Back to school time really means back to work

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This year, I?m going back to school for the first time in two years. Ever since I graduated from high school in 1999, I?ve been hard at work with Gen-X Magazine, publishing issues and working hard to meet deadlines. Now I?m taking that big step from high school to university, and I must say I?m more prepared than Tom Green going into surgery for testicular cancer. It?s been a great summer. I went on the powwow trail, played basketball and in late August I?ll be going to New York City for a youth conference.

Back to school means many things but when it all boils down it means back to work.

That?s right, don?t get fooled by all those advertisements from Staples and Wal-Mart, that get you all excited about back to school. Don?t get hyped up to meet new friends, and meet new people. It?s all a trick to get you back to work. You think these marketing people don?t know what they?re doing? The idea is to make back-to-school sound like a summer concert. This way you buy the best pencils, the best clothes and the best calculators so you look good around your fellow students.

When I go back to school, I?m going straight to the pawn shop to buy all my supplies. You?ll be surprised what you can find at a pawn shop. There?s paper, pens, calculators, erasers and books that make Native Studies sound like Native Assimilation 101. They were all used by our forefathers who passed down these supplies from generation to generation.

Seriously, I can?t wait to go back to school. Back to school can mean meeting new friends and creating a new beginning for yourself. The reason why we were given summer holidays was so we could use these two months to get the best Jenny Jones make-over and go from dorky geek to high school hunk or honey when we returned. Then again we shouldn?t really categorize dorky geeks as losers or nerds, or underestimate them.

Times have changed and the perception of the smartest kid in the class has changed. He or she could be the next billionaire in the market place. The captain of the football team had his glory days in high school, now he works at a fast food chain restaurant and is working his way up to assistant manager. Meanwhile, the so called geek is the chairman of his own software company that manufactures products for worldwide clients.

Is it now all right to say, it?s officially cool to be intelligent?

As for me, I don?t really look at back to school as a big change in my life. It?s just a transition, and transitions happen all the time. Students returning to school should look at it as a way of coming closer to finishing school. Enjoy school while it lasts because it is the best time of your life. A time to learn, respect, enjoy life, and meet lifelong friends, because when you?re done you?re then officially on your own, buddy!