It all starts with sophomore orientation. The principals start speaking followed by an array of different club advisors and club members, but the main message to derive from this day is one simple objective: “Get Involved”. North Penn is too big of a school for you to not get involved and start participating. With over a thousand kids walking around the hallways it is way too easy for you to fall between the cracks and become just another face in the hallways. That same message is the common denominator in every single speech that the club advisors say during sophomore orientation.

Fast forward a year later, you have two kids, one that got involved and one that fell between the cracks, doing exactly what he or she was told not to do at sophomore orientation. The kid that did not get involved now feels invisible as well as an inner resentment towards the kids that are involved. Now the question becomes is it the fault of the kid that did not get involved? Or is it the fault of society for not equipping that child with what it takes to be ready to have the self-confidence as well as the courage to jump right in and get involved?

I say the fault lies partly in the hands of both society and in the hands of the kid. Although I am a firm believer that you cannot coach nor teach character, I do support the ideology that you can teach leadership, you can obtain self-confidence and courage.  They say bad company corrupts good morals. The same true about the opposite, good company should construct good morals. If you surround yourself with good company, the type that is willing to go on and do the second mile, to be bold, to get involved, slowly but surely you will find yourself doing the exact same thing. It is up to students to position themselves with company that will help them reach the place where they need to go.  It can be as simple as just one friend.

The fault usually blamed on most schools is that they fail to teach kids the true “real life” skills that they need. People like to sarcastically say things like “don’t get me wrong, it’s going to be very helpful knowing the Pythagorean Theorem when you are 26 with a kid and working in the medical field, but it’s good to have people skills, self-confidence, and courage before you get thrown into the real world”. I strongly feel that that burden is too harshly placed on schools when in reality all of those ideas and fundamentals start at home.  It is not the job of the school to teach you these skills, rather serve as a means to help strengthen and develop these skills.

Many schools like North Penn offer a variety of different classes such as News Journalism, Debate, Botany, Athletic Training, Anatomy, Fashion and Design, Electronic Art, Digital Photography and so many other classes that have the ability to teach you these skills and to prepare you for whatever job or occupation that you wish to enter in life. There’s only one problem, the number of students enrolling in these courses gets smaller and smaller every year. Also, we are given the opportunity to take career and work study options as well as the ability to dual enroll in a nearby college of your choice to take college classes while still in high school. If the school provides all these outlets and opportunities and yet nobody takes advantage of them, is it okay then to turn around and point the finger on the school? I strongly feel that students should stop expecting high schools to spoon feed them throughout their time in high school. Once you get to college it will be completely up to you to get involved, to get active, to show up in class, to do well, your college will not spoon feed you anything, so why should your high school.