Disclaimer: THIS IS A CERTAIN PATTERN THAT I HAVE OBSERVED IN OUR “BRILLIANT” EDUCATION SYSTEM AS A WHOLE AND IS NOT IN ANYWAY INTENDED TO A PARTICULAR INSTITUTION OR AN INDIVIDUAL….
As I was a high school student (Oh How long I have waited to say that), I wanted to finish this because it was in the draft for a very long time and It seemed a more relevant topic than “The Beatles and their influence on my life”. Also a lot of this was written while I was STILL in high school so it is written in that way. Being in the education that I was, we are used to the way things are within our education system. I like some classes, I despise others, but I go through the motions and attend the classes I like as well as those that I despise. But, as I have grown up, I have realized how absolutely unreasonable our education system is. Hear me out, some aspects are tolerable, but most are terribly, terribly corrupt. Firstly, the majority of teachers don’t care about their students. You may be thinking, “Well they obviously care about their students because they teach there blah blah blah.” Stop right there. Think back to your high school experience. Could you honestly say that you were your teacher’s number one priority? If you said no, you understand where I’m coming from. If you said yes, then let me try and make you think harder about what you are saying. Here is a checklist.
1. Every teacher that you had understood that their class was not the only class that you took. This includes…
- Giving extensions when needed
- Giving a reasonable amount of homework
- Trying to enable you to actually learn versus stuffing information in your head just to dump after the next test
- Your teachers understood when you have issues outside of school. This includes…
- When you are sick, they give you a reasonable amount of time to makeup all of the work you missed in that class
- A medical condition where you have many appointments
- Family emergencies
3. Your teachers have good attitudes towards their students. This includes…
- A constant smile and/or positive energy from them
- The teacher does not ever take their personal problems out on their students
- They will coordinate with other teachers if a student is having trouble
- The students would feel comfortable talking to their teachers about issues they may have regarding that class.
My guess is that in one or more of those areas or subdivisions, your past teachers did not meet all of the requirements. Teachers need to understand that each student has to juggle a home life, a social life, often a sport, eating enough, sleeping enough, copious amounts of homework, and handling their own problems. Teens are already stressed and the last thing that they need is for a teacher to be self-centered and inconsiderate. (STOP BEING A CHICKEN, KAMRAN!! LIFE IS NOT A WISH GRANTING FACTORY)…
Next, I would like to discuss the curriculum. You might (not) be aware that in other countries, by the time we are going into high school, the students in other countries are already getting real world experience. I mean countries like Germany and France etc. And what am I doing? I am struggling to keep my grades up and finish all my homework, wishing I was doing something that actually mattered making a positive difference in the society (YES, A LOT OF US DO WANT TO MAKE A POSITIVE CHANGE IN THE SOCIETY). Why am I studying things that won’t help me in life? Think, have you ever had to graph a sine function for work if you aren’t a mathematician? Has someone told you that you needed to figure out how fast a ball was falling and did you pull out your handy-dandy calculator and figure it out? Or, have you ever had someone come up to you and say “Listen, man, I know that mountain is 15000 feet tall and that we are exactly 9,000 feet away from it, so what is the angle from our eyes to the top of the mountain?” I am going to guess that you said no to all of these. So why exactly are teenagers being forced to learn it if they will never use it? It doesn’t make sense! My dad always says to me “Life is so short. Don’t waste it.” I always thought that was so hypocritical. I waste my time every day learning things that I will never use. Granted, if I wanted to be a mathematician I would totally be graphing those sine functions like there is no tomorrow. But I don’t. I guarantee most teens these days don’t want to be mathematicians either. So again, I ask, “Why are we learning it?”
