Dear Adults (Epsidoe 6, pt 2) High School

Hey, all my lovely students!

So I received some complaints that you don't have enough time to complete your homework?

How can that be?  I only assigned a little bit.  Why haven't you completed it?  What do you mean you've been busy with other classes?  That's ridiculous, nobody could have assigned that much.

...

Hey adults, welcome back to the ongoing saga of me being necessarily angry about various things teenagers have to deal with (and how we can all work together to fix the problem).  For the first time in Dear Adults history, I'm doing a two parter, so if you're not up to date, be sure to read part one before continuing on.  You're going to need it, because today I am taking my saltiness to a level that would make Lot's wife jealous and talking about high school.

If the last post was tl;dr, I walked you through your new life: struggling through the convoluted subjects that high school teaches!  But remember, classes are only half the battle, you've also got homework and dealing with life outside of school.  Because yeah, when you've got classes between four to seven hours a day and homework for another three to five, you're expected to maintain a life outside of school.

Now, back to the problem of Mrs. Sarcastic's students not completing their work.  Why didn't they?  Let's ask the students:

Student A:  I'm working a part time job and had an essay and a lab due last week.  I wish the teachers communicated with each other so that we're not swamped suddenly with homework from five different subjects!  At any rate, getting the reading done for this class slipped my mind.  I'm so sorry and it won't happen again.

Student B:  I've got seven younger siblings and my mom has been sick.  I'm just grateful I could make it to class, but I'll double up to make sure I understand everything before I take the quiz.

Student C:  I have social anxiety and the idea of talking in class about the reading terrifies me.  I've done most of it though, but I'm scared to say so because I might get called on.  I want to tell the teacher in private, but she might not believe me and then I'll be in more trouble...

Student D:  I am overworked and tired, I feel like I haven't slept in weeks, I'm terrified of myself, and I told my best friend last night that I don't want to live anymore.  I got as much reading done as I could after she calmed me down.  I'm so sorry.  I don't even deserve to take this class.  I'll make sure it doesn't happen again.

Wow, those are all intriguing responses from our students.  Let's talk to Mrs. Sarcastic for a second educated response on why her students' homework has gone 'uncompleted':

Mrs. S:  They're lazy.  And lying.  I'm going to give them a talking to for the next fifteen minutes that will make them feel crippling guilt about it, so this never happens again.  I'll also threaten to take away points from anybody who's honest with me about not completing the homework.  Wait, that might piss them off.  Luckily for me, I'll also use vague language so that when parents complain, I can blame it on students not paying attention.  Gosh darn, that'll teach those lazy students to not lie to me anymore.

Wow, it looks like Mrs. Sarcastic was 100% correct about the subject.  I bet her students will be so much better about getting their homework done next week.

But shh?  You hear that?  It's the sound of adults, adults everywhere, laughing off everything I just said because, "Teenagers don't have any reason to be stressed/depressed/anxious!  When I was your age-". Brace yourselves, gents, because this series is about to take a 'parents strongly cautioned' turn: if you read this series and still try to pull the "when I was your age" card on me, you’re in TIME OUT.  Put on the dunce cap, you deserve it.  Sit your arse down right now and let me tell you a thing.  Several things, actually.  Here, I'll number them so you can follow along better :)

1) Comparison from several sources tell me that college is actually easier and more freeing than high school, so don't give me that "high school is preparing you for college" crap.  High school -> college is like putting a man in the gladiator ring so that he can be physically fit later in life.  Stop.

2) I have heard "I don't want to do this anymore, I hate this, I'm just a kid, I don't understand and I just want it to end" too many times over the past few weeks.  It's midterm season right now, yes, but it's odd if I don't have a friend have a break down at least once a month.  Depression should not be the norm.

3) School had gotten progressively harder through the years as we started valuing standardized test scores over our students' mental health.  So your "when I was your age, I was done with my homework in an hour" is null and void in this discussion.

4) While many of the situations in this post and pt. 1 were exaggerated for comedy's sake, many of them are actual situations I've been in.  The truth includes comedy, but comedy does not lesson the truth.

5) Teenagers are going through the most emotionally fragile times of their lives.  Remember those hormones that you use to excuse everything a teenager says as irrational and childish?  Yeah, they're strongest and most erratic during this time in our lives, and we have no clue what to do with them.  Is this the perfect time to drop a massive workload and the stress of, "you're going to be an adult soon" on our backs?  Apparently!

6) You are looking at high school through the filter of "hey, I survived this!"  Life threatening things that happen on your summer vacations become funny stories later; the same thing happens to high school over the years.  Time fades the stress and the panic and leaves a romanticized version where drama was more important than school work, your high school crush and you actually hooked up, and everybody is played by twenty year olds with fake acne painted on their face for comedic effect.  We do not see high school through your magical time lens: we see now, we see reality.  We do not get the luxury of, "Hey!  I survived this!"  because we look around and some of us do not.

Conclusion:  we are dying, send help

Suggestion:  there are so many things wrong with high school (and our education system in general) that I'm not really sure if any one thing could fix it.  My thoughts on the subject is that communication is key.  We, as teenagers, can't just shrug it off as, "I'm depressed and stressed and a damn mess," we need to talk to the people who can change it.  And to the people who have that power: change is not inherently bad.  "If it ain’t broke don't fix it," doesn't apply here.  It's time for things to change, so please, listen to us.  Talk to us.  Don't dismiss us, because it gets worse every year, for everyone.  I don't want to see the next generation of 16 year olds trudging to school with backpacks like bricks and eyelids drooping with exhaustion, because after that it will be 12 year olds, 10 year olds, 7 year olds.

Sincerely,

Teenagers