Ap Argumentative Essay: Adversity in High School

Jonathan Bayle

AP English

Ms. Hillman

February 29, 2016

AP Argumentative Essay: Adversity in High School

        “Work hard now and enjoy later.” Many people pertain this quote when are eating healthy on a diet, practicing a sport, or working out at the gym. In other cases, people may reason that this quote is also relevant when talking about high school, as students can work hard during the hard times and then enjoy the benefits in their life afterschool. High school is a tough four-year experience for many students though. The constant routine, the avalanche of homework, the loss of sleep, or even the drama among friends may prove to put students into an adversity. Thus, more and more people start to argue that it isn’t worth it to work hard during the difficult situations in high school because they assume life after high school will be free from all those problems. However, it is important to conquer adversity during high school because you will learn from experiences to deal with real life dilemmas, it will remove the fears that you would’ve had in the future, and it will help you learn useful skills for your future life.

        To begin with, conquering adversity in high school will help you find solutions to problems you will face in the future outside of school. The “real world” is proven to be much more difficult and stressful than life at school. In this world, many people get unlucky and become unemployed, get their house foreclosed, or even become a victim of a robbery. These factors would often tempt people to give up on life because they believe that all hope is lost. However in school, its adversities in contrast, are not as serious compared to the ones that adults may face. Procrastinating for a test the next day is not the same as losing your credit card. Thus in school a student can learn on how to deal with such adversities in order to find solutions for practical problems in the future. During high school, if a student were to conquer a specific stressful situation, and in the future they are faced with a similar but more challenging conflict, then they can recall their past steps in order to find a solution. This shows to prove that conquering adversity in high school will help a student prepare for life’s future obstacles.

        Conquering adversity while in high school will also help remove fears that may affect you in the future. For example, in an episode of Spongebob Squarepants, Spongebob broke his bones while playing around with his friends at school. After going to the doctors, he became extremely daunted and rushed back home, staying there for a long time fearing the possibility of pain from the outside world. This episode explains that because Spongebob was not able to overcome that adversity, he allowed his own fear to hold him back from enjoying life after school. However, if a person were to overcome a situation during high school such as the one Spongebob was in, then they would conquer that fear during, get rid of it, and enjoy the future without that specific fear bothering them again. Thus this shows to prove that conquering adversity during high school is important because it would remove the fears that were caused from those stressful situations, and such fears from affecting life after school.