The BHS Bugle

BHS BUGLE

We’ve all been there. You’re holding your first-term progress report in your shaking hands, knowing that you’re in trouble because of your English mark, and your Math mark, and probably your Science mark too. Your parents are going to be livid when they see that 56% right in the middle of your report card, and you wish that you would've done better on those assignments you just passed (or failed, there’s no judgement here), but fear not! I am here to help you amidst this time of worry and anxiety. Here are some tips and tricks on how to flip that 56% to a 65% at least.

  1. Ask as many questions as you can in your class!

You know that one kid in class that asks literally every single question ever, and sometimes makes you wonder how they made it into high school? Well, they got 17% higher than you did on that quiz in period C. How, you may ask? They made sure that they understood what was going on! They made sure they knew that a simile and metaphor are not the same thing, that logarithmic and exponential functions are inverses of each other, and that the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell! Doing this will make sure that you know what’s going on too, and then you can both have way better marks than the guy that falls asleep four out of five times a week.

2. Go for extra help!

I can personally tell you that extra help has saved me from bombing every assignment and test I’ve ever had in pre-calculus. Going to your teacher to plan a time to go through things you don’t understand is a less intimidating way to do better in a subject than asking all your questions in front of all the smart kids, plus it shows initiative to your teacher (and initiative is something they can talk about in a reference letter in the future, hint hint). Not only that, but you might get a tip on what will be on the next quiz or test so you can prepare yourself more. If you do show up to get extra help on a regular basis too, you’ll have a better chance of being allowed a retest on the off-chance you do bomb it (it just happens sometimes, no matter who you are).  The majority of teachers are super cool and you’ll get to know them better over time if you seek them often- they’re more than just educated robots that spit equations and grades out at us!

3. Teach it, don’t preach it!

Explaining a concept to someone (or to yourself, if you have no-one like me) helps you understand it better because you have to put it in your own words, and you’re getting feedback from someone over which part sounds confusing or if you're missing something - so pull up your sister, your uncle, mom, cat, or stuffed animal, and teach away.

4. Use the feedback your teachers give you!

This new rating system teachers are trying out in some classes is useful for a reason! Knowing your strengths and weaknesses in a subject not only tells you what you need to work on, but what you should be looking at the most come test and exam time. It might seem rude that your teacher says that you “really need to work on transition sentences,” however if you listen to them, you might realize that it’s true. I know for a fact that I am not good at my sentence fluency, one sentence will have eleven commas to bind it together, and the next sentence will have seven words. Being able to pick up on that stuff helps let you know how to do better in a class, and it’s a useful skill that you’re going to use all your life.

5. Show up for class!

This one may seem obvious, yet very few people try never to miss a day of school. The more you show up, the less information you miss, plus it gives you more time outside of school cause you’ll be able to do most things in class. If all else fails, miss five days or less and you’ll get the 10% incentive on your exam, and that can boost your grade from barely passing to being mediocre in a subject. That’s all a person can ask for, right?

 

There’s so many other ways to bump up your grade, too- these are just the tips that I use that work for me. Through trial and error, you’ll end up finding strategies that work best for you, and you can be the smartest kid in your class from then on. You’ve got this! Good luck!

 

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With exams fast approaching, studying should be the top priority, because with Christmas break coming up forgetting most of the concepts grasped throughout the year is almost inevitable for those who do not put in the effort; it is imperative that time is put aside for studying. Many of us including myself study by simply reading over notes until the information sticks, or only remembering the bare minimum of details. I have comprised a list of two extremely useful studying techniques even med school students use.

The first technique is known as the Feynman technique which was developed by Richard Feynman, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist. His technique allows anyone to learn just about anything using four easy steps. The Feynman technique is also based on the fact Richard Feynman believed there were two types of knowledge;, knowing the name of something, and knowing something. An example of this would be the difference between knowing a word and knowing the meaning of that word. You can't use a word you don't know the meaning of, can you?

 

The four steps to successfully study using the feynman technique are:

 

  • Step 1: State the concept - Ex. Propaganda

  • Step 2: Write down the concept in simple terms as if you are teaching a child - Ex. Propaganda is information used to influence a particular audience using information that is oftentimes misleading in order to support a cause. Usually used by politicians. This should also help identify what you do not understand.  

  • Step 3: Review what you do not know, if you had trouble writing down any information in simple terms, or did not understand particular sections then review until you can.

