What is the Point of Working Hard?

     All throughout elementary school, kids are told to learn the basics and do well in school, while still having fun. In middle school, kids are told to strive harder for better grades, and to not get too involved in the drama of other kids. Also, to work on building good study habits to be prepared for high school. Plus, middle school classes affect the classes taken freshman year of high school. Then finally, the long awaited four years of high school have finally come. High school is made out to be the best four years because everyone is attending parties and maintaining good grades, while still having a social life. Everything leads to these four years. Then those notions of good times are slowly replaced during freshman year, with the concept of hard work. High school ends up being one of the most stressful times in kids’ lives. The student is expected to get good grades, do what’s right, participate in extracurricular activities and/or sports, volunteer, take care of responsibilities, and have some sort of a social life. Everything leads up to college then, where everything becomes tougher then in high school. There’s time where I wonder what the point is. Why do we strive so hard to achieve? It just seems like a never ending cycle, which causes me to wonder why humans put up with it, beyond feeling like they did something with their lives.