<p>**You know that moment. </p>
<p>The alarm clock reads 11:00AM, and your binder looks emptied. Your head tells you it’s summer at last. You’re free. Which begs the question: Does your heart agree? Not really. You don’t feel it; not when you look ahead. When, amidst a day in the life of a teenage student, a clock keeps ticking. That proverbial countdown to college, breathing harder down your throat. </p>
<p>Summer shines temporary relief for overstressed students after a barrage of AP/IB/SAT tests. Until they look ahead. Beyond a cursory glance, people take notice at the alarming amount of time wasted as fellow peers attend prestigious summer camps, take college classes, and prepare for the SATs—in hopes of not ending up as ¼ of the 2400 scoring Ivy league applicants denied admission annually. It’s a cruel world.</p>
<p>Summer today has evolved into an extension of school for many kids across the country. Underclassmen study ahead for cruel and ungodly courseloads. Juniors resume buff with endless competitions and scholarship contests. Those who deny such responsibility risk the future of an undeniably wasted opportunity at acceptance into an elite school, with a signed waitlisted letter instead. Many simply don’t know of the increasingly higher application numbers and lower acceptance percentages across the nation. Little did they know, until it came too late. Kids evolve into adults, at the expense of missing out on teenage life. Perhaps, life itself.</p>
<p>As the world grows smaller, peoples’ bubbles of security grow smaller. As knowledge expands, so too must the future leaders of this world. The internet only validates this assertion. Social Darwanism enforces it. Kids compete with superior students overseas, affirmative action, gender discrimination, all too often at a disadvantage. They enter politics before they fully grasp it. </p>
<p>Students cycle around the alphabet soup of academic testing, and overload their minds with equations and facts to have a chance, a lucky shot at an elite college. They think it’s enough, when really, it’s never enough. Students wrongfully equate mediocre colleges with a mediocre life, and fail to realize that they’re special. That they’ll be okay. So summer schedules fill with activities and school year breaks turn into study sessions. </p>
<p>And for a second, just a second, you ignore it all. Not out of ignorance; you just ignore it. Because you’re just a kid, and you know that deep down inside. So you set the snooze button on, and go back to bed. </p>
<p>You know that moment.</p>
<p>--Article by Ronald AngSiy**</p>