Hope in a Time of 'No Hope'
Young people should be told — and should believe — that their destiny is not shaped in high school.
We are headed into a wild week for opinions. A hang-onto-your-hats sort of week – and most of us don’t even wear hats.
Just around the corner is the first 2024 presidential debate on Thursday, June. 27. We are also expecting crucial decisions from the U.S. Supremes, who still have a stunning 14 argued cases outstanding. They usually hand down decisions on Wednesdays, but this week the Supremes added two more possible days – Thursday and Friday. With so many rulings still due, however, they just might need to extend their calendar into July.
Meanwhile, I am spending Election Day volunteering at the polls here in New York City, as I have since 2020. I work as the Accessibility Clerk and strive to be as upbeat as possible. I have my greeting carefully worked out: “Thanks for participating in our democracy.”
As for readers of “Opinions on Opinions,” I’ve decided a palate cleanser might be in order. A refresher to prepare for the onslaught to come. [Or TK, as they say in journalese.]
The amuse-bouche I have been thinking about managed to offer fresh insights on a tired perennial: advice to graduating high school students. It’s a far harder topic than it seems, because just about every angle has already been covered – many, many times.
Yet, there actually was a recent smart graduation-themed opinion piece.
It did not talk about following your passions or being true to yourself. This was not a variation of celebrated thought leaders or innovative entrepreneurs sounding way too much like Hamlet’s Polonius. It was not from a lauded former student of a specific high school or college offering pithy insights into the looming shift from academic life into adulthood.
Instead, in “A Promise to Grads with ‘No Promise’” Megan K. Stack addressed the myriad high school students who have thoroughly messed up – flunked out, been submerged in violent, unstable families, opted for seriously bad choices.
Stack assures them, however, that all is not lost:
Young people should be told — and should believe — that their destiny is not shaped in high school. Their personalities are still coming together in the tissues of the brain; time is on their side, and (say what you want about Americans) we like underdogs, cheer come-from-behind wins and are generous with second chances.
She is not presenting a ridiculously sunny picture, though. Stack emphasizes that overcoming obstacles is never easy, racial and economic inequity can prove crushing, serious family or health issues daunting.
Yet, Stack says, you can often get through it and out the other side. She has seen this happen throughout her life:
By my own graduation day, kids I knew in high school had already gotten arrested or addicted, failed classes or stayed out all night because they couldn’t stand to go home. It would have shocked me, back then, to realize how many of them would grow up and disappear into normal, healthy-looking lives. Not all of them got college degrees, but almost all landed, eventually, on their feet.
At a time when hope seems lost for so many – confronting vicious politics, cultural minefields, brutal wars and stressful personal issues -- this opinion piece is well worth the read. The possibility exists that life can get better, Stack insists, everything can still work out.
You could dismiss this as sappy. Ernest Hemingway likely might have, with his phrase: “Isn’t it pretty to think so.” It remains, however, a thrilling idea for these most chaotic of times.
More later…
Photo: Transit Tech CTE High School Graduation MTAPhotos licensed under CC BY 2.0