In high school, everyone seems to be readying themselves for their futures beyond the walls and gates of OHS, and college is often thought to be the best place to go after four long years of secondary schooling.

Occasionally, there will be a few students who drop out or graduate without a plan for further education. But for the most part, kids obsess over college and predict those dropouts and seemingly anti-college people to be unsuccessful.

The reality is, that not everyone needs to go to college.

If college suits a person’s career choice, then it’s absolutely a good idea. However, despite the education, a college experience can be expensive, time-consuming, and even potentially worthless.

Major, modern colleges are charging large fees not only for classes, but for dormitories and class materials, as well.

This often leads to massive debt that the student has to pay off over the course of his or her life. They start in the world as educated adults, fresh out of their university, with debt already piling up around them. In this sense, college may be too much trouble.

On average, four years of one’s life are needed in order to obtain a now deceptively mundane and commonplace educational standard. It would take a year or two more to earn a degree worthy of boasting.

There are other paths in life that aren’t put up on a pedestal and don’t cost excessive amounts of hard-earned money.

One could see a trade school as an option for learning a skill that they’re interested in, which is  cost-effective and hands-on experience. One could simply join the workforce or even take up the family business – whatever they have a desire to do.

People should follow their own passions, not just the path that’s been laid out by and for their peers.