Even though we are in the 21^st century, the debate of being intelligent or cool is still taking place in high school.
“I prefer to be described as an intelligent person because coolness is trending, but intelligence stays forever. You never lose knowledge,” said sophomore Jody Martinez.

On the other hand, senior Jorge Daniel said, “I prefer to be catalogued as cool because it identifies more with the way students are now, and teens get interested and like learning new things.”

Some teenagers think that it is better to be cool than intelligent? Why do they think so? First, in my opinion, when we start the school, we decide to be categorized as cool or intelligent. Many teenagers follow the trends, mostly, what their friends do. This causes students to decide between being a cool or intelligent high schooler. Most of the teenagers that think they are cool, think that having more friends, being recognized, having more followers in social media are more important than having good grades and preparing to their future.

ESOL Teacher Ms. Couzo said, “Most teenagers are easily influenced by their peers, and their need to belong and be accepted deviate many of them from their academic focus.”

On the other hand, sophomore, Mirella Bonilla, said that she rather being categorized as a clever girl and for people to have good opinions on her, but sadly the reality is that not all teenagers want to be smart.

Senior Felix Magris said, “We want to be cool because we want to be accepted by the society.” But, How do teens try to be cool?  Students and teachers tell me that, teens try to be cool by making bad decisions such as skipping, following whatever norm or trend they think is in fashion at the time, not making effort to learn, or trying to please their wishes first and forgetting their obligations and responsibilities in many cases. Sophomore Jody Martinez said, “teens try to be cool by following other people’s steps, by doing what most of the population surrounding them do and by calling the attention of everyone.”

The decision of being either cool or intelligent maybe lies in all of us. Some teenagers try to be cool for fun, their friends, trends, or even to be popular in school. On the other hand, some teenagers prefer to be intelligent, have a great GPA, and be successful in school and college. We are the ones to make this influential decision.