‘Every time they envied me for being at a beautiful stage of life, they cold-shouldered my anxieties.’ - Jyoti
A student of 2021 is enmeshed in so many things that his/her life has turned out to be nothing but a cobweb. A cobweb of studies, social life, perfection, dreams, and expectations. These problems and their effects are hardly talked about as problems associated with adults are thought of as actual problems. Orienting with the surroundings becomes a huge problem for a student who wishes to catch up with the world and wishes to stay on the ball. Though small, a problem is a problem and it needs to be addressed from the core because it is crucial. The issues can be stated in the following pointers:
Expectations and toxic positivity
There are various instances when students feel devoid of hope. From the day one enters school, the molding process begins in a fashion to be the best, and if one fails to catch up, well! That’s the time to say goodbye to basic recognition and shake hands with criticisms. This ‘struggle’ starts at one’s own home.
Going to school has become fanciful nowadays while loading a child’s bag with expectations and believe me that ‘standing up to other’s expectations’ matters, it matters to not to be compared with other ‘well-doing kids’.
Every student once in a lifetime is compared with a brighter student to motivate and bring that enthusiasm in them to study hard. This seldom does its job as it is more like a toxic positivity. This way, a student tends to feel more insecure in his own home, let alone the outer world. They wake up every day with pressure to live out the expectations and when they fail, they feel like their world collapsed. The reason this happens is that the elders are great in informing what to do, but fail in consoling in case one fails to shine.
Studying or coming ahead works only if it’s done willingly and happily but never under pressure. A child’s mind needs to know that ‘it’s okay to fail, but it’s important to rise and try again ’.
Virtual reality and its grasp
There’s a new notion in the institutions too. Children among themselves play the game of popularity which came from a place none other than social media. Whatever is reflected on web series or other social media platforms, the young minds apply it to their lives too.
The first reason is that the life portrayed on these platforms seems cool and tempting and children start running behind them by following those footsteps. All this has started a new cult of ‘popularity in all these study institutions. This cult originates from within the students and does its job to segregate and make groups of various kinds among them. This is very unhealthy for a young mind as this embodies the notion of difference and distances them from their fellows.
Unknowingly, the stereotypes of beauty also run throughout the student life, and many a time it takes an upper hand over academics. Looks, dressing, and sense of presence have become the markers of stability in a student’s life.
Being a student, a whole lot of emotions runs through their veins which an adult shoves off as those aren’t meant to be problems at all. How can crying over being bullied be serious? How can an assignment be submitted tomorrow, tense? How can a mental breakdown hold any importance when you try to hold the activities in your life together?
A student’s problem is so often ostracized that they are completely felt to be of no use. Struggle can come when one grows to see how the society works and what’s expected of them and they have every right to be heard.
Communicative peculiarity
Another is the problem concerning communication. Migration can be the reason affecting this as a lot of students go to other states, regions, or maybe countries to study. The situation becomes dire for the students less fluent in the English language. Their life becomes challenging and they face problems in running this marathon of knowledge.
Communication issues not only lie with the migrated students but for other students too who are introverts. They feel really hard to go ahead with their school journey as a whole and live in complete fear of the limelight. Little do anybody notice this small but significant problem. Fear of making mistakes while speaking makes them conscious of their surroundings. This is furthermore highlighted with the fear of being laughed at by fellow students and fear of being scolded by the teacher.
Thus, ninety-nine times out of a hundred, these students prefer to keep mum before the teachers. The fear is instilled deep within them and this does no good for their character enhancement.
Resource availability
Next in line comes the issue concerning resources and availability. A lot of students cannot afford everything a school or university asks for. They can’t be open about this to their friends and this cobweb of desolation grows deep within them as they feel utterly helpless in such situations.
A lot of institutions charge more than needed for the resources they provide as faculty but this become difficult for a few families to take up and this leaves a gruesome confrontation with life for the young students and from a tender age they start critically thinking about their lives and an unavoidable worry goes along with them forever. This point is thought of by many critics but this is hardly took-upon for improvement. From school to tuition to home, life becomes an enclosed labyrinth, and the essence of childhood is compromised with the growing competition and utterly growing expectations of others which fills up a child’s life and is most sought as a normal thing to be.
Compared to adult life problems, these are minute but they lead to untimely maturity and sadness which is prevalent within the entire present youth. These small struggles are enough to let down the tender shoulders which aren’t meant to drop at this nurturing age.
So, listening to a student speaking about his/her life is as important as listening to an adult complaining about his/her life.
Thus, to conclude, be it an adult or a child, problems are faced by both but the degree of the issue varies. Acknowledging and trying to remove these is an important thing that starts at home, at school, and then among the student community themselves.
Life has become a race which everybody is intended to run and finish but being co-runners it is really important to keep up with the rest and not let anybody behind because of petty reasons. This is the way that the issue at hand can be addressed and removed and this would go on a play as an important and healthy thing in a child’s life.
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