  • Step 4: Repeat this process by ensuring you can write down the terms as simple as possible.

“If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough” a quote by Albert Einstein showing that he recognized this crucial fact.

 

The second technique is a time management technique developed by Francesco Cirillo. People often end up using this technique without realizing it, but being mindful of it is beneficial. It is known as the Pomodoro technique.  This technique is simply studying in intervals that are typically 25 minutes with short breaks in between, usually 5 minutes. The steps to this technique are quite easy.

  • Step 1: Find a comfortable place to study

  • Step 2: Put on an alarm for twenty-five minutes (It is important to limit any distractions such as your phone).

  • Step 3: Possibly use Feynman technique when studying. (as long as you study during this time the method isn’t as important).

  • Step 4: Get up and do something when you’re five-minute break arises. It is a good idea to get a glass of water and use the washroom during this time as a means to not disrupt your studying later.

If you would like to make modifications to the times then that would be equally as effective. You could do fifty-minute sessions and ten- minute breaks, or even two-hour sessions and one-hour breaks. This might seem like plain old studying, but having an alarm and not looking at the time is very important. Also knowing you have a break will give you fewer distractions, and significantly improve your time management.

Studying was never hard. The trick to studying is ensuring you’re an environment built for success. If you get distracted at your house then go to the library.

  

 

 

 

The hallway was as clean as a whistle. The dark oak floorboards were so lustrous that Juvia could see her own ragged reflection in them. A strip of red carpet ran down the center of the floorboards to the staircase. The staircase was a masterpiece in itself along with its own dark oak boards and spotless red rug, the railings were carved with designs, beautiful works of art that could’ve taken decades to create. The walls were covered in decorative brown wallpaper and a chandelier hung gracefully from the again spotless white ceiling. There was a set of dark oak, double doors to the right of the entrance, and to the left there was a massive archway leading into the kitchen.  

The kitchen was magnificent. Directly to the left of the arch, a white, floor to ceiling window let in a multitude of light, so much the so that indoor lights weren’t even necessary. There was a white marble floor, and light sky-blue wallpaper draped around all four walls of the room. In the center of the kitchen there was an island with three leather seated bar stools and a plentiful fruit basket atop the marble island. The island also included more cabinets. There was a toaster on the counter as well, beside a cutting board and a cinema-style popcorn maker. Dark oak cabinets hung from the ceiling above the island.  

On the right of the arch there was a black double-door fridge and beside that a marble counter space including a single double-door cabinet. There was an oven under the microwave beside the cabinet and a dishwasher on the side of the oven. After the dishwasher the counter curved into an L-shape, leaving tons of counter space to cook on.

Too stunned to think properly, Juvia’s stood for what seemed like hours staring at the breathtaking kitchen.  

After her mind cleared, Juvia turned to the set of doors opposite the kitchen, now curious as to what they contained. Images of the house in its disastrous state from the pictures flashed through her mind as she walked over to the huge set of double doors. She was about to place her hands on the handles to open the doors when she noticed a small paper sign on the door’s golden handles, tied with a bow in golden string. The sign read “Welcome” in elegant golden calligraphy. The sign was freshly made, the ink still damp from creation. No one had been in the house for many weeks. Stunned and somewhat in a trance, she slowly untied the sign from the door handle and opened up the doors. The sign dropped to the floor and she walked forward.

Her eyes glistened and gazed in wonder at the sight of the room. There were bookshelves inside the walls, and vintage, leather-bound books inside looked very inviting for a cold winter’s evening. There was a small wooden desk in the corner of the room, with a leather seated chair in front of it. There were papers still on the desk, with an inkwell and a few pens on those papers. There was a red couch in the center of the room, and underneath it there was a decorative red area rug. There was also a small coffee table in front of it, and beside that, inside the wall, there was a brick fireplace. On both sides of the fireplace there were floor-to-ceiling windows that were also as clear as any other normal window. The wallpaper was a dark shade of blue with small ornamental decals on it.  

“What in the sugary cinnamon bun? Why did I never come to visit this guy!” Juvia yelled in delight. “Finally!” She laughed and squealed back into the hallway, grabbing her backpack and leaping  up the stairwell.

“A house of my own!” She cried.

Upstairs, there was another hallway, this one with the dark oak flooring. Heat rose up to her cold little feet. Heated floors.

To the right there was a dark oak door, and at the end of the hallway there was another. A hatch in the ceiling with a small latch above her led into the attic.  

