FOR: (Cassidy Moore)

Having someone to watch your back, understand what you’re going through and to help you navigate life is something many strive for. Finding true love in high school, although rare, is the reason many embark on countless dates and relationships until they feel that spark.

Dating does not have to be all about true love and finding a soulmate, it can also be about having fun with someone who makes you feel good. Dating as a teenager is all about finding yourself and understanding what makes you happy. No one should be stressed and pressured to date the perfect person; dating in high school is a way to grow before you reach college.

However, those who do date and find their special someone through high school friendships and romances often express how vital their partner was in their journey to college and life. If you do find someone you spend a majority of your life with, it is comforting to have someone that you grew up with and went through tough times with. This is especially important when you need to widen your comfort zone.

When you date someone you are introduced to a whole world of new people, mindsets, and experiences that you would not have otherwise. These experiences are what make dating a special someone in high school so magical. The memories that you make and the people you meet are a measure of how dating is for you.

Meeting your special someone in high school and falling in love can lead to heartbreak. Nevertheless, it can also be an experience that you will grow from, or maybe even end in meeting the person you want to spend the rest of your life with.

You learn how to deal with your significant other in a way that is healthy, rather than screaming at each other like children. A relationship allows you the chance to grow and become an adult. This is why dating in high school might be beneficial to some students who are seeking to experience more things and mature along the way.

High school in general can be a time of changes and emotional breakdowns, having someone you trust can help make your four years easier to handle. Being a teenager is all about making mistakes and learning from them. I don’t think dating at this age is necessarily harmful for all young kids, as long as students are being safe and healthy, that is all that matters.

No matter what age, everyone deserves the chance to experience love and everything that comes with it.

From dates to new places, Valentine’s day gifts, and prom-posals, having someone to share in these fun activities with can make all high schooler’s doubts and stresses about dating worth it. Even after your time in high school is over, the time you spent with people will always help you grow and will be life lessons and memories that you will keep all through your next journey in life.

AGAINST: (Nikki Hazelett)

Love is what you make it. There is no handbook, no guidelines, no requirements. Love can be shown in an assortment of ways and hold very different truths for individuals.

It can be the most beautiful thing you have ever been blessed with experiencing, but it can also be devastating. The act of loving someone requires you to be able to assess what love is to you, and how you decide to act upon it.

Some individuals begin dating in their teens, while others wait until adulthood. In my own experience and heartbreak, I wish I would have waited to fall in love until I was older and ready to handle the hardships that can be attached to a relationship.

I walked into a high school relationship very naive and in bliss of being with someone who I thought was my best friend. We dove head first into a serious relationship that I don’t think either of us were truly ready for. I think this happens to a lot of people in their teenage years; we become so insistent on creating and maintaining the world’s most perfect relationship that we don’t notice all the red flags.

Dating in high school can prove to be very messy. Both parties are incredibly young and barely have much life experience.

I did the whole “off and on again” relationship and while I loved him, we would have been better in the long run as simply friends.

At such a young and impressionable age, it’s hard to look at someone and confidently say you want to spend the rest of your life with them. What you want at 18 is not always going to be what you desire at age 30. Every day and every new experience grants our youth with moments of learning and growing.

Dealing with heartbreak as a teen versus an adult are two completely different things. Yes, at any age, heartbreak can be close to one of the most difficult emotional pains to work through.

However, as an adult, it’s easier to not lose yourself because you can rationalize your surroundings easier. As a teenager, I think many of us who have experienced this felt like the world was ending; I felt like I was drowning in sorrow, and I was scared that I might never resurface.

The world clearly doesn’t end after a split, but in the mind of the youth, I believe it does.

I’m first to admit I can be very immature, much like many other high school students. I say things I don’t mean and I do things out of anger. I am far too young to indulge myself in a serious relationship, or any type of relationship that would be healthy.

I believe this is the same case for must students my age or younger. We want to experience love, we want to look at someone and feel like they are our home. However, some forget how difficult it can be to be in a committed relationship when you as a person are still trying to develop.

I believe teenage years should be about experimenting and discovering the things that make you who you are. Students need to focus more on their own well-being, rather than a significant other. A relationship is for when you are confident and stable enough with your own self that you can take on another’s problems.

In the long run, teenagers are going to do whatever they please because it is in their rebellious nature. Dating is fun and adventurous, and it allows you to expand your friend groups and feel more mature. But there will be a heartbreak attached to every “I love you”, whether you see it coming or not.