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How much has high school changed?
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When I look back on my high school years, I begin to wonder how much it has changed. I know the biggest problems I faced included what college to go to, what my friends were up to tonight, what time my soccer game is at and who’s having a party this weekend.
I took some time to interview a few high school students on my trip home to California during spring break. Lately it seems like they have bigger problems than I ever did.
Now, everyone and their mom has a cell phone. If you don’t
have a cell phone then you don’t have a life. Pagers were an issue when I was in high school, now kids have to remember to bring their cell phones with them and turn them off during class.
Another dilemma that these students brought to my attention was the effects of everyone having a Myspace account.
Ever since Myspace came to be a few years ago, young people have been targets for advertising and marketing gimmicks, cyberspace predators and porn-star losers.
High school drama was more than enough to handle when I was that age, but adding the abilities of an e-mail with personality can cause some problems.
Some girls mentioned the constant flirtatious activity on Myspace of other girls and their boyfriends, causing
relationship issues. Also, the constant popularity contest high school brings out can now be battled online.
Other issues like the newly-enforced exit exams that may cost a student their graduation rights, ID badges that have become
student’s passes to enter and leave campus, no more off-campus lunches, and one issue that struck me as the most surprising is teens’ ability to purchase marijuana
easier than alcohol.
Perhaps that last one hasn’t changed much but I still find it shocking that teens younger than 21 can find a way to purchase an illegal drug much faster than alcohol.
The point is, are teens now faced with more problems and hurdles than they were four or five years ago? I believe so.
I think with technology taking off so quickly and new rules from the school system, these kids are going to be turning to sex and drugs much quicker than previous generations have.
Having the Internet as an outlet to these types of delinquencies is making it easier for teens to get involved in sex and drama instead of steering away from it.
More rules and stricter guidelines in school will only give them more reason to break them and turn toward drugs.
Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to go back to high school and the simpler days, but now it’s not looking
so simple.
BRIANNA RUSSELL
Opinion Writer