Let's face it: this generation of students is virtually unprepared for college. In general, those who attended public school were almost handed good grades just for showing up to class or for doing the homework (regardless of how much was correct). And with the exception of the AP classes, the standards of the classwork has gone down dramatically. Who cares what we learn, as long as we pass the standardized tests? We will leave no child behind...but we will allow none to move ahead either.

So now we are here, in college, taking classes that are more difficult than anything we have yet to face. Winter finals are in a few weeks. We are unprepared. Our grades are not what we expected. My high school did not even make us take finals, so that is something I have no idea how to study for.

Yet the pressure is the same, if not greater. Get excellent grades in college and more than one degree so you can get that mediocre job. Do bad in a class? Say goodbye to scholarshpis. Bid farewell to hopes of beating out the fierce competition ten years down the road.

We are given more and more pressure and stress to struggle under, but the things we needed to prepare us are long gone. We must stand alone, and stand strong; not to live up to the expectations of our "superiors," but to prove we don't need them. We are strong on our own.

That's my rant for the day.