Education Isn’t a Curse, It’s a Privilege
Graphic by Emma Novy
Listen, before I even get started, let me just say that this is not me coming for people who don’t go to class all the time. I don’t either. Even if you don’t, you can still value education and the privilege of getting one.
I’ve been noticing some themes on my social media timelines as of late. Lots of high schoolers act as if going to school is a worse fate than death itself. That is what irritates the shit out of me.
Must we forget women in other countries who have been shot in the face to get an education?o see young women on the internet complaining about going to school, when women who came before us fought tooth and nail to give us access to this basic human right, is making my toes curl with anger. Honestly, who do you all think you are?
Homework sucks,writing papers is annoying and group projects are a curse. But we need to wake the fuck up and remember that life used to be so much worse. When people are illiterate, those who are not take advantage of them. They get used for easy labor and don’t know how to complain about unfair and unsafe working conditions. It’s a terrible fate, one that we could’ve all still been roped into.
Don’t even get me started on AI in the classroom. Sure, it can be helpful. I think we should permit teachers to use it on occasion. Writing IEPs is annoying. They deserve a little break in their schedules to just let something else do it for them. But the frequency that I’ve seen teenagers who are ABOUT TO GRADUATE not even be able to string together a complete sentence because they have AI doing it for them makes me sick to my stomach. Exactly what do you all think the workforce is going to do when they see that? It is simply pathetic. It’s not quirky or funny.
Teenagers used to do shit. Instead of sitting at home and disconnecting from reality on their phones (which, of course, I did as well), they used to go have fun. Go to the beach, have a picnic at the park with your friends and go to parties. And when I say I do it too, I don’t count myself to the extent I’m seeing today. I played sports, was in clubs, got active and interacted with people around me. Even with the no phones policy that public schools are trying to implement, they still are disconnected from reality. What the hell happened to having fun? Go be in a school play or something. Tap into what it means to be human, for fuck’s sake. It’s just humiliating. How are THEY not humiliated? I feel myself cringe every time I walk past a 16-year-old now.
Our ability to learn is one of the most spectacular things about being human. We just watched the first woman come back from orbiting the moon, and bitches are crying about having to do calculus. Lock in on something other than yourself for 10 minutes. The world is massive. There are still people in third-world countries who would kill to have the opportunities you do. That goes for all you ungrateful ass college kids, too! So stop sulking around, pick your ass up off the ground and go to work. It’s the least you can do.
While you’re at it, apologize to Malala, too.