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janiedean · 5 years

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hello!! I would *love* to know what it is about Bruce Springsteen’s music that you like so much (I swear this isn’t hate/trying to start an argument also!!)

OKAY SO THIS IS GONNA BE LONG

anyway it’s a lot of things honestly but if we want to make a non comprehensive list

he’s... viscerally honest? in the sense that one of the things that caught my attention when it came to bruce is that whatever he sings he means it and you can hear it from thirty seconds of it, and if you see him live it’s just even better, and as someone who prefers listening to people who write their own music for a lot of reasons but the chief one is that to me music is a thing I really relate to, I prefer listening to people who put themselves in their music you know, which is why bruce is just... that... much good when it comes to it for me

he has a gift for making relatable situations that you never experienced that I don’t think anyone else in music has, I mean... just take youngstown which is in my top ten bruce songs ever - I don’t come from the US, I never set foot in ohio and I don’t even know how the fuck does a steel factory work, but it doesn’t matter because if you hear that song you feel for the people in it almost like you knew them yourself and that’s a thing that just speaks to me and he isn’t from that background either but he could manage anyway, and tbh it’s kind of what I would like to be able to do with prose at any given time

musically he’s just... generally my thing, I mean when it comes to choice of melody/arrangements and so on but then again that is my genre so

I generally love how much of himself he puts into his songs - that’s tangential to point one but I mean, the thing is that he also makes his experiences viscerally relatable and the fact that one of the core themes of his work is how horrible it is to be stuck in a point in your life that you hate/feel unfulfilled in and where you can’t try to make your dreams come true which is one of the most common experiences you’ll ever find because all of us have been there makes it so that if it was cathartic for him then it’s also cathartic for the listener

that can work also for the other core themes - your relationship with your parents, relationship troubles, wanting to just get on a car and drive into the night and fuck everything, wanting something that makes you happy etc, it’s all just so well-punt in relatable terms that it just gets to you (I mean if you watch blinded by the light it makes it exceedingly clear, because that is why the pakistani kid living near london actually feels connected to bruce who’s an american dude from a blue collar family in nj) that you can’t help just feeling like he gets you

which is also a general thing because one of my Fixed Bruce Experiences is that yes it feels like he’s saying those things to me specifically even if I know he’s not objectively, and like... feeling like your favorite singer sees you and understands you and at the same time gives you an all new perspective on things you didn’t know is just... An Experience

with that I mean that before I listened to springsteen I didn’t know shit about a lot of things - for one I got sucked into reading about the vietnam war because of born in the usa, I read the grapes of wrath which is now top five novels for me because of the ghost of tom joad, I started reading dale maharidge’s books because of youngstown, I started reading up about racism/police brutality in the us because of american skin because when he was singing about his country in the way you do when you love your country and you criticize the shit out of it because you do (which is a thing I 100% relate to ie I love my country but I also could criticize the shit out of it for years because I do) then you wanted to learn more about it and it broadened my knowledge on a lot of things/got me interested in so many subjects (count that I’ve been into bruce since I was like twelve so it’s been almost twenty years now) and I’ll be thankful for that forever because being interested in those things at the moments it happened was... formative in a lot of ways and honestly I don’t wanna say that listening to springsteen made me realize idealizing things was Not A Good Idea but it was... part of it

I didn’t understand that specifically until I read his autobiography where he was blatantly open about how he struggled with mental health issues and how he channeled his coping into writing music knowing it was what he was good at, but in retrospective the fact that he did put those issues in music even if I didn’t know they were there is probably another reason why he was relatable (we don’t have the same issues but I could relate on... a lot of things he said tbh) and honestly I respect him madly for having had the guts to go out all in the open with it

I love how he can write about like anything from his parents to class struggles to everything in nebraska to psychological consequences to wars in the people who fight them to actually nice feelgood songs to actual realistic love songs and he never sounds like he’s doing that without knowing what he’s doing... because he actually does

in retrospective he put into music one of my favorite pieces of literature ever so thanks bruce for that (I mean I listened to ghost of tom joad before reading grapes of wrath but tom’s speech is still... a piece of literature that kills me on a molecular level)

about the realistic love songs thing... I generally am never going to get over how he’s one of the few people around whose love songs don’t sound like generic ballad thing but they’re all... actually very down to earth and realistic and they don’t exactly try to tell you that Love Is Perfect And Amazing And Flawless? idk how to explain it but like... thunder road is about two fucked up people one of which isn’t even attractive trying to get a better life and sort of same for born to run which isn’t even a love song per se, rosalita is fun but you know from the get-go that the guy doesn’t have money to his name, there’s literally no song in springsteen catalogue that doesn’t tell you that Being In Love is easy and you don’t have to put work into it, and the only 100% happy ones are the ones just after he married the woman of his life and anyway they’re still more sincere than 90% of the stereotypical love songs around and I just... really respect that? because while i’ll like my sappy love song ™️ if it’s good, his just... are a whole other level

