Outside the home, we have to make sure our dissatisfaction does not lead us to outright rebellion and to the dealers who are just waiting to sell us a myriad of drugs. Older generations had to come to terms with alcohol and cigarettes; that was easy, by comparison. We go to a club, to dance, then are faced with temptation, peer pressures and our own desire to fit in with the crowd. There is always someone there with a designer drink, a designer smile and the latest designer drug to tempt us. Being a teenager has never been harder.
Of course, it has never been so grim in school either. One word: Exams. That is the main topic on all of our minds these days. When anyone hears this word, they automatically feel a shiver up their spine, which merely implies that stress levels are solidly increasing. Nowadays, young people have too much exam pressure, which is a demotivating factor in terms of revision. Having too much exam pressure demotivates you in a way that you feel like you have a big workload, and that you have to learn it all in a minimum amount of time – this results in you simply giving up. We have so many examinations, it is difficult to keep track: SATs, GCSEs, A/S levels… and the practice tests that accompany them. Homework is never-ending. No teacher seems aware of how much work the others are setting, and, anyway, would not care, because they are all under orders to improve results or their own careers will suffer.
Teachers quite freely expect students with a high potential to be able to easily obtain top end grades, however when it comes to allowing them to actually attempt to fulfil their potential, then they are nowhere to be seen. Can you expect a teacher to put such pressure on someone and not be there to help them achieve it? This isn’t teaching, this is telling; telling them what they need to do; telling them that they can succeed; telling them that they can achieve it but not helping them and leaving them isolated and alone.
Through all this, teenagers are suffering from raging hormones, relationship problems, changes in their bodies and their minds and the fear of suddenly being alone. They are no different, in that sense, from their parents and grandparents. But would previous generations have wanted all the other modern pressures? I imagine they feel fortunate to have been born at another time, in another world.
Last week a teenager committed suicide in her family home last Tuesday, It has been confirmed that she has achieved seven A*s in her GCSEs and the reason for committing suicide is unknown. However, the Students’ Right organization strongly believed that this case has definitely linked with depression and exams stress. Furthermore, surveys conducted amongst sixteen years old show how eighty-four percent feel much more stressed during exam times and six percent said they has considered suicide purely due to exam stress. Surely, we as the educator have to do something to stop this horrific trend. Every year thousands and thousands of school pupils in the UK has struggled and suffered stressful sleepless nights before an exam, in hope to meet their parents’ and teachers’ expectations and requirements. Those who think that our school pupils don’t suffer enough should certainly make an appointment with their optician! Statistic has proved that if the UK Government get rid of exams, more than seventy-nine percent of the students who have overall underachieved in their GCSE exam will easily get seven or more A*s to Cs based on coursework alone.
Following on from my previous point, many students have younger siblings who can at times be rowdy and therefore make studying for exams difficult, greatly reducing their chance of success. I once met a student who was predicted and was perfectly capable of achieving 11 A*s at GCSE. Regrettably, she only received 2 A*s, 2 As, 4 Bs and 3 Cs. This was a disastrous result for her, but following analysis, a quick realisation was made. This girl was in an unfortunate position; she had many family and relationship problems, she also had had a two- year-old brother and a five- year-old sister in the house. It was impossible for her to concentrate, after all, as hard as you try; you cannot keep two and five year-olds close to silent.
To conclude, I believe that too much pressure is being put on the teenage lifestyle and this is mainly because……………..