First, Juvia opened the door to the left. She found a decently large bathroom. Inside, there were white tiled floors and walls. In the corner, a large stand up shower with white frosted glass. It was like a warm hug was greeting her. There was a large mirror on the back of the door and one in front of the sink. There was a small window beside the shower across the room about an inch from the ceiling.

The thermostat clicked and the heaters began heating the room. By the time Juvia was ready to take a shower it would be nice and warm. Turning on her heel, Juvia walked out of the bathroom and made a right towards the door at the end of the hall. She did so carefully taking small steps, suddenly struck by a sense of awe that the room gave off. A mysterious air. She opened it slowly, gingerly grasping the handle as she did so.  The door creaked, but swung open quickly on it’s hinges.

Inside, there was a beautiful four poster, dark oak wood, carved, Victorian bed. Clear white drapes hung gracefully from the rods at the top, flowing to the floor at the sides and ends of the bed. There were light lavender coloured sheets on the bed, as well as a lavender colored comforter with mixes of white in a swirling pattern. The sheets were turned down, all ready for Juvia to fall into and go to sleep in. Just like the one Juvia had always wanted from an old furniture shop in Terrance. Briefly the memories flooded her mind.

One in particular floated around her memory as she gazed at the bed. A warm smile crossed her face as she thought of her mother and herself in the shop when she was young. How she would get onto the bed and beg for her mother to buy it. How she would roll in the sheets and tell her mother all about the one she would have when she was older.

“The Princess and her Pea.” He mother would often chuckle at her remarks.

Behind where the door opened Juvia flung her duffle on the ground and her backpack on top of it. There was a set of drawers there planted inside the wall surrounded by built-in bookshelves.

Inside the drawers Juvia discovered a pair of high-heeled dress shoes and a pair of sheer black tights. Atop the dresser, there were two silver bracelets layed out and a black leather watch. The bracelets had many little charms, small hearts, elephants, and accompanying them was a silver necklace - a simple chain with one pendant shaped as a heart.

There was a large window seat beside the bed on the side of the L-shaped room, and beside that window was a large dark oak closet—it reminded Juvia of the closet in Narnia: The Witch and The Wardrobe, a favorite book and movie of hers.

On the doors of the closet there was a note, similar to the one that had been on the door to the living room. In carefully written golden cursive letters it read, ‘For your first day of work’  

Inside the closet there was a professional-looking black mini skirt, a white chiffon blouse, and a feminine black dress coat.  

“What the…” Juvia’s voice trailed off with a frown.

Juvia closed the doors of the closet, then turned to the dainty lace curtains of the window and shut them too. Her hands stopped short as she closed them. How were the windows clean from the inside, glistening like water in a pool, but from the outside they were painted black as the night?

Nothing made any sense. Everything seemed backwards in this house.

Perplexed and paying no attention to the world around her, Juvia proceeded to flop down on the bed and stare at the ceiling in wonder. He mind wandered through a meadow of ideas, reasons for the strange happenings of the day. Of the house. But the thoughts quickly dispersed, and  the meadow slowly faded. The bed was far too comfortable and welcoming to even think. Exhaustion took over Juvia, tired after her day of planes, airports and taxis.

The last of the money her grandfather had, he left to her, and she had used that money and the rest of her money to get here, to her new house. In her purse there was twenty-three Euro and thirteen cents left of it all.  It probably was some of the fifty her father had given her for lunch when she left the house. He wasn't sad to see her leave. She had lived in his basement until a few nights before and he was getting tired of her. She in turn was getting tired of him.

The papers that said the house was hers were in her hands only minutes before she left. She was excited to be leaving. To have a house. Her life was starting - finally.

Twenty minutes later Juvia had almost all the lights off in the house. The door was locked, and the water was running hot, the shower already filled with steam and warmth. On the bathroom sink, there were small bottles of shampoo and conditioner, as well as a rack with towels and facecloths. There was some soap with a little red ribbon around it on the ledge of the shower waiting for her. The water was clear and warm, a fully functional shower head was in place, but perhaps a newer one with a stronger current was on the to-do list for her new house.

After her shower was over and she was dry, Juvia dressed lightly in her black camisole and light blue, cropped sweatpants…considering that she hadn’t brought pyjamas. The floors were warm anyways and the thermostats were heating the house nicely. She tied her long strawberry blonde hair up in a wavy messy bun and trotted down the stairs to see if there was a piece of fruit in the kitchen that she could snack on.

