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Challenges of School

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Life is full of challenges.

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School has to be the most challenging obstacle in the lives of youth today.

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Elementary school brings about a few challenges characteristic of those years spent there.

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There’s the challenge of coloring in the lines,

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a very real problem to any youngster.

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Or how about the challenge of remembering to raise one’s hand before one speaks?

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There are hundreds of rules and regulations that govern these young children.

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The one thing that keeps these children in line is the hope of reward.

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Yes, this is the brass ring.

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The reward for a clean desk is an extra five minutes of recess!

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The prize for having all homework done, a shiny-new pencil topper!

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These small wonders keep small people in line.

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They make the children love challenge.

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Middle school is not so easy.

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It is not easy for the students, and it also isn’t easy for the teachers.

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The challenge of staying out of trouble, or writing that research paper —

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these are the new confrontations of an older, wiser group.

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This clan has outgrown the recess and pencil-topper tricks.

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They know that their efforts have to bring them something really useful,

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so mom and pop are pulled onto the scene.

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How does five, ten dollars for each “A” sound?

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Or, how about no telephone if one doesn’t do good in school?

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Need I say more?

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By the time high school arrives,

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a student’s place in academic excellence

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or else their unlikelihood to even graduate has been established.

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Little can be done now to make life’s challenges seem interesting,

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especially where school comes in.

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The slothful are rewarded with a nice job at a gas station,

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a pregnant girlfriend, and a fifteen-year-old Ford.

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The diligent are rewarded with an SAT score of over 1100,

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acceptance into Yale University, and a ticket to life.

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By meeting the challenges of school, sticking it out, and pulling through,

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they are given their greatest reward: success.