Teenagers Are Not Pieces of Meat - Comments

This reminds me of Brian from The Breakfast Club.
And I agree with your point, too. Education should be about learning in the way you feel most comfortable and trying to do your best -- it shouldn't all be pressure and exam results. (:
A good article.

Um, I don't agree with this at all.
First off, teachers DON'T get paid the more they push you. Have you seen a teacher's pay? It's not very much. They're not pushing you to be mean, or to get money! They're pushing you because they want you to suceed, and do the best you can! They're obviously not in it for the money, they're in it because they love teaching, and don't want to see you in some low paying job.
This was very scrambled, and it sounded like you were complaining about having to do more work. Don't you want to do better each time? Don't you want to get good grades so you can go to a good school?
Stop complaining, stop being lazy, and do the work. It's for your own good.

I agree.In my school if you make below a 70 on the pre-test you have to go to tutorals.If teachers didn't pressure us so much we would do better.My reading teacher is the only teacher that does not pressure us and every person in my grade is passing her class.Opposed to math.Or math teacher pressures us every day about it and not even half the grade is passing.And the fact that if you do your best it is not good enough is crazy.They need to lay off.It would be easer to pass if they didn't breath down our necks 24/7.They need to remember-If no one went to school they would be out of a job.

In my school if yoou don't do well then yoou get had ago at about it.
Teachers shouldn't pressure the students, yoou're riight, but nothing's gunna stop them... >.<

Amen. I'm sick and tired of being pushed to do better. Last semester I FAILED a class because I was pushed too far.

Wait, wait wait... what you're saying is that when someone does well, they're not recognized enough for it? Or is it that teachers are selfish and just want money or recognition themselves? Whatever your point is, it's useless complaining. The only thing the student needs to worry about is what he's learning, and how hard he's working to get good grades. Sure, we don't learn as much in high school as we should, but that's what college is for. And, the reason, elisabeth, that China has more honors students, is because they have over a billion more people than we do.

Agree totally.
GCSEs drove me insane, now A-Levels are doing the same.
School is bad for us. It makes us have to go and see the dramatherapist (there are scores of girls in my year who are having to see the councillor because of how stressed out they are- and from all different friendship groups. Chavs, rockers, indie kids, rudes, school makes all of us go mental.
I'm glad you wrote this, and so well too. ^^

This is so true. At my high school we were pressured to do exceedingly well in our SAT's from the beginning of the year to our actual SAT's.
I remember when we were handed back our Mock SAT's papers. I scored a 7c in english (7 being the very highest level, c the lowest sublevel) and everyone else got level 6's. And yet I was still being told by my teacher that I should work harder and she actually said it 'wasn't good enough'.
I was outraged!

True, i believe that it's not at all necessary to bitch and gripe about test scores when they're already best in state. My old (and first) elementary school was voted greatest school in state with highest PACT scores from 3rd grade up (because that's when you started testing) and just great all around, basically.

Yet, my principals, all three, complained that [near] perfect scores were not good enough. My best friend in third grade and I had missed only one question on our tests, and we felt horrible for it. that one question that we didn't get could have made all the difference.... and we were screamed at for it. All of us were as a school. Better, better, better! That's all they wanted, and because we're never good enough, we just GIVE UP! I almost failed seventh grade because I just got tired of not being good enough!

Is what we do and who we are just not up to snuff for teachers and schools? I think it's total bullshxt.

By the way, your article was very well written. Even if I don't totally agree with you I can still say that.

It's really not the end of the world when students make a bad grade, but, when the kids don't care if they're failing, there is a problem.

Even being at the top of my class, I still strive to learn more. Because face it, I'm not learning as much as the kids in China or India. China -- at least China -- has more [i]honors[/i] students than the United States has students. And I'm pretty sure [i]those[/i] honors students are learning things far more advanced than I am. So because I am American and I go to an American school, I'm losing.

If there wasn't this struggle to make us better, we wouldn't care half as much, and thus, America would eventually lose its position at the top. Our economy is already starting to dwindle. Let's not have our intelligence do the same.

The worst part of it all is that many are brain washed to believe that the system is flawless, and that ALL teachers know what they are doing. But remember, teachers are human, and the system of education is a human device, there is no way to make eigther absolutly perfect.

THANK GOD!!!! Someone was finally able to put it to words! All the stress, all the pain. I knew something was wrong but couldn't exactly figure out what. YOU ARE MY HERO!!

Well if you don't want to work hard and get into a good college and become a garbageman instead of a lawyer, it's alright. The teachers will forget about you eventually so there's no pressure at all!

God, I love what you wrote. Totally agree with you on this. Damn those teachers.

nice.
I love it when I read something and it totally changes my veiws!

ooh, i smell rebellion in the air! (too bad we can't form some sort of coucil of teenagers internationally...then we could get stuff done, lol) love the artcile, especially the title, sums up what i feel every time my principle talks to me...god that woman annoys me...
<3 Fisher

maybe my mother should read this and find out why i'm never spending time with our family at home.
i'm too busy trying to reach her goals and then escape into something i want to do- READ and WRITE and LISTEN.

It's not the teacher's falut, they are the only ones trying to help us.
The system is what's wrong. I'm all for education, who isn't? But to me testing is not learning.
Schools are competing on state test scores and placing the pressure on teachers and students.
In my school, from 3rd to 8th grade, you take multiple state tests and if you don't do perfectly you get stuck in a special class, learning how to get the perfect grade on the next one.
It's not right. Why waste time on tests that could be used for valuable learning that kids could actually apply?
Everyone should always do their best, of course, but everyone's best is different. The testing system doesn't take that into account.
BTW, great article. Someone below me said it best, you made people think no matter their opinion.

I don't agree but I do get what you're trying to say.
Teachers push you because they know you can do so much better.
Yes, they might yell at you and bitch at you but it's because they care.
Anyway, it's not a teacher's job to be asking you to do better.
All they have to do is teach and corect paper work.
It's your job to do the work and try your best even if you think I'll never be over.
Just work hard and in the end something good will come out of it.
I'm positive. :]
Great article by the way, really well written. :D