June 2003
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OPINION

Growing Pains
By Mark S., Grade 12, Delta Secondary, Delta, BC

What grade am I in? Sometimes I'll ask myself this as I'm goofing around. I am always astonished to learn that the answer is grade 12. How can that be, I say? I am not about to graduate and embark onto a journey that will take me out of my sheltered life in Ladner. I'm just a kid who enjoys sleeping in on Saturdays and going out to play hockey with my friends, always assuming the role of my favourite hockey player. I am not faced with all this "need to get this average" and "have to do this on the provincials" nonsense. I'm not ready to give up what I have.

People tell me I'm not giving anything up but gaining so much more. Is getting up at 6 am instead of 7:45 am a gain? Is having to take a two-hour bus-ride to school a gain. Is having to deal with the challenge of university that hits so many people so hard in the first term a gain? I see them all as losses, not gains. I can't see life after high school because I don't want to believe that my life in Ladner is over. I see myself getting up by myself, going to school by myself and sitting in class by myself the basis of my life for the next four years. School will suddenly evolve into something I despise. No more will I enjoy the simple pleasure school has to offer.

No more will I be able to walk to school with my friend, talking about nothing in particular. After school hockey and baseball games will vanish. They will exist only as fleeting memories. They will no longer be something to look forward to or something that guarantees some good times with friends. Faceless classmates and distant teachers will replace them. School will become a routine, a harsh, monotonous routine. And I will only be able to "enjoy" this routine if "I get this average" or "do this on the provincials."

There are many people I know that are stoked to get out of high school. But where are they out to? Some will attend college or university because that's what everyone does. That's the boat I will be in. Then there are others who will sit around and do nothing and party all the time. Others still will work so they can sit around and do nothing on the weekends, partying most of the time.

The only joy they receive from their jobs coming two times a month. There are many opportunities for those who are willing to work for them. I believe that I will work for them because the real world has a way of making people grow up real fast, even quicker than in Ladner. Eventually I will obtain my degree and look for my job. Perhaps it could be on the opposite side of this article. I don't worry so much because I've had a lot of time to think about this subject. Perhaps the future won't be as bad as I think; my mom has always said that, "I'm not a big fan of change." It's true; I like constants to exist in my life. But, it's usually the case that I get myself all worked up about something that will be just fine in the end.


     



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