There are so many other skills to be learning. For example, I can’t cook. If you asked me to make cereal, I could. If you asked me to boil egg, I would laugh. I simply can’t. You might be thinking “Well why don’t you learn how to cook outside of school?” Let me remind you, I have, on average, two to three hours of homework a day or At least revise the portion . Sometimes I have more. And you might be thinking “Oh well you could help your parents prepare dinner and it would be fine and three to four hours isn’t too much”. Well, let’s do some math here, ok? I go to school for about seven hours each day. I work hard all day, Mind you, I have to switch gears from learning two subjects as different as Informatics and Accountancy in those measly minutes between periods where one teacher leaves and the other enters. So, finally, after seven hours, I come home after my long day in which I shoved new information into my brain and you expect me to work for four more hours and learn how to cook (I have to be on my own next year and I don’t know how to boil an egg.. I am study of Chemistry for the 5 years between 6th Grade and 10th Grade will help me sort that) and get enough sleep and then come to school happy? It makes no sense.
Also, I’m really aggravated that everyone is blaming technology for teen exhaustion and obesity and basically everything else. I can tell you, due to being a 19 year old boy (semi adult or guy or whatever) myself, that technology is the only thing that makes me truly happy. “See! They are so addicted to their stupid electronics…” No. That’s not what it is. Watching TV and being on my phone make me happy because I don’t have to think. For the time being, I don’t have to think about how much homework I have or all my problems I have at home or how in the world I’ll be able to cram for my test. I don’t have to think about any of that. I get to relax and watch mindless television. Parents all over say “I never get time with my kid because of all of their electronics and all of their stupid phones and TVs.” Well guess what dear parents, you’re wrong. We are so exhausted from having to interact with humans all day long (Mind you I HATE PEOPLE, in general) and so we get home, go in our rooms, do homework, and maybe watch some TV or play whatever we want. That’s what happens. It’s not because we hate you or because you don’t understand us, it’s because we are just plain worn out.
The stress that comes with being a high school student is incredibly high. You have already heard me talk about how long we are in school each day and all the stress that comes with homework, but, if you don’t remember from high school, you have to keep your appearance up. You have to look good all the time, stay thin, have perfect grades, the perfect friends (OH TRUST ME THAT IS A PROBLEM), and everything else. No one can meet these goals without being stressed in the least. But the grades may very well be the hardest part. Because “OUR LIVES ARE DEPENDED ON IT”, “WHAT WILL THE SOCIETY THINK IF WE DON’T GET STRAIGHT A’s” and “YOUR FRIENDS ARE DOING BETTER THAN YOU”
After the Peshawar shooting and I learned about the Columbine shooting (I just do random researches A LOT ), I thought to myself, “These kids died having spent most of their time in school. Not with their families or with their friends, but desperately trying to learn so they could have a future.” (It made sense to me.) A future is just what these kids would never have. If we started getting real world experience younger, we wouldn’t have to waste our time learning about things we will never use in the future. So, after all of this, you might be wondering how we would change the education system.
- Students should be learning about relevant things, such as how to stay healthy (such as eating right and how to work out to eliminate health issues such as obesity), how to handle their finances (which includes topics such as how to buy homes and cars), and how to cook (important for both males and females to learn)
2. Students should NOT be forced to learn about things they will not need to know for their career of choice.
- For example, if someone wanted to be a writer, they should not be forced to take difficult math courses, say past Algebra I and should not have to learn sciences besides the basics. I wanted to be a Journalist since 8th grade and I was aimlessly thought Physics, Chemistry etc..
- Instead of learning about things such as sonnets and the renaissance time period, students should learn how to convey their ideas clearly, learn about current events, and talk about the issues in today’s world.
Example: Teenagers hate Donald Trump because they’ve been fed that information that he is not good candidate, and I can assure 75% of these guys don’t even know whether he is Republican or Democrat candidate, how about we learn these things that might help us create a better understanding of the politics because whether you like it or not, Politics impacts all of us irrespective of whether you vote or not.
PS: THEN AGAIN I AM TEENAGER WITH NO SENSE OF RIGHT AND WRONG AND ON A VERY SELFISH NOTE, I DON’T CARE ABOUT HIGH SCHOOL ANYMORE BECAUSE I AM SO DONE WITH HIGH SCHOOL. ALHAMDULILLAH
Err Teenager 