(this would require another rant on why tunnel of love is my subjectively favorite record of his because of how he cracks open and turns over the subject without sparing any ugliness from it nor all the issues he was having in his marriage and how listening to it you would know that marriage wasn’t going to last and he still went and put it on record for everyone to hear and... as stated I really just have endless respect for people who can do that with their experiences while making them universally relatable)

he’s seventy and he’s still putting all of himself into it? like in the last twenty years (ie since I’ve followed him) he did the folk songs record, some seven world tours where he played 3+ hours, the broadway show where he also opened up same as he did in the book about his songs and himself and it was just beautiful, the western stars movie along with WS being a concept album in itself and a damn good one, all his records have tried something new for him regardless of how good it came out or not and he’s still going strong and I just really admire how he can still do all of that while not having sold out to anyone and having stayed true to what his music was in the beginning

also: 3+ hours long shows. like guys if you haven’t been to a bruce concert... idk how to put it but when I say that going to a bruce concert is the closest I’ll ever get to a religious experience I’m not exaggerating. I really truly absolutely know I’ll never get standard religious experiences but I suppose that’s how bruce concerts are for me - it’s just, you’re there with 40k+ other people all of which are feeling like he’s singing straight to them because that’s how good he is and even if maybe song 1 means something to you and something else to the guy next to you you’ll still be there with your heart having grown four sizes anyway for different reasons because Bruce Is Speaking To You and it’s just... something else. like I know people who were meh about bruce who went to a concert and came out of it OH I SAW THE LIGHT CAN YOU LEND ME YOUR RECORDS and that’s exactly how it is

tldr: bruce is an amazing performer and lyricist and musician who is straight-up honest and true to his love for his own music who’ll manage to make everything relatable and who’ll sing like he’s talking to you specifically and again, when I watched blinded by the light it got it perfectly and reading the book it was based on was A Trip because here I was nodding along to an autobiography from a british guy originally from pakistan and his sikh friend also from britain who spoke about bruce and what he meant to them and they said the exact same things I felt about bruce - like the guy is that good that he can connect to virtually everyone and will make you feel like you have some kind of thing in common with people that are wholly different from you because bruce speaks to you both and that’s... not an easy thing to run into. like, you have to be real good to manage that. and... he is. he just is.

#bruce springsteen #this is a rant that makes no sense probably?#idk #i tried #Anonymous #ask post

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caltropspress · 4 years

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RAPS + CRAFTS #1: maassai

1. Introduce yourself. Past projects? Current projects?

I’m Maassai from Brooklyn, NY. An existentialist, rapper/vocalist, curator, performance artist, writer. My artistic practice seeks to tell hood narratives through an avant-garde lens.

A part of my released works is the C0N$TRUCT!0N series, which will be a continuous project about building and taking up space as a black person in this country. I’m also a part of the duo H31R with JWords, which I'd best describe as experimental hip hop dance music if someone really wanted to box it in, but it definitely bends the concept of genre. “With the Shifts” will be my debut solo full-length project as well as a cementing or further exploration of certain themes in my artistic practice.

2. Where do you write? Do you have a routine time you write? Do you discipline yourself, or just let the words come when they will? Do you typically write on a daily basis?

I'm a very spontaneous writer. It depends on when the inspiration hits me, whether that's a really dope track I was sent or a situation that just unfolded in front of me. Inspiration mostly hits at really odd times. Some of my favorite pieces started walking down the block in my neighborhood or on the toilet or waking in the middle of the night after an intense dream. I try to at least journal some thoughts everyday to keep a groove, but I don't like to pressure myself to make a piece or force the feeling when it’s not there and that practice really helps to keep me in love with the process I think.

3. What’s your medium—pen and paper, laptop, on your phone? Or do you compose a verse in your head and keep it there until it’s time to record?

Honestly I'm about using whatever medium is available. I’m not necessarily the die hard purist who has to write stuff on paper even though there is a special flow that happens there. But because I'm so spontaneous with my writing there's many times I'm in a situation where a pen and pad isn't available.

4. Do you write in bars, or is it more disorganized than that?

A lot of times the process is super messy. I like to follow a concept through, so sometimes that’ll mean me making a plain outline in the middle of a piece so I can have clarity in my brainstorming or come back to it when I have the mental energy to think hard enough to make it all make sense. I like to think of it as a math equation. Creating the formula and then plugging in the details until it works. Sometimes the lines in my everyday journaling resonate with me so much that I’ll use them for a song or to prompt some bars. The process is all experimental honestly.

5. How long into writing a verse or a song do you know it’s not working out the way you had in mind? Do you trash the material forever, or do you keep the discarded material to be reworked later?

I don't normally trash material completely. I believe in things being reworked, sampled and built upon. I’m a bar hoarder maybe. Unless it really sucks and I wake up and completely disagree with what I wrote for some reason, I’ll usually keep it somewhere.

6. Have you engaged with any other type of writing, whether presently or in the past? Fiction? Poetry? Playwriting? If so, how has that mode influenced your songwriting?

For sure. Not necessarily known to many, I consider myself a writer of many different mediums. I grew up writing poetry. I’m working on screen and stage plays. These are passion projects that I've been developing over the span of years now. I actually went to high school for theatre so it's still a big part of me and has definitely influenced how I see myself as an overall artist. I'm really inspired by science fiction movies - and paying attention to the way writing is brought alive through film strengthens me to paint worlds with my words. Also writing stories of any kind strengthens your ability to focus on a topic and see it through, which I feel I've tried to carry into my music as much as possible.

