As the end of senior year draws near, my parents have taken it upon themselves to relate every regret they ever had about their high school years, perhaps in hopes that I still have time to learn from the mistakes of others.

After four years and countless “when I was your age” stories, I still don’t understand why high school works. It embodies everything that a teenager should fundamentally rebel against. Long hours, early mornings, confining seats and classrooms, a plethora of authority figures, the list goes on.

More than the academic aspect of high school, though, is the complex social structure it creates. I know most of my friends have been made based on who’s in my classes. That seems awful shaky grounds upon which to build a relationship. It doesn’t always work, but the success rate is astonishing nonetheless.

Certain classes, mostly electives, do bring people together based on a common interest, but mandatory classes are where I met the bulk of the people I know. Mutual resentment of teachers and confusion regarding homework do not a friendship make. Yet, that’s where so many begin.

Considering how much I’ve changed since freshman year, I don’t understand why I get along with anyone I knew then, especially since they’ve all changed as well.

Some of these relationships are superficial and most likely unhealthy. But there are those that have survived these difficult years and will be maintained even as we go our separate ways next year.

So as my parents carp on the importance of maintaining high school friendships beyond the high school setting, I have an inkling of what they mean.

I still refuse to believe that they might actually know what’s best. But with the support of my friends one day I’ll understand their perspectives.

Daisy Kim

Fall Wildcat Editor-in-Chief