My Response to Society

My Response to Society

Our system is wrong. Tests on tests on tests on after school activities. Students never get a break. As much as I am appreciative for the education I receive, I 100% do not enjoy one minute of it. Close to 8 hours a day mostly sitting down, trying not to fall asleep, rubbing my eyes and pretending to be paying attention. Basically a test in every class every week, up to 5 hours of homework, strict deadlines, and little time for sleep. Homework is not the only thing I do when I get home, I have plenty other activities I’m doing all of this for the pleasure of getting into college? “All of your hard work will all pay off one day”. Will the hard work pay off before or after I suffer from depression? Will I succeed before or after I deprive myself of the 9 hours of sleep I need to function? Not to mention that students on average get only 6 hours of sleep. Will my efforts finally be worth my time setting aside my constant anxiety attacks regarding school and stress? When will I finally be able to stop constantly having a reminder in my head that I have a paper due in two weeks? It never ends. It’s summer time? Don’t forget about your summer reading. In the middle of a soccer game? After the game make sure to submit your paper that’s due tonight at 11:5

9. Adults are running students’ worlds completely absent minded of the stress that already comes with being a teenager. We are learning who we are and how to fit in all while juggling the stresses of school and society. Adults fail to acknowledge the hectic world teens live in: 8 hours of school, obviously the time it takes to go to and from school, 1-2 hours of sports, about an hour and a half of eating meals, 3-4 hours of homework, and at least 9 hours of sleep. If any adults need a reminder: one day is 24 hours. It clearly does not add up and you don’t have to be an engineer to figure that out. 8+1+1.5+1.5+3.5+8= 24.5. This doesn’t even include a brain break. We are constantly moving so fast. Teens feel constant pressure to succeed and achieve perfection in being a well-rounded student. However, all variables aside, adults think iPhones are cause.

Yes, of course a piece of hardware is causing the anxiety attacks. Adults know everything. They know why we are constantly upset and what is going on in our heads. That has to be the most bogus thing I have ever heard. Adults are the ones making critical decisions intended on being in the best interest of students. We are overwhelmed trying to balance our hectic lives, but something has to give. What usually gives is sleep. A teenager needs at least 9 hours of sleep in order to be attentive in class and remain healthy. Average students get between 6 and 7 hours of sleep a night. Kids are going to school with their eyes closed, unaware of their surroundings and not retaining any of the information from class. Reduced sleep increases a teens risk for depression 10 times and 17 times more likely to experience anxiety. And adults nowhere near understand the pressure of getting into college these days. College has turned into a competition for the most perfect student. And while the perfect student may have a 4.7 GPA, be a varsity athlete, have his or her own company, build houses in low-income countries over the summer, be the president of his or her class, and play 3 instruments, is he or she truly happy? It’s simple and I am going to say it as clear as I can, colleges don’t care about our mental health. As long as you are their ideal student with the well-rounded halo every college wants, you will be accepted. Students are sacrificing their mental health to fulfill these far-fetched images. Is it up to students to have to choose between their health and their future. We the students are raised to think that we are the future. One day we are going to be the leaders of the world. Why can’t we be the leaders of the present? We are never asked to express how we feel about the system and society. This is an epidemic we have grown up around, unconscious to the fact that anxiety does not have to be our reality.