It's that time of year again- back to school and all that comes with it. Back to buying supplies, back school bus traffic, back Friday night football, back to the yearly routine. Public school is routine for millions of American children & teens. But for the past few years, preparing to go back to school has become a daunting task for many; particularly students. You might be asking yourself, "why is school such a horrible concept to teens?" Modern public school causes unimaginable stress and anxiety for countless teens. The struggle to balance class work, homework, maintaining good grades, sports, a job, home life, a social life, and many more aspects is no easy task.
Oh, the teen years. From one's first party, to a first F, and even a first heartbreak- we've all been there. The teenage years are supposed to be spent finding yourself, and that's hard enough without mountains of homework and hours of minimum wage labor to get through. Instead of enjoying time with friends, students are rushing to get to class and grappling with dozens of assignments at a time. The time for relationships is taking up by studying, as is the time for having fun with friends. It's no wonder today's teens have such high anxiety and depression rates. School, for many, is ultimately more of a prison than a palace.
Another reason why today's students are apprehensive to go back to school is the pressure. The pressure from teachers, parents and peers can really put a damper on a student's mood and abilities. It's a constant struggle to live up to expectations while trying to become your own person. A large portion of these expectations come from standardized testing. Getting a perfect score or even just an 'A' has become more important than actually retaining material and absorbing & relishing the learning experience. Rather than being an enjoyable, free flowing, creative & comfortable environment, public school is a place of cramming and pressure.
Students SHOULD look forward to going back to school, but in today's world, it's clear why they don't. Why would anyone want to spend almost every day in a place where basically all they feel is pressure? Instead of placing so much importance on test scores, let's think of alternative solutions to test intelligence. Instead of having such a long school day, let's make it shorter and focus on what really matters during the hours students spend there as opposed to wasting time in a class like study hall. Let's support freedom of expression and encourage the loosening of guidelines on assignments for all classes. Maybe sometime in the future schools will actually listen to their students and realize big changes need to happen. For now, however, school remains a place most teens and kids feel extremely uneasy about.