She flipped the lightswitch on and snatched an apple from the bowl in the centre of the island, then took a bite of it. Turning sloppily on her heel Juvia turned off the light again and headed upstairs.

She put away a few pieces of her clothing, mostly skinny jeans, tight shirts, a few fancy shirts and a couple of date-night outfits, then out of her duffle she drew a huge, stuffed, disheveled white teddy bear with a light brown ribbon tied around its neck. She plopped him onto the bed in the centre where he flopped sideways weakly.

“C’mon stay put.” Juvia remarked, grabbing her toothbrush out of her backpack. “This is home now.” She sighed, launching her apple core into the garbage can.

She strided through the hall into the bathroom to brush her teeth and quickly ran a layer of night cream over her face. She dropped a couple of eyedrops in her tired green eyes and, after they were mostly clear, walked hastily back into her room and flipped off the switch. Lazily she fell onto the the bed and cuddled against her bear. It had been a strange first day, but tomorrow would be much worse. Tomorrow was job day.

 

Juvia had stared for over twenty minutes at the jumble of a house, thinking about the letters, and how her grandfather never discontinued sending them. How he had written them to the point of his death. She took in every detail of the outside of the house, every rotten board, every dead bush and flower, all of it. Finally, she decided that it was time to go inside. She felt silly standing there, the neighbors must have been watching curiously at the new owner of the “Crazy Old Man's” house. Juvia looked towards all the adjacent houses, searching for a swaying curtain or for any signs of prying eyes, but she found that the houses were all boarded up, no sign of human life near them for what must have been years.  

“It figures. No one wanted to live near the him I guess.” Juvia said to herself. The feeling of loneliness that her grandfather must’ve felt quickly washed over her for a moment, and was then gone as soon as it came. Suddenly she felt bad for not reading those letters. She was the only one he could talk to. She sighed and shook her thoughts away as she lifted her bags to bring to the porch. She reached for the gate, and with only one touch of her fingertips it broke off its hinges and fell flat on the ground.  

“Okay. No more gate.” She said through gritted teeth, continuing her march up to the porch. “At least it’s not dad’s basement.” She tried the doorknob. It was locked, as it should’ve been. She reached into her backpack aggravatedly and dug furiously for the keys. She cursed a few times before she found them, even though they shouldn’t have been very hard to find. They were old medieval type keys, painted streaky dark brown. The paint on them was chipping, and the metal underneath was rusty.

The door opened easily enough with a good shove. She looked down as she walked through the entrance, expecting exactly what she had seen in the pictures—a messed up, old, rickety, house that needed to be cleaned and most likely fumigated.

Looking up, it was like the oxygen around her became instantaneously locked out of her lungs.

To be continued...

May 2018, Yad Vashem, Israel

I am German.

I watch all these people around me walking through Israel's biggest Holocaust memorial. Some of them walk slowly like they need some time to let all these horrible and brutal pictures and words arrive in their minds. Others walk fast. It seems like they just want to get out of here.

I am German.

We all stop at the signs which have been written by the Nazis. I am reading the lies and the rules which don't make any sense. Then I realize that I am probably the only person in this room who can read these signs without a translation. When words get translated you get more of a distance from them. I feel like the translation puts a level of protection between you and the words. In this room I am the person with the least amount of protection and the least distance to these words. That’s why they hurt me the most.
This language is my language. People used the language I dream in as a brutal weapon against humanity.

I am German.

There is this one thing everybody thinks about when they hear “German” The Holocaust.

What about me? What do I think about when I hear “German?”

I think about my hometown Berlin. I think about all my friends living there, my family, my school and all my memories that are connected to my home country.

I am German.

I also feel this responsibility. The second World War has a big influence on how people see me as a German, but it also has a big influence on how I see myself as a German.
I was raised with terms describing war, discrimination and brutality. They have always been around me. When I first heard about the Second World War I wasn’t even in elementary school. In history, which is a mandatory class, we spent the whole of grade ten talking about the time of the Nazi’s and I have already been to two concentration camps in my 16 years of life.

I am German.

The moment when I realized that this is not how children in other countries learn about World War II was when I came to Canada as an exchange student. You as Canadians have a different way to talk about World War II because it is not a part of  your national identity and that’s fine. I can understand that people here have a different view on WWII. Sometimes I feel like people here just have a different view on history in general, not better or worse, just a different way to reflect the past. That’s okay. But it’s not okay when people do the Hitler salute when they see me in the hallway. I wanted to run away, but I couldn’t move. I wanted to scream, but there were no words.

