Claire+S’s+OpEd+Article

=**Society can't be expected to place the tools for individual success right in our hands.**=

I’ve begun this article somewhere near six times.

First, I took off on a passionate rant about the lack of quality foreign language programs available in most middle and high schools. But halfway through my verbal assault on the system, the once-seemingly-logical flames in my eyes flickered, smoldered, and died, and I leaned back in my chair and firmly held the backspace key for somewhere near five minutes contemplating a conflicting idea that had risen to take the place of the original.

After several false starts, I changed direction and launched into a discussion about how the competitive school atmosphere and the compulsive drive to cram our schedules with AP classes does little to set us on the path to finding a suitable career -- I still have no idea what I plan to do with the rest of my life. But the drive behind that argument soon died away as well, replaced by that same nagging, tugging idea that had smothered and stifled my first attempt at this article.

Then, after much consideration, I veered head-first into an in-depth discussion regarding the fortification of breakfast cereals with something near fifteen grams of sugar per serving. After all, cereal selections fill an entire aisle at the Ralph's down the street from my house, but if I want a breakfast that is not candy, my selection is narrowed to roughly five; with no sugar at all, one.

But that argument was soon eliminated: //Ctrl+A, backspace//. Because by this point, I had come to realize that all of my complaints had, among a few others, one principal factor in common: I have substantial ability to change, and change my attitude toward, all of these situations.

If I have a problem with the school’s foreign language system, programs are readily available free of charge at Ventura College, online, or at any library. The internet is home to a myriad of credible (and entirely free) language learning programs for anyone who wishes to expel the effort. Over the past few years, I have made a hobby of learning languages, and all of these online resources have proved helpful, interactive, and engaging. But, again, if someone wishes to be part of a more structured and scheduled curriculum, classes are available at every community college in Ventura County and beyond.

If I think that school is not preparing me for a career, by all means, I can use the resources available in Foothill’s media center, or, again, find thousands of credible pages and sites online.

And, honestly, I’m okay with the one choice of cereal that doesn’t contain sugar, but if I genuinely want more healthy cereal choices, there are more stores throughout Ventura that would likely offer something else.

So, I suppose my goal is to champion the power of an individual fortunate enough to be living in modern California in the age of information. While family and income can be influential factors, a student’s potential for individual “success” is largely determined by individual choices and work ethic. I could sit here and complain about how my motivation is slipping away due to a lack of direction, and I could discuss how my goals seem insurmountable from my low perch in a mesh swivel chair among my textbooks and pencils and graph paper and tennis and track bags and crumpled chapter packets in a stuffy half-lit bedroom. I could talk about how the breathless race to the top of the high school pyramid leaves us a faceless herd of test scores and inflated GPAs. I could write in detail about every manner in which our education drains the life and freedom and individuality from helpless students. All of these complaints have bubbled to the surface in my mind at some point in the past few days, but perhaps more frustrating than these situations themselves are the helpless complaints, both from myself and others, that are vocalized regarding them every day.

Beyond the horizons of Facebook and Twitter, which seem to swallow up such excessive amounts of students’ time and brain cells, there are infinite resources available to many of us through the internet and our community, and there is little to stop us from taking full advantage of them. We only need to expel the effort to extend an arm, and the grapes are within our reach.