The Golden Ticket In Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory

Freedom is something we look forward too from the youngest of age. As a child we look forward to staying out past 7 o’clock, as a teenager we look forward to the freedom of driving. We focus on growing up too quickly, excitedly awaiting middle school, then high school, then college, then whatever life holds. Tickets to us are like the golden ticket in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, something that allows us freedom and new opportunities. This ticket that I hold in my hand isn’t a plane ticket to Paris, or a train ticket to New York; this ticket is a key, a key that is given on graduation day at college. This is the key that opens the door to what life holds. I always felt like teachers were constantly urging us to plan our whole lives out. In kindergarten we were already making collages of the colleges we wished to attend, by middle school we were researching careers, and by high school we were encouraged to take college classes …show more content…
In PALS each week we visit a designated elementary school where we mentor 2 kids that were assigned to us at the beginning of the year. One of my palees name is Katelyn and she is in 4th grade, and while normally I try to ask her questions to get to know her, she is fascinated by high school itself and where I want to go to college. The very first week, after introducing myself and learning her name, she rattled off a list of questions starting with “What do you want to do after college?”. I was initially shocked firstly because of how much these kids look up to the “old wise high schoolers” but also that she was already planning where she wants to go to college and what she wants to do after college. This “ticket” that is given at the end of college is something that is awaited and sought after even by 4th graders and younger. This ticket is what fuels even the youngest of dreams, including my