I am German.

The next time I had a similar experience I tried to talk. I tried to explain what it means and especially what it means to me. While we were talking I realized the same thing that I also realized in Israel. Most people who are not German don’t say “The Nazis”, they say “The Germans.” It’s right that the Nazis were German, but not all Germans were Nazis. You could say that this is not important because it is “just” language, but it is never “just” language.

It’s never just language, it’s never just a movement you do with your arm and it’s never just THE Germans.

A profile on Brigitta Payne

It’s the 10th of May 1940.

At 4 o’clock in the morning Brigitta Payne suddenly woke up because she heard the sky exploding.

But it wasn’t only the sky.

The Germans came to her home country, the Netherlands. The moment the Germans entered the Netherlands war, violence and death was entering, too.

Payne was 14 when she saw planes crashing and bombs exploding. She clearly remembers one night when they all went downstairs and tried to sleep on matresses because the airplanes were going over the city. The emotion she remembers is fear because they “had no idea what was going on.”  She, her two older sisters and their parents had to leave their home for two days. They returned when the fighting stopped, because the Netherlands had to give up. The 14 year old Briddy, how her mom called her, lived in an occupied country. A difficult and dangerous time which ended her carefree childhood.

“You had to watch, that you didn’t do anything out of the way” remembers Payne.

Otherwise the Germans would have send you to one of the concentration camps. One of these places, where people “never got out” was just a few kilometres from Payne's hometown away. It was very close to her father’s business. One day she visited him at work. When she entered the business she saw some men she has never seen before. No One talked. Silence. Then the men took off their hats. Their heads were shaved. In this moment Payne knew that they escaped from the concentration camp. But her father never talked about the fact, that he helped people from the concentration camp. Payne isn’t even sure if her mother was aware of this. It was a time full of unspoken things. Things, no one talked about, but everybody knew.

“You couldn’t tell anybody anything”

This seems to be one of the rules which helped her family to survive these times in their house in Amersfoort. But not only her own family survived there. They also helped a Jewish couple to survive the war. Hiding Jews is one of the most, probably the most dangerous and risky thing you could do during that time. The Germans entered their house twice to search after the Jews. Thinking about the reasons for her family’s decision to help the couple Payne answers, “We just did it.” The Jewish couple survived the war. Because of Payne’s family, they didn’t just disappeared and never came back;as it happened to so many jewish children Payne was going to school with.

One day Payne’s oldest sister who was working in the underground called her mom and explained that there will be a young man coming to their house and that they should give him a meal and a place for the night. But she also said that they shouldn’t talk to the man, not a single word. He came, ate the meal, slept and left in the next morning and as her sister said they didn’t talk a word. The family was thinking that it was probably someone who had to hide from the Germans and they were right. But the man was a German. The reason why they shouldn’t talk to him was because no one should realize that he is German.

It seems like nothing makes sense anymore in wartimes, there are no rules anymore.

Even a German soldier has to hide from his ‘own’ people, even he is not safe anymore. Why? Because he didn’t wanted to fight anymore. No reason to fight or just nothing to fight for anymore.

Maybe he was right, maybe there wasn’t much left to fight for. Payne strongly remembers the days without heat, electricity and food. She and her family had to eat bread, which was almost black, and they “know what it is to be hungry”. The war seemed like an endless terrible dream, but after five years it was finally over. Payne was 19.

After the war she met her husband when she was still in school. He was a Canadian soldier and she was the girl he “dreamed about”. They didn’t see each other for two years because he went back to Canada and she was finishing her studies. But he wrote her two letters a day, one arrived with the morning mail, one in the afternoon. Sharing their thoughts and emotions must have connected them. After two years she followed her husband to Canada. The first time was very hard for her, because she really missed her family. Although she lived through five years of war, she describes herself as “kind of innocent” at this time. A new life for her has began.

World War II was over, but in many people’s mind and hearts it was still going on.

Payne explains that you “just live with it”.

Just?

“It is always there”.

After years she spent with her husband and her two children in Canada she went back to Holland for a visit. She went back after her husband died. He was her home in this strange country and the time after his death was very difficult for her. In Holland they went to the zoo and Payne strongly remembers her own reaction to some German voices she heard. She felt like their voices were a danger. She still saw them as enemies years after the war ended. It was still there. Maybe it will always be there.

