High School-A Terrible Institution

The closest thing that we have to prison in the United States would arguably be high school. For four years, we are forced to go into a confined institution where we have gates, security guards, and meal times. A bell sounds to alert us when we need to enter the next classroom. How about the social interactions we have? First, we are pressured to join a group, or gang, if we want to make our experience more pleasurable.  There is racism--which is sparked from television and poor parenting skills--and criminal behavior going on all over. Girls are pressured to act as sluts and the majority of the males treat them as sexual objects. From my experience, I saw that teachers often promote these behaviors. Sociology class isn't really a sociology class. History class feeds propaganda into student's minds to make the United States look like a heroic country. To top it off, we have programs such as No Child Left Behind that promote bad education. These programs assess the teachers on how well their students test. So, teachers feed answers to the students instead of actually creating an innovative learning process. We often forget most of what we learned in high school because things really only enter our short term memories. We can only remember what we've learned if we find something interesting or important about what we are learning. High school plays an essential role in shaping us into what we become. We learn how to fit in. We learn how to treat women. We learn how badly it feels to be excluded or ignored. High school is a terrible place that--until we are 16--we are forced to go through. Hopefully, someone will change how high schools function and make it a more productive educational institution. For all those humans in high school right now, I empathize for you and promise that life gets better.