It’s not often I’m struck with epiphanies, as I’m sure one can imagine.  At my mere, meager age of 16, I can’t imagine I have much prevalence in the world.  Young people, teens in particular it seems, are paid little attention or respect until someone wants us to become a “good, civil, productive member of society.” 

This to me seems to be a rather selfish endeavor by the teachers of teens today.  They want us not to become this concept of a perfect societal member necessarily for society’s betterment, but rather so they might live out their own retirement with ease.  The burden and problems of their own time seem to rarely be as predominantly felt by those who created these issues, and are rather made more and felt more intensely and more critically by the generation after.  We, the teens and youth of today, are the bearers of such after math. 

Such atrocities, such arrogance and ignorance is left, not on those who created the misfortune, but by those afterwards.

And the basic nature of learning from the consequences of choices are left in disarray.  So what do they, our parents and elders and teachers, learn from their own mistakes?  Nothing.  Not a thing. 

And so, if it now falls to the teens, the next generation, to fix our ‘teachers’ mistakes, why are we so underrepresented?  Why do we not get a say in school rules and policy?  Better yet, why are we not given a say in what we are taught, how we are taught, and why we are taught what we are?  If we are the next senators, the next president, or even the next employee at McDonald’s, why are we not the stewards of our own betterment?

Now there are those who’d like to have us believe that we are, and to some degree I do attest that we do have some influence on our own personal achievement.  That does not mean, however, that this couldn’t be helped along by paying more attention, more respect, to the people who will be passing laws in the near future.  In the same instance, not everyone from our generation will be the next Einstein.  Not everyone will be top Ivy League graduates.

So this is my epiphany:

Not every single teen that walks into the classroom on Monday will need that AP Stats class.  Not every student needs honors language composition.  And not every single student today needs to know the harmful effects of a radiation they won’t likely be exposed to in their lifetime.  Let’s get specialized. 

Let’s get more vocational programs in schools, because not every student is college bound and some useable life skills (unlike those many of us are learning in Calc) would be invaluable.  Let’s start pcking out specialties sooner.  This will reduce wasting the already limited, precious education dollars we have left as it is and quite possibly make teens more receptive to what they are learning. 

Specialized. 

This is my epiphany. 

Let us, the teens who will eventually have to fix your mistakes parents, have a say in how we’re going to achieve our own greatness.