Ah-ha! I knew that title would interest you!
High school is weird. There's no way around it. I mean, I'm a complete advocate for school--love it. And you hear all the time how much fun high school is. Of course, I think that's just because of the time of life we're in because high school, at its core, is NOT fun.
Sure, there are aspects that are a lot of fun, especially if you play your cards right and pick classes you like. But is high school in and of itself really all that fun? I mean, the classes that we're required to take aren't exactly thrilling. It's interesting, sure, and there are certain things you do that are fun. But showing up to a class, sitting in a hard chair, not allowed to talk, and listening to some adult tell you how to get x all by itself? Yep, I'm sure that sounds like the perfect list for a good time.
Like I said, there are things you do that are fun. Discussions can be fun, as long as no one acts like the fate of the world depends on their opinion being revered by all. And of course, there are days when the teachers are as bored and tired as we are and are a little more lenient towards chatting and laughing.
But back to the point: High school is weird. Education isn't weird; I'm not saying that at all. I'm saying that high school is weird, and junior high is a little strange too. I mean, there we are, a bunch of hormone-loony teenagers, walking around a building where adults voluntarily donate their time and effort to spit information at them (sometimes literally) while the students hope that the said information will help them get into college. See the point?
Really, though, we over-complicate education sometimes. You see things all over social media about people making some sort of comment about how awful education is in America. Every time I read one of those, I think to myself, "Maybe if you showed up to school every once in a while, you'd realize it's not that bad."
I know, I know, that sounds super insensitive. But it's true. We go somewhere for a whole seven hours a day, five days a week, nine months of the year to sit there and listen to a teacher give us rather vital information. What the heck are you finding to complain about?
"School causes me too much stress." School is definitely a stressful part of life. I will not deny that. There are assignments that need to be finished as perfectly as you can, essays to be written with the proper grammar and spelling, tests to be taken quickly and efficiently, and projects to be completed to polish off your grade, not to mention homework, reading, extracurricular activities, after-school jobs, family obligations, goals to fulfill, and free time. Sound overwhelming? The thing is, it doesn't have to be. If school is causing you so much stress that you feel as though your life is spinning out of control? That is not school's fault; it's your own.
Did your principal walk up to your house, politely knock on the door, and inform you that if you didn't beat that video game you bought yesterday you wouldn't get anywhere in life? Did your school counselor text you during the summer to tell you that if you didn't finish that TV series by the end of the week you wouldn't get a well-paying job? Did your school itself give you a call and tell you to stop working so hard and take a three-week break?
Look, there's this little thing called time management. Many people haven't heard of it, but it really works. The basics of time management is that if you do what's most important first, everything else will fall into place, and everything that turns out to not be important will magically disappear. I know, it sounds shocking and unbelievable. I promise, though, it works.
I also find it interesting that people who complain about school sucking out every minute of their life are the same people posting things all over social media about the six hours they spend watching TV a night and all the time they waste perusing the Internet for things they don't actually care about and that spend more time on video games than in the real world. Hmmm...
Again, I'm not saying that school isn't stressful. It's plenty stressful. And I'm also not saying that if you're complaining about school you're an ungrateful sod who doesn't know anything about life, nor am I saying you have to love school with every fiber of your being. I'm just saying that you shouldn't complain about something you're not willing to do anything about.
School is hard. Life is hard. In the real world, you can't keep track of how many lives you've lost because you've only got one. In the real world, you don't curl up in bed and watch somebody else's life pass before you from a glass screen. You have to work to get through this, and I think that's one of the biggest things that school teaches us.
Well, I hope I haven't driven any of you to tears. Just remember, school really isn't that bad, and honestly, you might miss it when you're all done.
I hope your day is as awesome as you.
No comments:
Post a Comment