It seems that every time I log in to Facebook, I see an article posted about how high school doesn't prepare students adequately enough for the "real world." All of the posts are exactly the same, too: "Kids don't know how to do taxes" or "School never taught us how to cook!"

However, there is also a common theme I have noticed. Most of the people that possess this mentality weren't the greatest students throughout school. They simply went through the motions and put in the bare minimum to pass. I'm a firm believer that what you put in is what you get out, and that applies to education as well.

Perhaps the most common complaint in these articles is that high school didn't prepare me for the real world. What exactly makes up this 'real world?' Was high school just a figment of my imagination?

I think the first step in overcoming the idea that school doesn't prepare students for life after school is to eliminate this weird notion called the "real world."

For as long as I can remember, teachers, parents and other adults told me that everything was going to change once I finished school and got in the real world. Since the first time I heard that phrase, it confused me. What was going to be different once I graduated, and why was education not going to be relevant anymore? I think that if we substitute "workplace" for "real world," we start to make some progress in answering those questions.

I think that when teachers refer to the real world, they mean that our behaviors, actions, and attitudes that we have right now won't be accepted or appropriate in the work environment once we finish school.

Laziness, poor work ethic, tardiness, etc. are some of the traits that some (but certainly not all) high schoolers possess, none of which would be tolerated in the workforce. In this, teachers are absolutely correct. However, using the phrase "real world" leaves so much room for interpretation. Some might perceive it as life in general after college, while others might interpret it as simply their workplace.

By leaving it up for interpretation, adults are unintentionally misleading and confusing students. I think it's crucial to eliminate this conception of the "real world" early on in a student's academic journey. By hearing that what they learn in high school won't matter, it creates a level of conformity that assumes that everyone learns the exact same material from high school. This is simply not true.

One important aspect of high school that is often overlooked is the amount of emotional and social skills that are gained between freshman and senior year. Regardless of how "smart" you are, every individual that goes through high school experiences social and emotional growth of some sort.

Students will learn how to interact with people they don't like or disagree with; they will learn how to manage their time; they will learn how to take initiative and responsibility; and they will learn whatever else comes up along the way.

If there's one thing I've learned in college so far, it's that life is about relationships. There's no point in having a great job if you hate the people you work with. What's the point of being rich and successful if you can't share it with anyone?

Think about some of the best times in your life. Were you alone? Or were you with people that you cared about? I'm willing to bet that almost everyone treasures the moments that are shared with others more than moments spent alone.

This all ties into what you learn during high school. Despite if you enjoy school or not, there's no denying that many of your most basic people skills and one-to-one human interactions come via school.

For some, high school falls well short of making them ready for life after school. They might not learn how to balance a checkbook, pay taxes, or how to boil an egg, but whose fault is that?

There are countless opportunities to gain those skills; almost every school has a cooking class or a home economics class that teaches those basic life skills. And if for some reason your school doesn't have either of those programs, you could (wait for it)... ask a parent or even look it up online!

In the technological age we live in, there is no excuse for not utilizing Google or YouTube to learn how to perform a specific task. Generally speaking, the people that I have seen complain about not learning how to do these skills in high school didn't make the most of those four short years.

In contrast, every single classmateof mine that was part of some sort of extracurricular activity felt that high school prepared them for college or life in general. As I mentioned earlier, you get in what you put out.

High school can either be one of the best times of your life or the worst. While there is no formula to having a successful and meaningful high school career, there are certain ways to ensure you learn all that is has to offer.

Unfortunately, not all of those skills and lessons are taught in the classroom; many are taught through clubs, sports teams, honors classes, etc., and these tend to be lessons in humility, loss, winning, and being part of a team. Learning those lessons are far more valuable than learning about polynomial equations in math class.

While there is absolutely no way to prepare someone for all of the obstacles that life has to offer, schooling offers the growth needed to be open-minded and to handle change. When all is said and done, everything in life comes down to possessing basic emotional skills.