Why High School is a terrible idea

I have never understood why high school is a thing. I feel like they skip out on so many different, very important things that teens need to learn, and I can’t stop thinking that they cause a lot of harm.

If we start with the things they don’t teach you, the first thing I find it really funny that the information they pump into their students about prevention of pregnancy is a large part of school, but they don’t breathe a word about what happens when you actually want children, or even when you actually get pregnant. They teach you about how the fetus matures when they’re in the womb, but nothing is said about when the child arrives. How to raise a child is a complete mystery to most teenagers. They don’t learn how taxes work, or even the political system works in their country, something that young minds need to know. They’re taught calculus, they’re taught things that are actually important, but not everything a young mind needs to know, not everything they need to find their own individuality, mold their own opinions and trust their own thoughts. But that’s just the thing. The people teaching them don’t care about individuality, they just want their job to be as easy as possible,

And then there’s the harm high school cause. Most people who kill themselves in their young years, do so because of high school. Bullying is often made fun of, “it was just a joke”. But that’s just the thing. No matter what you joke about, even if you just make fun of the way someone smiles. I once met a boy who covered his mouth compulsively when he smiled, because a girl made fun of his teeth when he was fifteen.

The things you say, the things you do, affect people on a daily basis. You can make someone’s day, or destroy it completely, with just a couple or words or a simple action. And sometimes, that damage can’t be repaired, sometimes because it’s too severe and sticks with them, and sometimes it’s not resolved because there simply isn’t time. The affected one’s time runs out, and no one handles it.

For some reason, someone thought this would be a good idea, the concept of high school. “We have a ton of angsty teenagers who are insecure, who have no clue about who they are or what they want with their life. And then we put pressure on them with numbers and letters to compare them to a system of how good they are in different things. Perfect.” Because that’s exactly what happens. Most people are awful to others during their teen years, and they don’t consider the consequences (I should know, I was awful in some aspects too).

High school is an awful concept. But the thing is, there are no better ideas. So we chose this one, and we ran with it.