Is today's education system cracking teenagers?

Helloo everyone!

I have been a little late with this blog post so I apologise...I was actually meant to post something a little more lighthearted this week but today I found out something today that made me put my work aside and write this blog post.

One of my closest friends revealed to me that she is going to visit the doctor about the possibility of her being depressed. This really, really upset me as no one should ever feel anything other than themselves and happy, but unfortunately this is not the case nowadays.

Now I am most certainly NOT blaming the mental health of teenagers nowadays on the education system but I strongly feel that it has a very large role to play. Don't get me wrong, of course I am extremely grateful that here in the UK we are able to receive a fantastic education free of charge. But I do think that the way of educating youngsters nowadays is not right, being a teenager myself I have experienced what every other teenager has experienced during their school life which has been mountains of homework and uncontrollable stress.

So lets put the average school day of a student into perspective; we wake up at 7 am, go to school for roughly 7 hours, come home, do 4 hours of homework and go to bed. How in any way is this healthy?! As well as working at school for 7 hours a day (which in itself is impossible), we are also expected to fit in time when we get home for exercise, homework, hobbies, socialising, spending time with family and relaxing. Realistically, if we were to factor this into our school day, we should be going to bed at around 12 or 1 which is also a problem because studies have shown that teenagers should be getting between 8 and a half to 9 hours a sleep a night. These expectations that parents and teachers have put in place are unrealistic and are seriously contributing to the downfall in a teenager's mental health.

For me, it is the ridiculous pile of homework that I receive every day that is a serious concern of mine. How and why should it be natural that someone who is not even 20 years old yet has to go to school for 7 hours a day, is expected to come home and spend 1 hour on homework for every hour spent in the classroom (roughly an extra 4 hours a day of homework for an a level student) and is expected to spend their weekends working aswell? It's just the most ridiculous idea. So back to my friend, work has really been getting her down because as you can imagine, if you don't have enough time to do all your homework/studying in one day, you have to leave it for another day and before you know it you have a huge pile of work in for tomorrow. As well as this stress, teenagers also have the unavoidable stress of problems with friends and family, not to mention serious fluctuations in hormones which do not help. It's all just a recipe for disaster.

School also make us believe that exams such as A levels and GCSES will dictate our lives, therefore piling on the stress even more. But in a way, if you want to get into university you need to get good A levels and to get a 'good job' most employers look for those with a good degree from a good university. But why should exams that we take at ages 17 and 18 have to dictate our futures?! At the end of the day, it's not even worth it to put your mental health and physical health at risk but the main thing is to try your best. It doesn't even matter that you get C in an exam but avoiding a mental breakdown, which sadly can often lead to disastrous consequences, is the most important. It's just not worth it!

Another problem with the education system of today is that it is extremely problematic to judge a person's intelligence through their ability to memorise facts and pass an exam. Yes I see that there is no other logical way to test intelligence, but surely this is not the most sensible way. There are extremely intelligent people who fail exams simply because they do not have a good memory or are not good under pressure in an exam, but those who can memorise the square root of pie will prevail in exams and therefore in life.

Finally (the rant is nearly over i promise), why is it fair that intelligence and success in school is mainly based around academia? It seems to me that if someone is extremely talented at art or music or an incredible sportsman and not so great at maths, they are seen as 'stupid' and are also made to feel this way. THIS IS NOT RIGHT.

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”-Albert Einstein 

It's important that we remember that education and learning should be fun, insightful and interesting. NOT suffocating and making you dread going to school every day- this is not how we should spend the first 18 years of our lives. You can imagine the consequences it would have.

Thank you so much for reading. If any of you feel the same way as me I would love to hear from you, but it is so important to remember that you are not alone and to always put your health before school work. However, if you are seriously struggling at school you should always tell a parent or a friend, it is never right to suffer in silence. Also remember that trying your best is all you can do- it is important to challenge yourself but do not push yourself to be someone that you are not.

Thank you again!

Katie

xox

HIV: What teenagers need to know

Hello everyone!!

I am aware that many people will not bother reading this blog post mainly because it is 'medical related' and therefore will be a complete bore and full of statistics. But not to fear!! I will try my best to keep this short and snappy, but i do believe that raising awareness about HIV/ AIDS is so important, especially for the youngsters of today. So, in this post I'm going to try and give you an overview of what i have learnt over the past couple of days and hopefully raise more awareness of HIV/AIDS.

The other day, my school had a visit from a lovely (and hilarious) women called Emma Cole who has lived with HIV since 1991 and has inspired me to write this post. Before the talk, I had a very limited knowledge of the whole issue surrounding HIV and AIDS and ignorantly believed that it was not a problem that I, or anyone I knew, would ever have to face or deal with. Emma also had this view until she was accidentally infected with HIV after having protected sex with a HIV positive guy, but the condom split which resulted in serious consequences for Emma. The doctors told her that she had roughly 8-10 years to live, but thankfully she is still going strong today.

