Fatma

In episode four of Freaks and Geeks, Sam—one of the main characters —is pressured to feel that he isn’t as physically developed as he should be for a 14-year-old. He also feels the need to throw out his toy trucks. Watching it, my sister and I started talking about how at school, we are always being told to “grow up.” In a school assembly on Monday, the headteacher told my year group: “Your childhood is over, time to grow up.” I don’t think he realizes how damaging that is to 14-year-olds.

Fourteen is the age that you wish for slightly more freedom, but are still nowhere near grown up. Luckily, I have my older sister to guide me through the lies that school presents its students, but I feel sorry for the other students in that assembly who actually believed what the headteacher said. Why do we have to grow up so fast? When do we get to just be kids? Why is so much pressure put on 14-year-olds?

The stupidity of being scared into revising for GCSE exams that I won’t sit until I’m 16 years old blows my mind. I understand that these exams are important, but the way schools stress students out is so absurd. So, I’m here to tell any teenager who is worrying about their future/adult life: Don’t listen to the lies that school is feeding you. George Carlin said it best in “The Reason the Education System Sucks” when he talked about the education system not wanting young people to be smart enough to realize how much the government is screwing them over.

Try hard in school but remember to relax, too. Don’t let them take away your youth. ♦