients, and patrons. They all share the common thought, that it can't happen to them. Unfortunately, we live in a time when there are no more impossibilities.

In the midst of the political, religious and economic issues that plague our everyday lives, there is another issue that requires attention: educational equity. I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts on Spotify called The Daily. For those who don’t know what I’m referring to, The Daily is political podcast that focuses on local and national political issues from The New York Times.On April 2, 2019, in NYC, headlines were made about specialized high school admissions. It was stated that out of approximately 850 students that were accepted to specialized high schools, about seven or nine of them were African American. This led me to revisit old memories about my own encounters with specialized admissions and discuss whether it requires a major overhaul, and if so, how can it go about.

High school is the four years of your life that you cannot and will not forget. It consists of stress, excitement, first times, friendships, relationships and a ton more. Some people who are going to high school have anxiety and many thoughts like, what should I do? How do I make friends? I'm not good at math, what if I fail?

I rub the tough calluses on the tips of my fingers together. They haven’t healed, but I do it anyway, because otherwise I’d have to give Alan my full attention.

Everyone knows that kids do not like learning in school, but it is required. As a 19 year old who lives in Georgia, I had to attend school until I was 16, until I had the option to drop out; however, I chose not to because I knew I needed to stay in school and get a college degree in order to be successful. It is required by law that you attend school in some way; however, the people making and supporting this law are not the one's going to school. Adults look at schools and remember when they attended because it all looks familiar. Have you ever noticed a teacher in your high school that you find out attended the same school when he was in high school? So why does that teacher recognize the school, notice nothing has changed, eat the same meals as they did before, and use the same teaching methods as they were taught? Adults always say how much the world has changed and how different the technology is from when they were growing up. They remember sitting in rows of desks at their public school and learning about chemistry and taking exams on who the 23rd president was and what bills they passed. If you ask that same adult today, in 2019, I promise they will pull out their phone and search for it. Rows of desks were originally organized to get children in the mindset of having everything even, and the feel for lines for the assembly lines in the early 20th century. A lot of teachers today will tell students to think outside of their comfort zone and reach out to new ideas, but the desks are still the original idea and the same style from when school started in 1821 in Boston. The public education system forces kids to take classes they will never use and then shame them for not doing well in it. You teach a mathematician world history and they struggle with it. You tell them they are not smart enough, "Look at the person next to you who did really well," or, "You just aren't good enough." So why discourage people into thinking they are not intelligent enough for the world if they do not need that information to be successful? If that person was discouraged and started to believe that they are not good enough for the world, then they will never try to achieve their goals. Those goals could have saved lives of many or solved a cure for something fatal, but that one teacher told them they would never be successful since they couldn't learn something as fast as someone else. When an adult has a question about their job, or has a question about something they are going to, they ask someone or search for an answer on the internet, but phones and talking are not allowed during an exam. A standardized test was created by Alfred Binet to test knowledge on a certain subject matter. In the real world of 2019, tests are not taken, quizzes are not handed out, and if they are, you can use your resources. Almost every kid in high school in the United States has a device they can access the internet with, but are not allowed to use it when they have a question. They are forced to take classes which will not affect them in the future, and read books that are 2,000 pages long and filled with information that can only help them for the test they will take.

It is that time of year again, where girls are shopping for grad dresses, boys are renting tuxes and wondering what girl they should take to the banquet or dance with. The grad banquet is all fun and games, there is then very often an after-grad party. Some will never forget that night or some will forget it all and not remember it by morning. Some high schools have a grade 12 day, where anyone who went to graduation does not need to go to school the next day due to the hangovers everyone is having.

When your child begins middle school, there is always more pressure on him or her—and much more homework. So make your children feel good about doing their homework and prepare their favorite treat for them like dump cake. Make sure they have a space where they can do their homework without any distractions or noise, and make sure they have all the school supplies they need. See that they do not have their phone close by, the TV is turned off, and that they are not playing video games. Let them do their homework on their own, but check in from time to time and ask how they are doing in case they need some help. Take the time to talk to your children about their classes, about their teachers, their school, and their friends, and find out what they like, they don’t like, and what might be bothering them. Encourage them to ask their teachers for extra help if needed and suggest other resources.