For anyone who does not know what HIV/ AIDS is, here is a little overview. HIV is basically a virus that attacks the body's immune system, in particular the CD4 cells or t-cells. When the CD4 count is low the body's immune system is extremely weak and the body is susceptible to other illnesses and infections. When someone with HIV contracts another illness as a result of this, it is said that they have AIDS, which is just an umbrella term for a range of illness that someone infected with HIV may be more vulnerable to developing. Many people may die from these AIDS related illnesses, unless they receive sufficient treatment. However, with early diagnosis and early treatment, most people with HIV will not go on to develop AIDS but even though there is there is no cure for HIV, there are treatments to enable most people with HIV to live a long and healthy life.

HIV is contracted mainly through unprotected sex (all types!) with a HIV positive parter, but it can also be contracted through a HIV positive woman breast feeding her child, using a contaminated needle and through the placenta during pregnancy. HIV cannot be caught through kissing, touching, hugging or coughing, which is a common mistake people make!!

So the moral of this post is to NOT HAVE UNPROTECTED SEX! 1. It means that you have a much, much less chance of catching HIV so to be honest its not worth not using a condom. 2. Less chance of getting pregnant, always a plus (unless you're aiming to create a family of course!). I actually have a friend who is 20 this year and found out about a month ago that she was pregnant because they had not used a condom (for various reasons that i cannot go into publicly on the internet...!), but not she has to make the decision whether to keep the baby (she does not have a job and is at university, so not really ideal) or to abort it. She says that whatever she does, she will regret. You always think that 'it won't be me', but that's also what she thought so please learn from other's mistakes and just don't risk it.

I really hope that I have given you an insight into HIV and made you a little bit more aware of what HIV/AIDS is, because at the end of the day if you do not take precautions you could be the one who is unlucky, just like Emma was. If you want to find out more information here are some websites you can visit:
http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/HIV/Pages/Introduction.aspx#close
http://www.hivaware.org.uk
http://www.positivevoice-emmacole.co.uk

@emmacolehiv (twitter)

Thank you for reading! (Sorry this was much so longer than I thought it would be!)

Katie
xox

15 GOALS FOR 2015!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

I know I'm a little late (nearly a week, yes) but sadly I've been having to do some last minute cramming work for sixth form because i procrastinated so much during the Christmas holidays- NEVER A GOOD IDEA. So I've decided to write up my '15 goals for 2015' because i think its a little more exciting than the typical 'my new years resolutions for 2015'. I think that its very important to make goals which will benefit others around you as well as yourself. The idea is to have goals which will help and motivate you to improve yourself (may it be mentally, physically, spiritually etc) and to help improve the lives of others; you'll be surprised at what a small but kind action could do to change someone's day for the better. Now, i know that most people recommend that you make a maximum of 3 new years resolutions and that they should be specific so that it makes them more likely to achieve. But why listen to them!! These are my '15 goals for 2015'! Enjoyy X

1.) Drink more water- i actually downloaded an app called Waterlogged onto my phone to help me with this one because I'm constantly forgetting to drink water and this app gives me small goals every hour or so, so that i can reach my water intake goal of the day! Very useful app- HYDRATION IS KEY!
2.)Use my frees more efficiently- this is a more personal one to do with my school life (yawn), but if you have free periods or free lessons at school make sure to use them wisely because it also means that you'll have more free time at home! Always make the most of your time.
3.) Compliment someone everyday- these have to be genuine compliments because fake compliments won't get anyone anywhere!
4.) Do at least 3 things for charity this year
5.) Use up beauty products that are building up in my cupboard
6.) Say "yes" more (obviously within reason!)
7.) Be more spontaneous (make my parents a surprise brunch, bake cookies and bring them into school for friends- that kinda thing!)
8.) Get fitter! I have printed off Blogilates' 30 day flat ab challenge and her workout plan for January 2015 to kick start this, so my goal for this is to stick to these two challenges and see them through to the end of the month/30 days. You can do this too by visiting www.blogilates.com, her videos are amazingly motivating (even if you do sometimes want to scream at her) and they're also really short aswell with a wide variety to choose from (abs, thighs, fat loss etc.)

9.) Do work on the day its set- DO NOT PROCRASTINATE
10.) Take my eye drops every day- okay so obviously this one is also more personal just because I'm always forgetting to take my drops. But if you have medication you're meant to take daily, REMEMBER TO TAKE IT :)
11.) Always try to put yourself in other people's shoes and try not to be judgemental, no-one knows how someone else is feeling or what is going on in their personal life so remember to think before being quick to judge.
12.) Love everyone for who they are! I know this sound so cliché but its such an important thing to remember. Anyway, who cares if one person loves anime or someone else enjoys classical music? You should appreciate the fact that people are enjoying what they love and thats an amazing thing. WE ARE ALL UNIQUE.
13.) Be more appreciative and enjoy the world. Start off with small things, like scents and smells and the sky. Our world is so beautiful and we should acknowledge it more. Personally, small things like these make me really happy.
14.) Wake up earlier- i hate this one as i do love my lie ins, but i had to add it in because studies show that sleeping in on weekends and in holidays is actually not very good for our health; its much healthier to maintain an early waking up pattern. Also, who wants to waste their days in bed?! Not me (or you)??!!
15.) ALWAYS LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE OF LIFE! Remember, every cloud has a silver lining! :)

Thank you for reading, i hope you all have a fabulous 2015!!

Katie xox