SENIOR High is just around the corner for students entering Grade 11 or 12 this coming school year. Most of them are already bracing themselves for what to expect. For those who imagine it to be like “High School Musical,” you need a reality check.

Next school year I’ll be in Grade 10 and after that, the dreaded Senior High that was never supposed to happen until the K-12 program was enacted into law in 2013. To be honest, I wasn’t too pleased with this development. Sure, I felt glad that future generations of students would undergo secondary education before entering college. But that meant two more years of high school, and the thought of it didn’t put a smile on my face.

I was in Grade 7 when the Senior High program was officially declared.

When I started my first year in high school, I felt a sudden rush, a sense of maturity. But I also felt that there was this huge bump on the road that would get in the way of my going to college.

A lot of my batchmates didn’t like the idea of going through Senior High as well. Some complained about the additional cost of two more years, money that would have been used for a college education. Others were concerned about whether schools and teachers were prepared to teach Senior High, since they have never done it before.

But eventually we shared the the same thought: We just wanted to get out of high school. I had spent about 11 years in it—isn’t that enough to prepare me for college?

My batch is the second one to go through Grade 11. Like Troy Bolton in “High School Musical” said, “We’re all in this together.” Nothing is more comforting than knowing your friends
are by your side going through Senior High because, like you, they don’t have a choice.

When I reached Grade 9, we attended a talk about Senior High School. We were told what to expect, the strands available for us to choose, the grading systems and dummy schedules. Of course I wasn’t paying attention to the speaker because I was really irritated at the idea. If there was no Senior High, I would go straight to college after my fourth year in high school.

But then I thought, “What course should I take?” I didn’t have a clue. I still didn’t know what I wanted to do and the kind of person I wanted to be in the future. I wasn’t interested in Senior High but I wasn’t ready for college, too.

This forced me to look at things from a different perspective. Even though I still didn’t like Senior High, it would buy me enough time to think about the right course to take in college. It was then that I realized Senior High was basic preparation for college.

Since then, it’s been easier accepting the idea about Senior High. I guess the best thing to do is to look at the bright side of the situation. Senior High is for students like me who don’t have a clue on what to do when they get to college. It’s also for students who need a bit of growing up. Think of Senior High as a time to reflect on your future while still enjoying being a kid.

Whatever plans I had for college would have to wait. I still have two more years of high school, and surprisingly, I’m looking forward to it.

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