Don’t Waste Your School

What if there was a place that could help you relieve some of the fears and stresses of growing up? A place that could show you how to do “grown up” activities and give you the tools for adult life? A place that could teach you how to interact with a lot of different people and give you certain social etiquettes? Well there is. It’s a place looked at by teenagers as a prison. It’s called school.

In 1853, the Massachusetts Bay Colony passed the Ole’ Deluder Satan Act. This act generally said that as a town grows in number, certain schools have to be established in that town. A town with fifty families must establish a reading and writing school. If a town increases to one hundred families then they must establish a Latin grammar school.

The name of the law gives an idea as to the spirit it was created in. The legislators of Massachusetts did not want their kids to be tricked by the “Ole’ Deluder Satan,” therefore they chose to give them knowledge of the world and of the Scriptures to keep that from happening. That was the original idea behind public schools. And even today school provides an opportunity for us to grow and mature as Christians and as citizens.

Only one hundred years ago many kids did not have the luxury of finishing school. Children were often taken out of school in their early-to-mid teenage years to work on the farm or in a factory. I’m sure they would have agreed that school is a wonderful alternative to that kind of back-breaking work.

Most teenagers now a days do the least they possibly can to get done with school. They don’t see it as an opportunity, only as a great drudgery. They settle for average grades even though they know if they work harder they can improve.

School has become a breeding ground for gossip and slander instead of kindness and knowledge. Of course it’s easier to sit in class and pass notes about the new girl than to do your Algebra problems. It’s easier to sit in your room at night, texting with you friends about the cute boy who just transferred into your class than to finish your Chemistry homework.

To some, school seems to drag on constantly, the weekends being your only reprieve.

It doesn’t have to be this way, though. If you commit yourself and work diligently, it will get easier. Sure, school comes easier to some people than it does to others, but you know that guy who you always call a nerd? The one who’s known for always getting his homework done on time and getting A’s on his Geometry tests? One day he’ll be the boss. And who will work for him? Everyone who didn’t commit themselves. Everyone who slacked off during history class.

School is one of the greatest blessings in life. Don’t let it slip out of your fingers like sand. Grab hold of it and soak up as much knowledge as possible before it’s all over.

Share Your Thoughts in the Comment Section!

There are currently 8 Comment(s)