My high school’s class of 2014 graduation ceremony takes place this weekend. As I think back to my own graduation day, almost a year ago, I realize my expectations for college were very different from reality. With the end of my freshman year quickly approaching, I have concluded that high school did not prepare me for the academic challenges or responsibilities I have faced at Northwestern or the essential skills required in the real world. This problem isn’t personal; it is one that the class of 2014 will face in a few short months. The bottom line is that high school doesn’t really do its job of preparing kids for college or for their futures in society.

This was certainly the case for me. Throughout high school, late work was always accepted. In my first year at NU, none of my teachers have accepted any late assignments. This is a policy that should be implemented in high schools with increasing stringency through the years in order to prepare students. Without a system like this, students are being set up to fail.

Also, in my experience at NU, the final grade in a class can be based off of as little as three assignments. In high school, there were tons of busywork, all of which was collected for points and could be used to boost a grade. This should not be the case because it leaves students unprepared to deal with classes in which grades are based off of very few deeper assignments.

Moreover, high school fails to prepare students for the increased level of responsibility college demands. For example, at my high school, if a student was ever falling behind in a class, the teacher would speak to the student, call the parents, assign tutoring sessions and more. While this may seem like an attempt at helping the student succeed, it actually hurts him or her in the long run. In the first year of college, it seems as if literally no one cares if you do poorly in a class. No one will reach out to help you unless you ask for it. It is important for high schools to guide students toward taking on more responsibility for their own education in order to help them succeed in college.

Similarly, high school fails to educate students on essential life skills. I’ve heard many of my fellow students joke about how they spent four years in high school and can find a derivative and recite the Pythagorean theorem but don’t know how to do their taxes, write a check or construct a resume. These skills, along with many others (like how to vote, file for loans, cook, use and understand credit cards and perform basic car maintenance), are simply never taught yet necessary for everyday life.

It’s sad to think of all the necessary abilities that many people lack simply because their high school, which is supposed to train them for the future, focuses on some unnecessary curriculum while underemphasizing other important skills. We shouldn’t let yet another class graduate from high school with this immense lack of real-world knowledge and skill. Students would greatly benefit if high schools started devoting time to teaching these things because they would be better prepared for college and the future.

Katy Vines is a Weinberg freshman. She can be reached at [email protected]. If you would like to respond publicly to this column, send a letter to the editor to [email protected].