The classroom is not an airplane
Some students seem to have the idea that teachers are like pilots: all the student has to do is climb aboard and be taken to the desired destination.
The role of the teacher is more like that of a personal trainer. The trainer provides information and models the desired behavior, but the client who isn’t prepared to work up a sweat isn’t going to get very far.
If you still have several years before high school graduation, test yourself. Measure your work against some of the examples on this site. If you find reading a chore, maybe you never learned all the basics. You’ll find them here. The same goes for writing, grammar, spelling, vocabulary, and general knowledge. Use the time you have left before graduation to fill in whatever gaps still exist in your literacy.
The cold hard facts
Not all high school graduates have achieved a level of adult literacy. As and Bs in high school English don’t mean much if you are unable to spell the words you use, or write a coherent, grammatically-correct letter.
There are still a few jobs that can be done by semi-literate adults. Entry-level jobs that lead to a higher level of responsibility and pay, however, call for adult literacy. Use this site to find out what that means and how to achieve it if you haven’t.
College is not for everybody. If you are planning to go to college because all your friends are, or because your parents want you to, or because you don’t think you can find a job, maybe you should look at other options.
Like high schools, colleges vary in their standards, but most require a lot of writing and reading. If you hated that kind of thing in high school, you’re not going to like it any better in college. Check out other types of post-secondary education before you make your decision.
College can wait. Maybe you’re a good reader and a good writer with a lot of learning in your young head, but you don’t know what you want to do with your life. Maybe you’d benefit from doing something else for a year or two while you get a sense of what it’s like to have to make a living. Sometimes older students with work experience benefit more from college than younger students who go directly after high school.
