Don't Be Nervous About High School

That time of year has come again. The leaves are changing colour, your parents are rushing you to the office supplies store, and you're spending sleepless nights worrying about the next school year.

You know that it's going to be your first year of high school; your parents have said that high school is different from "grade school". Your parents say that high school demands more "discipline", "initiative", and "hard work". According to them, without these qualities of self-motivation, you are destined for failure.

Fortunately for our sake, they are wrong. Everything about hard work and perseverance forming the basis of high school education is wrong. Everything about the good student who always does his homework, stays up extra late to finish assignments, and never swears is wrong. Your parents, and other adults, are telling you nothing more than fanciful lies which, although have good intentions, destroy the true meaning of high school.

In reality, high schools treat their students less like pupils in a class and more like a group of individuals who are there to learn, from the teacher, and from one another. In many ways, a high school environment requires less discipline to succeed. A friendless nerd who stays up all-night studying for the final exam may get high grades but he cannot be considered successful in high school.

To be successful in a high school environment, you must put more emphasis on the community aspect of a school. Instead of focusing all your time on math, science, and all the other academic subjects, make sure that you join plenty of clubs, make plenty of friends, and have fun.

A high school is not a learning institution as much as it is a community-driven centre for the absorption of knowledge. In high school, popularity and networking are just as, if not more important, than academics. High school is not some dull place where you sit for seven hours straight and listen to teachers babble. Instead it is a place where you are encouraged to form alliances with other students and learn off one another.

So, don't be nervous about high school and take any negativity you receive with a grain of salt. This school year, you can succeed, you will succeed, because 80% of your mark will be based on how well you network yourself within the community.

Dustin G. Hsiao was born on August 5th, 1990 and is the author of "Stupid Kid: Learn from Matt and Luke; how you can get better grades without effort". He has been recognized as one of the most promising young authors of modern English. He currently resides in Canada within the city of Toronto where he continues to write on unusual topics.

Dustin's ebook, Stupid Kid, is the perfect back to school gift for any struggling high school student and can be purchased online at: http://www.bettermarksnow.com/