Most part of contemporary teenagers grows up understanding the significance of education.
They hear about its importance all the time: studying, coming back home, watching TV and even partying with friends.Every one of teachers emphasizes the importance of subject they teach, saying it’s almost impossible to enter university without having at least A- for it, back at home parents remind about the A’s required to get to a decent college and when the stressed student tries to relax a little watching TV, tons of overwhelming statistics pour out at him out of the screen, informing him/her about the differences in income between those who got a university diploma and the ones who chose not to do it.Pamela, one of my high-school classmates, unfortunately became a victim of this “educational psychosis”. She spent almost all her time at high school mugging for her A-Levels, omitting going in for sports, parties, shopping, and going out with friends. Her teachers and parents were lost in admiration of her grades, but, as she confessed it was the worst part of her life, with all that pressure and expectations people surrounding Pam put on her. Pamela’s family is average middle class, father being a bank clerk and mother leading the house.
She also has a brother who is 5 years younger than she is. From the early childhood parents told Pamela that she had to do all her best to earn good marks and to enter the university in future. Her parents never considerer the thought that their children could rest satisfied with some professional training after school. When Pam was little her mother had to sit near her to make the girl not only to do her homework but also read some additional material for the topic given. When Pamela became older she herself spent hours in the library, or searching the information in the Web.“At last it became like a drug for me” – she confesses.
“Of course I wanted to go out with my friends, but I couldn’t, knowing that if Iwould’ve done it I would’ve felt extremely guilty for not devoting that time to reading educational literature or writing an extra paper”. Time passed and Pamela devoted more and more time to her studies. At last she didn’t even have the time to chat with the few friends she had, not saying about making new ones. People at school, who previously thought she was a pleasant person began to call her a “nerd” or a “bluestocking”.Some of our classmates to mocked her daily.
Of course the girl realized that some of them were jelous about the marks Pam had and the others disliked her just because she behaved differently, but this didn’t make it much easier for her. She said she hated all that soft talk about boys, lipstics and pop-stars, but, to be honest, her continuous speeches about tests and grades were of no greater interest. After Pam refused to share her work with two of our classmates at some important math test she became a real outlaw among the high-school students.Pamela always had loads of extra subjects as she couldn’t decide what career to choose.
She took physics, governing and English literature and she tried to be the best student everywhere. That became one more reason for the antipathy from the side of other students. Pamela never considered that there were some people who thought a little slower or had worth memory than she did. Pam always tried to attract the teacher’s attention and she sometimes kept asking questions and making elaborations for all the lesson, depriving others of the possibility to display their knowledge of the subject.
The girl sometimes knew more than the teacher himself did, and she was keen to show it, so there also were professors who disliked her. All of the teachers appreciated her hardworkiness, and some of them said they had to put her marks much higher than to the more gifted kids who spent less time with references and encyclopedias. As Pamela later confessed she also experienced severe problems back at home. It was her mother who payed the intense attention to the girl’s education. She kept repeating to Pam she wasn’t dilligent enough and that she had to be more engaged in her studies.“She was never satisfied, I was never good enough for her” – Pamela says.
Her marks were the notion of pride for her parents and it was the first thing they told about when they met with friends and relatives. Pam confesses: “I was terribly afraid to dissapoint them. I thought it would almost kill Mum if I got any mark except the A”. Her relations with the brother also weren’t ideal, as Pam’s parents always instanced her academic successes to him. As a result of all the strain Pamela’s health went bad.
She put on extra weight, as turning the pages at the library is not much of an exercise. The girl often felt weak and unable to do anything, as she breath very little fresh air and never had time for a gym. Her diet also wasn’t healthy. Pam ate sandwiches, chocolate bars and dry cereals as she didn’t want to digress for cooking, and her mother wasn’t much of a cook altogether. She also experienced problems with her nervous system, like insomnia and nerve-strain an she had to visit a psychologist for some time.In my opinion the goals Pam chased were sound and solid, but, as we all sometimes do, she chose the wrong way to achieve them.
The place in a prestigious university will not compensate Pam the health wasted on earning it and cure complexes she gained at school. That’s why I presume parents should put less expectations on their child from the early childhood. They should show their children they love them just for being themselves and not for earning good marks. Of course education is considerable, but the kid’s physical and emotional health is more substantial.
