Educational Suffering
At a school as competitive as ours, countless students load up their days with hour after hour of extremely difficult and occasionally pointless classes. Maybe after school someone will go to a club that they hate participating in and only attend because their parents forced them. The real party doesn't even start until once you get home, ready to spend your youth sat at a desk doing homework for the rest of the night.
Maybe some super students can't relate, and to them I have respect with lowkey hatred. But for the majority of kids like me, it sucks, and we all hate it. Throughout my educational career I've noticed a very continuous theme of students doing educational activities that make them lose all passion for life, just to get that spicy college acceptance letter and then bathe in student debt for the rest of their lives.
Literally... why.
The culture we've adopted as students, the mindset that we can't achieve anything worth respect or honor unless we come out of it with a newly developed mental illness or horrible sleep habits is probably the most common yet most unhealthy mindset for teens like us. And a lot of it comes directly from our parents. I'm sure most of my readers are familiar with the Big 3 acceptable careers: doctor, lawyer, and engineer. Coming from a family that has an abundance of these three throughout the tree, I definitely feel the pressure to succeed. Just a couple weeks ago I had a mental breakdown over what classes to take, just because I want to please my parents so badly.
Parents, teachers, and students all need to unlearn the principle of "no pain no gain". Sure, I can agree to an extent, but there's a fine line between pushing yourself to the breaking point for a test score, and having a healthy amount of motivation for what we call success. We are raised to believe that things like enjoying books with pictures, taking classes that wont break our freaking backs, or simply enjoying your goddamn free time are all things to be avoided and looked down upon.
"Educational Suffering" as I like to call it, is an epidemic that needs to be cured, for the mental stability of our generation.
Maybe some super students can't relate, and to them I have respect with lowkey hatred. But for the majority of kids like me, it sucks, and we all hate it. Throughout my educational career I've noticed a very continuous theme of students doing educational activities that make them lose all passion for life, just to get that spicy college acceptance letter and then bathe in student debt for the rest of their lives.
Literally... why.
The culture we've adopted as students, the mindset that we can't achieve anything worth respect or honor unless we come out of it with a newly developed mental illness or horrible sleep habits is probably the most common yet most unhealthy mindset for teens like us. And a lot of it comes directly from our parents. I'm sure most of my readers are familiar with the Big 3 acceptable careers: doctor, lawyer, and engineer. Coming from a family that has an abundance of these three throughout the tree, I definitely feel the pressure to succeed. Just a couple weeks ago I had a mental breakdown over what classes to take, just because I want to please my parents so badly.
Parents, teachers, and students all need to unlearn the principle of "no pain no gain". Sure, I can agree to an extent, but there's a fine line between pushing yourself to the breaking point for a test score, and having a healthy amount of motivation for what we call success. We are raised to believe that things like enjoying books with pictures, taking classes that wont break our freaking backs, or simply enjoying your goddamn free time are all things to be avoided and looked down upon.
"Educational Suffering" as I like to call it, is an epidemic that needs to be cured, for the mental stability of our generation.
I agree that at our school and many others students take very difficult classes in order to get into the college of their choice (for example 11 AP). However, I believe that the real problem is the competitiveness of each student. Every test becomes a competition of who gets the better grade. School shouldn't be about grades, it should be about learning. Stressing about grades is natural because we've all been told that if our grades aren't good then we won't get into a good college, and in turn won't be able to get a good job. However, it is important to remember that grades is only one part of life. Good job!
ReplyDeleteEducational suffering. I felt that. Personally, I understand why most students have that mindset (I am one of the victims). They feel the need to take these horrible AP classes because it's for their future. Having a secure job as an adult is more prioritized than having a fun time as a teenager because life is all about those sacrifices. I mean you kind of do need money to enjoy life... (I know people say money doesn't buy happiness, but it sure does kind of help having a lot of money or enough money versus having none). I definitely agree that students should just take a break at times or maybe slow down. We all just need a break from school and life in general (maybe that's why we do these blogs-- thanks Ms. Valentino). Grades are important, yes, but happiness is way more important in the end. YOLO the heck out of your life.
ReplyDeleteahahah i can totally relate with what you said about the "Big three" career options. I feel you about the mental breakdowns - sometimes we just snap you know? Just the other day I was thinking about the fact that we don't even have weekends anymore? I feel like my weekend is just catching up on what I missed or couldn't do during the week. Nevermind, summer, there's summer school. I feel like nowadays it's all about proving to colleges that you're a good person without ever getting to know the truly good person that you are inside.
ReplyDeleteI completely relate to this! The stress and pressure of school can be so intense sometimes that I just want a break. I like how you mention a source of the stress is wanting to constantly please our parents because they expect to do so well (university, careers, etc.). We should be able to have and enjoy free time to relax and not stress about the future.
ReplyDelete