School Sucks?

"Our school sucks" said every high school kid ever.

But if u ask my interpretation of it, I think it depends. It depends on how soon you reach maturity. The sooner you reach the kind of standard that the school is trying to achieve-the sooner you become the kind of person they wanted you to become, the better for you. Because see, when you start high school, you're a 13- or 14-year-old. And you leave as a 17- or 18-year-old and from an 18-year-old, a certain level of austerity is expected. Although no one expects you to be very good at making life decisions yet, but they do expect a certain level of rationale while making the decision. You are expected to make choices not just based on pleasure but based on thoughtful consideration of all aspects of that choice. And the purpose of school is to turn the 12-year-old reckless you into that 18-year-old you who is mindful of their life's projectile.

The school designs a rather rigid routine, attempting to eliminate any loopholes, with the aim of creating a system that, if followed properly, will yield the desired personalities. If you enroll in this system, but don't follow it properly (for whatever understandable or absurd reason) what happens is you end up with only the bad parts of your personality amplified by the end. But if you do diligently and dutifully try your true best, there's a high chance of you ending up in the top 1%.

Now, let me share my interpretation of the expectations for each year as you navigate the roller coaster ride of high school.

• In 9th grade, you are meant to be stressed with the understanding that you now stand at a very crucial point in life. Your performance during this period literally shapes the entirety of your life. Primarily, it determines the university you manage to gain entry into, thereby determining the difficulty level of the road ahead. Additionally, these years serve as the final stretch during which your personality solidifies. The traits developed during this period tend to stick around longer than one might wish, inevitably impacting every aspect of life. Furthermore, these years shape the kind of social circle you are likely to find yourself in for a significant portion of your life.
  

• Advancing to 10th grade, there is an increase in workload. Form the stress experienced last year, you should have learned the lesson of not leaving tasks for the last minute and you're expected to be working hard daily now. This stage ensures not only the learning of stress management but also teaches a thing or two about time management. Given the current societal trend of glorifying mental illnesses, another outcome I see of the rigid 10th-grade routine is that it teaches how one can feel absolutely miserable and tired from an unreasonable amount of burden, but regardless of how justified you might feel in complaining, you must keep moving forward. You learn to Persevere even in the face of seemingly unfair treatment.
  

• The challenge for 11th grade lies in humility. In the first year, the workload decreases somewhat due to the post-Matric holidays. Time is allocated for relaxation, but considering the lesson learned in 9th grade (never leaving anything to the last minute), there is still an expectation of some level of studying. Now, with reduced stress and small workload compared to 10th grade, coupled with an understanding of your resilience from the prior year, one must be careful not to become excessively overconfidence. Learning to be cautious when facing seemingly easy challenges becomes crucial. For in life, easy challenges are the ones that often catch you off-guard and result in regret.
  

• Finally, in 2nd year (or grade 12), time management is once again a challenge. Turning 17 or 18, laziness may set in, and the schedule becomes packed. Not only is there a need to cover 2nd-year syllabus, but attention must also be devoted to university admissions. The overwhelming nature of this period is compounded by the likelihood of being unfamiliar with admission processes and being introduced to complex subjects like calculus and organic chemistry simultaneously.
  

While I make no claims to scholarly expertise, the insights shared reflect my observations over the years in high school. I could be utterly mistaken, but the point I'm trying to make is that every school aspires to establish a standard for its students. The more determined the institution is in achieving this aim, the more strict the environment becomes. Adherence to rules and the learning right lessons at the right time can make the journey through school less challenging.

However, realistically nobody fulfills all expectations, and consequently, school is rarely adored. The more one deviates from the standard, the greater the resistance faced, and the perceived difficulty of school increases. Studying is inherently hard, but strict schools make not-studying harder, with the hope that you'll choose to do what they want you to do.

At first glance, the idea that schools provide this script they want you to follow seems unacceptable. You develop the urge to defy. But if you detach yourself from your egoistic self and consider the situation with pure logic, it is pretty understandable what schools do to make us functioning individuals of this everchanging world. See, the lessons schools aim to teach are usually lessons took our ancestors lifetimes to learn. Schools aim at inculcating in you the traits that usually take at least a decade to develop. They teach you basic Life Skills; we consider taxes and finances to be basic life skills; but schools teach us values like discipline, hard work and perseverance. Possessing these values sets the ground to learn any other skill. While schools cannot teach every life skill, they aim to teach the values necessary to acquire any life skill.

In short, school sucks only if you choose to defy rules that are in fact made for your own good.