Madi+DL’s+Final+AmEx+2014+Speech

=Take Your Future into Your Own Hands=

A year from now, we’ll all be sitting in the gymnasium of Ventura College. We’ll listen enthusiastically as Mr.Bova announces, one after the other, the names of our peers. After an agonizing wait, you’ll finally hear your own, echoing off the walls like a chorus of approval. You’ll stand up and a million frenzied thoughts will race through your mind. You’ll find yourself walking past the aisles of chairs, and up those few steps safely to the stage, shaking hands with all the administrators, and receiving your well-deserved diploma, you’ll flash a smile to your family and walk down the steps on the other side, where you’ll take your seat once more. Gleaming in all of the excitement you’ll think, “This is what I’ve been waiting for all these years! I can’t believe that I made it out AP Calc alive. It’s finally over.” “Its over!” “could this be true?” Well... Not really. You’ll have a couple months of summer and before you know it, you’ll be shipped off to college. Where you will study something from four to up to eight years, that you may not necessarily make a living out of. In fact, about “41% of graduates from the nation’s top colleges could not find jobs in their chosen field” (the Economist) who are then left with a large chunk of debt, $20,269 being the average in the state of California (Projection of Student Debt).

I’m here today to say that college isn't necessarily for everyone, and there is nothing wrong with that. We, students at Foothill Technology High School and millions more worldwide, have this perception that going to college fresh out of high school is the only path for success, yet we haven’t had the chance to explore other opportunities the world has to offer.

We believe success is, Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley or some other well-regarded, prestigious university that only .0005% of students get into, paired with a degree in medicine or engineering. We define it as a 2400 on the SAT, a 4.9 GPA and summers spent building orphanages with your bare hands in Peru. And I know, I’m making a lot of generalizations and exaggerations here, but I think the mass majority of us can agree that society has been setting the standards ridiculously high and have been treating individuals merely as numerical figures rather than for what they truly are, human beings. We view college and the education system today as a “game”, where people do anything and everything it takes to get to the top. And when I say whatever it takes, I mean whatever it takes; whether that be cheating, getting someone to do their work, or any immoral thing it may be. All passion and desire for knowledge flies out the window, but isn’t that what it’s all about? Isn’t that what it should be about?

= (I don't know why this is in bold sorry) = = We get too caught up in perfection and being the best, or what society deems as such, that we end up losing ourselves. Instead of conforming to the social norm, that being attending college right after graduating, why not take a gap year to travel, to volunteer, or do something that’ll really help you find yourself before settling down into adulthood? Why is that frowned upon? Why should you feel so shitty for not having your name on the, “Where will you be attending next year?” board hung up in the back of your teacher’s classroom? As Ray Bradbury said, “Love what you do and do what you love.  Don't listen to anyone else who tells you not to do it. You do what you want, what you love.” Don’t listen to anyone else who tells you not to do what it is you truly desire. By following our aspirations, and what we love to do, we discover how to attain success in it along the way, or as Bradbury would've said “We Jump, and let our wings unfold on the way down.” Success shouldn't be bounded by how much you make in a year, or what type of university you attend. As long as you've found happiness and are passionate for whatever vocation you have chosen, then you have obtained true success. =

I’m not trying to advocate for a life without a college education. Receiving an education at a college level opens a substantial amount of doors to those that decide to partake in it, and if anything I encourage you all to work towards one. But what I see today are people drowning in student loans and young adults going to college merely for the “undergrad experience”, wasting their time and money into pursuing degrees that they won’t even get a job in or will fail to finish the requirements for. According to the National Center for Education Services, only “ 59 percent of full-time, first-time students who began seeking a bachelor's degree... complete the degree at that institution within 6 years”. That’s 41% left with copious amounts of debt and working jobs that are in no way fit to pay them off in a timely manner. If you don’t know what you want to do for the rest of your life, or perhaps your dream doesn't include a college education, then you should feel confident in knowing there are other options. For example, my friend, Andre Sehati, decided to take a gap year to pursue a career in music after completing his Freshman year at San Diego State. He realized that pursuing a college degree would not give him the success he wanted- becoming a singer/songwriter, his true passion. The college lifestyle is not the right path for everyone, and the pressure to part take in such should not exist.

In the America I grow old in, I want future high schoolers to view college as an option, instead of an obligation. I want them to have the confidence to pursue their true passions and goals they want to achieve in their lifetime, and see that it doesn't always include 4 years at a university. We each have our own lives, and therefore should be able to make choices based on our ambitions. Life is too precious to be wasted on conformity. I want us all, everyone in this class, and all that come after us to embrace their individuality and not be afraid to take risks.

. =Sources=

[|__http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21600131-too-many-degrees-are-waste-money-return-higher-education-would-be-much-better__]

[|__http://projectonstudentdebt.org/state_by_state-data.php__]

[|__http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=40__]