Stress v. Complacency

Mr P says we're complacent. Or rather, that our student body on the whole is generally complacent.

Although I look at my grade and see stress. Everywhere. People freaking out. Nervous. Etc.

Which is curious. I see it hard for the two to exist together.

Not that I'm disagreeing with Mr P. I see the complacency too. Apathy and the like. It's a drag. People will walk into a class and simply not care. At all.

(Not this class. We in AP US History having an engaging debate regarding the stimulus package. Except me. I'm blogging.)

So I think both things are bad. It sometimes looks like the teachers want us to work all the time. I know it's not true, but that's the impression that people get. So we get work, and a lot of it, and we freak out because there are not enough hours in a day to do work and pursue something we like. And that's a shame.

On the other hand there are people who seriously do. not. care. And that's not okay either, because you come to school for a reason besides "I have to".

Mr P supposed that people are complacent because there's nothing we're striving for. Perhaps a drawback of going to private school is that we trust we'll have stable and successful futures (and if not, our parents will cover us for a little while).

But people who have goals, like, dreams, they're not complacent. There was a girl I knew who had decided at 8 years old that she would go to Yale and study journalism. And she was motivated. Fantastically driven.

And with all the stress we have, so much of our consciousness is "okay now I have to write an essay and then I'll take that test and..." it never gets past high school. Or worse, we think "Okay now I'm going to get grades and GET INTO COLLEGE" and that's where the planning stops.

Because we don't have time anymore to realize we really love journalism.

I think what I'm getting at is that a little bit less stress given by teachers would, I hypothesize, eliminate a lot of the complacency they're seeing.

One day I'm going to write a book about Educational Theory.

Love always,
Clara