“When a flower doesn’t bloom, you fix the environment in which it grows, not the flower.” - Alexander den Heijer

Teenagers are notorious for not liking school. But for what reason? Between early start times, school environment, stress, anxiety, memorizing facts, and standardized tests, it’s no wonder they wish to stay home every morning.

To start off the school day, most schools begin early. Many studies have confirmed that teens need at least 9 hours of sleep, but they get an average of 7 each night. Some high schools start as early as 7 am, so teens have to get up even earlier than that to get ready and travel to school. Many adults simply ask, “Why don’t they just go to bed earlier?”

After puberty, there is a biological shift in a teenager’s internal clock. This makes it harder to fall asleep for about two hours. The amount of homework piled on top of sports practices, family events, jobs, and other activities makes it even harder to go to bed early. More than 10% of teens have a sleep disorder as well. Lack of sleep affects your mood, behavior, cognitive ability, decision making, academic performance, and is a risk of drowsy driving.

A day in high school is like this. Walking down the halls and hearing everyone talk about each other, then seeing them pretend to be friends. It’s seeing a kid get bullied and called fat because he’s drinking a pop. It’s asking the new kid how they like the school and they respond by telling you that all of the people are mean.

The environment of school is cruel. School is a place you’re forced to go. It’s a place where people are afraid to be themselves, because they feel judged. It’s a place that causes people to kill themselves. It’s not uncommon to hear about a student committing suicide. It’s almost always because they felt pressured or bullied.

Some schools never bring attention to the fact that they are the reason someone ended their life. Sometimes there is no memorial, announcement, or assembly held. There is often no counselor available for kids who are depressed or suicidal. Only career counselors. Because that’s what’s important, right? To focus on your future, ignoring the fact that one of your classmates will now never have one.

Stress is something that people of all ages deal with. But over 80% all teens are stressed by the homework, tests, and social stress that school puts upon us. Stress affects just about every body system that you have. It causes headaches, anxiety, depression, lack of motivation, lack of focus, overeating or undereating, mood swings, drug and alcohol abuse, and social withdraw.

There is so much anxiety caused by high school. About 25% of teens have some type of an anxiety disorder. Anxiety majorly affects your nervous system and ability to think, leading to depression as well. Every 1 in 5 teens have had suicidal thoughts at some point in their lives.

School itself is about memorizing facts for standardized tests in order to get a grade that is said to determine your future. You’re expected to know information that has never been taught to you in a way you could understand. We all have different brains and we all learn in different ways. Some people learn best by traveling, exploring the world, talking to people, and gathering knowledge that way. Without someone standing in front of them, trying to get them to memorize what they’re saying.

We forget 99% of what we learn, but must choose what we do for the rest of our lives. So many people are unsure, because they’re unaware of all the options that are out there. For years, they teach us to sit down and be quiet. We’re stuck in this place where we feel like we can’t speak up. Like we don’t have a voice. Like we can’t have our own original thoughts.

We are taught that the teacher is always right. We are taught that we must do things the way we are told, leaving little to no room for creative thinking. We are taught that our grades are more important than our mental health, physical health, and even our morals.

Our system is flawed, broken, and outdated. A better school system is needed. A better school system can be reached. Let’s create a system where kids can creatively be themselves, where kids feel safe and welcomed, and where kids are not pressured to learn in the same way as all others. Let’s create an environment that kids want to learn in.