Scalded

The amount of pressure put on young people pursuing academia, in honesty, is appalling. The older generations spew grades and horror stories of failure, yet ironically, the vast majority of them succeeded without attending university, some without A-levels, some even lacking the most basic GCSE qualifications. I ask you - why must the younger generations suffer from the academic incompetence of the generations before them? The children of today are under detrimental amounts of pressure to succeed, to achieve. Why must a grade define their future?

From the age of four, children are encouraged to pick an exciting career, something they find inspirational, to aim for the skies. These children are taught that anything is possible, that they have potential, that they can grasp the stars in the very skies they are told to aim for - that is, if they wish to be an astronaut. But little do they know yet, that these stars are destined to burn and fizzle into cosmic dust, fantastical yet purposeless. These children don't yet understand that the closer they come to a star, the worse they are scalded. Throughout their younger years, they learn the wonders of the solar system - the careful balance of the planets, the tilt of the earth, the atoms that make up our very being. They learn art, practice contorting materials to look desirable, to write with grace and dance with elegance. They learn to create compounds with even the most basic of elements, how simple things we know and use every day are forged through careful craft, or by Nature herself. These children flourish.

What these children don't yet understand is how their passions, their aspirations, will crumble. Sooner or later, they will realise what they want to fill their life with is worth nought. These children will realise they have been fed lies from the age of four. The dancer will soon struggle to balance pirouettes with past papers and textbooks. The baker will burn a cake without hearing the timer behind Youtube study guides. The artist will see the bright colours of their creations muddy into black questions and red-pen feedback. The writer will realise that the world is deaf to their words.

These children have been astronauts, musicians, architects and paleontologists since the age of four. I implore - why must their aspirations be crushed beneath the weight of numbers on results day and the crushing feedback of the very teachers who encouraged them to "aim for the stars?" You may argue that the world is ever-changing, that humanities are no longer relevant. You may argue that maths, politics and sciences are the only remaining noble aspirations; that you may be a doctor, a lawyer, or a failure. But why must a paycheck define my value as a person?

Has gain overpowered humanity?

Academic pressure is a detriment to the wellbeing of children. Children. Do you hear my statement? A child should not yet feel burdened by decisions, have their social life cruelly torn away, their attentions magnetised to textbooks, pens and laptops. Let their minds be nurtured by nature, let their souls learn to be kind, to be generous, to be empathetic, to care. Let their bodies run and play - do not chain them to a desk, the manacles of school shoes and pencils. Let a child be a child. Let a child live.

To be honest I don't know if this is any good. I haven't even read back through or edited it. I think it would make a nice speech though. I thought I would just update to say I'm functional - apologies, I've had exams all week and have an English Language paper 2 trial tomorrow so unfortunately have to revise. This was a response to the prompt "Write an article for a school magazine in which you argue for or against the idea that young people today are under too much pressure to succeed." Ironically, I got ChatGPT to mark it and said it wouldn't respond "like a robot." I would just like to say I don't condone AI for generating actual writing seeing as it's outright plagiarism and lacks even a vague essence of a soul. But I have found it useful for marking. By the way, this piece isn't to say I don't value my education, rather, that the pressure that comes with it is harmful. I can't wait to have a social life again once trials are over. 4 exams left people, 4 exams. Wish me luck.

Song Suggestion - Rue - Girl In Red

(I should mention now that this entire post is a draft I wrote in May, including the description. I was really debating posting it for a while for fear of sounding ungrateful for my education, but I promise it's one of the most important things in my life - if I could spend my life learning I could die fulfilled. I promise more posts will be coming, I just feel slightly like my brain and soul have been severed and I have no inspiration. I'm also feeling my future come into place and seriously worried that I won't be able to make a living out of this.

Also, I have my mock grades back - I had them back a while ago anyway. My lowest was two 6's, I expected it in maths but getting a 6 in chemistry kind of took me aback, I started the year looking at a 9 and I don't know what happened. But we're working from it. My highest were four 9's, in history, French, English lit and English language. I want to take those (bar English language) for A-levels so I was happy with that at least. My next mocks are in 3 weeks so God help me. I also thought I'd genuinely failed English language by the way - I came out of the exam crying because I thought it was so bad lol. Perhaps it wasn't after all. As I wrote in May - wish me luck.)