But her sister believes, “We cannot forget, but we can forgive”

 

Posted: October 31, 2018

 

Life is not perfect, but sometimes you find the right path that leads you where you need to be such as in the case of Dr. Yao “Everything just fell into a perfect line”. Dr. Peter Lao Yao was born on October 6, 1926 in Quezon province in the Philippines. Dr. Yao was a teenager during World War Two and lived under the Japanese occupation of the Philippines until the end of the war. Dr. Yao later moved to New York City in the United States where he did his training to become a doctor. He later moved to Saint John, New Brunswick where he gained landed immigrant status with his job as a surgeon at the Saint John general hospital.

Dr. Yao having been raised under the Japanese occupation of the Philippines did not have the easiest childhood or as he described it, “They were tough times, but we made the best of it” . Dr. Yao originally attended engineering school during the end of the war and the years following the war. But in his last year of engineering he dropped out to pursue a career in medicine. Dr. Yao attended University of Santo Tomas medical program in the capital of the Philippines Manila. Dr. Yao graduated medical school in 1957; that same year he got accepted to Mount Sinai hospital in New York city for a residency in their general surgery program. Dr. Yao finished his training at Mount Sinai hospital; at the end of his training he was offered a position at the Old Saint John general hospital in Saint John New Brunswick.

With the offer of a job as a general surgeon at Saint John general hospital Dr. Yao gained landed immigrant status, “I didn't even ask for it” stated Dr. Yao making him a permanent resident, but not yet a citizen of Canada. Dr. Yao officially became a Canadian citizen in 1969. Dr. Yao met and married Dawn May Logan whom was a nurse at Saint John general hospital. They had three children Kim, Krista, and Kara. Doctor and Mrs. Yao have a total of two grandchildren. Dr. Yao practiced medicine for a total of twenty-six and a half years. Dr. Yao moved to Bathurst in 1997, “It's a calm place to settle down” where he has lived in retirement ever since.

Dr. Peter Lao Yao has lived an extraordinary life. One filled with hardships, but also so much joy. He has seen more in his 92 years of life then many of us ever will. He is truly an extraordinary individual. “My life has had its ups and downs, but I'm still here and that's all that counts.”

  

 

 

      

 

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“Hopefully I’ll be fresh out of university, and I’ll be able to start my own horse facility from my home. I also want to be financially stable, but that’s kind of expected!”

- Rebeka Sealy, grade eleven student at Bathurst High

“In five years I want to be finished my degree at St. Mary’s University in Nova Scotia. I want to make a lot of money with my degree too.”

-Tyler Duguay, grade twelve student at Bathurst High

“I’ll want to be finishing up at St. Mary’s and be living in Halifax after getting used to school. I’ll probably be doing stuff for the boat club at the university too, because it sounds like a lot of fun and I think I’m going to have a really good time doing that. I really want to have my own pet too, like a gerbil or something.”

-McKenzie Bolichowski, grade twelve student at Bathurst High

Students who were faced with the recurring question of their future plans were quick to add healthy finances and a post-secondary education onto the list. But does having a higher education and being rich truly matter more than the morals that seem to be lacking in modern society? Is being financially stable more important than enjoying oneself to the extent of being comfortable in their situation, no matter what they are going through? Does happiness not have more importance than the constant stress and dreariness a forced life carries?

Obviously, there are exceptions to this claim; many people aspire to bring light into other people’s lives through education, health, safety, or stability, for example, which require a post-secondary education that will be obtained under no force. However, there are many other students that are forced to meet the requirements of societal standards, whether or not they wish to follow those footsteps.

The main question to this, though, is why does it happen? Why do youth feel the need to pursue noble careers and lives they do not wish to have? Sadly, there seems to be no proper answer; pressures from society, parental figures, and even peers can turn it into a competition on who can be the “most successful” under the traditional views that the world currently has. Students are also treated like children for decades and then are quickly expected to decide the path of their whole life by 18, which is extremely stressful, and can make choosing a standard plan seem much more plausible rather than doing things they are passionate about.

Whatever the case may be involving the pressured youth of today, there are still ways for them to claim a life full of joys specific to their interests, true aspirations, and skills rather than what they can make a good profit from in the future. The leaders of tomorrow are the ones suffering from this cycle, however tomorrow will be bright if they are able to break through into a fun and rewarding life for themselves.

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Nifty Tips to Flip That Fifty To A Sixty by Aura Mahoney
The Path Least Taken By- Nicholas Yao