Identifying the True Goal of the Junior Year of High School

     Many students look into the junior year believing that it is the most difficult of all the high school years. They feel the rush to get prepared for the hardships of college because they've lost touch with their priorities in their previous years, and with no placidity in mind, they tend to burn themselves out before the first semester has ended.  I’ve had several encounters with many juniors who would agree with this perspective, specifically the juniors who couldn’t seem to handle a little pressure brought on by more due dates and the overflow of homework. I, on the other hand, would declare that they’re being whiny brats who can’t handle the simplicity of an easy journey that is filled with lazy teachers that assign work whenever they get the chance. This way of thinking came to mind when I was reading the first chapter of How to Read Literature like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster. While reading, I began to understand that the daily routine of our lives is, in a way, a non-fictional quest. Looking back at my junior year, it became clear. We, as bright English students, should be able to identify that our junior year is a quest that grants us the mindset of a college student and not the stellar grades we hope to achieve by the end of the year.

     The hard part about figuring out the true goal of the journey is that you won’t realize it until you get through the year. The quester, the junior student, will start off the year cramming for tests that are months away and visiting colleges to make himself known. He’ll do this believing this is the only way to get into the college of his dreams. Yes, this is a way to help, but repeating this cycle would only bring stress. Still envisioning that perfect report card, the junior takes hold of the homework he receives and does everything in his “power” to turn in all of the assignments in on time. But, unfortunately, this is not always an easy task. Sometimes you will have that outside force pushing and pulling your academics away from your control. This "something" would be that extra element that sets you apart from the rest of the other college applicants. This is when things get really tough. The quester can either calm down and plan out the year or continue on the same path. The quester, again, the junior, usually decides to continue because he has already started on one journey.

     As the quest becomes even more difficult, the junior begins to procrastinate and preoccupy his time with that extra element a little too much. The next report card then reflects that attitude. The junior gets his report card and reflects on his year so far. He then realizes that in the beginning he was tiring himself out for no reason. Even with procrastination, his grades were pretty good, not stellar, but good.  Through all that mind twisting stress, the junior begins to understand what junior year does for a student. “Junior year not only teaches you that grades aren’t everything, but that it’s pretty easy to get good grades and relax a little bit”. This is the college mindset.

     Juniors need to understand that high school is difficult in general and should not spend a whole year stressing about a dream college that has odd rates of accepting undergraduate freshman.