7. How much editing do you do after initially writing a verse/song? Do you labor over verses, working on them over a long period of time, or do you start and finish a piece in a quick burst?

Both. But projects that I really go into with lots of intention I've likely worked on for a good minute. As I'm growing through life and the process simultaneously sometimes the words slightly change. Every word matters and sometimes a slight change goes such a long way to making a statement resonate. I have written songs with a quick burst of energy, mostly when i'm collaborating with others and that's always cool because I'm like, “Okay yea I got it, I can actually write something decent mad fast even though I don't do it that often on my own.” It feels really good. Again, that spontaneity of writing with different processes keeps it new, challenging and fun for me.

8. Do you write to a beat, or do you adjust and tweak lyrics to fit a beat?

I’ve done both. I think I usually prefer to have a beat beforehand because I like to think of my vocals as an instrument, a part of the overall music piece. I can really jam out and experiment with what sounds best on the track when I have the beat beforehand. But many times it works out to find new ways to execute something I wrote for a beat, and that's fun as well.

9. What dictates the direction of your lyrics? Are you led by an idea or topic you have in mind beforehand? Is it stream-of-consciousness? Is what you come up with determined by the constraint of the rhymes?

I’m led by ideas I have in my head a lot of the time and the stream of consciousness that presents itself with that idea in mind usually leads me to an unexpected conciseness. Once it's going in a particular direction I might rework it or add things to focus it more or it might just flow how it needs to in the moment. Rhyming as a practice in writing definitely limits not what you can say but how you can say it, and that's the most tedious part a lot of the time.

10. Do you like to experiment with different forms and rhyme schemes, or do you keep your bars free and flexible?

I’m definitely consciously experimenting with form as a musician. Sometimes flexibility and freeness is a part of it. I don't usually like to keep the same form for a whole song. I think a part of my style is unpredictability and versatility.

11. What’s a verse you’re particularly proud of, one where you met the vision for what you desire to do with your lyrics?

“TU LIPS” produced by Keenyn Omari was one of those verses that just came so naturally. I was really in the flow of things and I surprised myself like, “Damn, I just wrote that?” I loved that it was catchy, gritty and revolutionary in the same breath, which is really the goal. It’s a personal fav because I wrote it so fast.

12. Can you pick a favorite bar of yours and describe the genesis of it?

“Anecdoche” off of Unsounded Points of View.

“Ever in a room and everybody talking but nobody listening? / Voices get dissonant when they over each other / trimming on the back of the last word / never get to process the sentence. / Now the convo is a figment of our egos.”

It’s not my punchiest set of bars but I love how descriptive it is. I wrote this song in an attempt to describe the indescribable feeling of those conversations that just aren't going anywhere and the emptiness present when trying to converse with someone who doesn't listen. “Voices get dissonant when they over each other” - when people speak over each other without listening it's like when people try to sing together without listening - the harmony is off - it's like really cringey chords. “Trimming on the back of the last word / never got to process the sentence” - it's like you’re just talking to speak and only taking little pieces of what is said to make an unrelated statement because they just want to talk or want attention. “Now the convo is a figment of our egos” - this wraps it up so beautifully to me because it's like the conversation isn't actually happening because there's no understanding, but our egos make us keep talking. It points to this issue being deeper than just not listening in this one moment but instead an existential challenge of overcoming your ego.

13. Do you feel strongly one way or another about punch-ins? Will you whittle a bar down in order to account for breath control, or are you comfortable punching-in so you don’t have to sacrifice any words?

Punch-ins suck. I will cut down the bar as much as I can during the writing process to leave space. Saying the most with as little words as possible is my style as a writer. If punching-in is warranted I'll do it though. Whatever makes the song work.

14. What non-hiphop material do you turn to for inspiration? What non-music has influenced your work recently?

I grew up saturated in hip hop culture. It's really embedded in me as a being. So a lot of my time is spent studying and exploring other genres and just other facets of life. I actually listen to other genres of music more than I listen to rap - like jazz, soul, experimental r&b. I get lots of inspiration from those genres. I used to take some West African dance classes, which actually completely shifted the way I understood rhythm, which helped me improve my raps a lot. Outside of music, I like to watch trippy films and psychology docs. I've been exploring where science and spirituality meet, and that's been a big part of what I've been writing about as of lately.

15. Writers are often saddled with self-doubt. Do you struggle to like your own shit, or does it all sound dope to you?

Of course, my anxiety levels before dropping things are sky high but I also love what I create at the same time. So I am usually able to push past that feeling as long as I like what I make. Sometimes working on things for a long period of time can be confusing when it's time to drop, because I might be in a different head space or have just heard it too much to think of it as anything exciting, but I try to remember how good I felt after making it and that the resonation I felt then will always be a truth.

16. Who’s a rapper you listen to with such a distinguishable style that you need to resist the urge to imitate them?

I don't feel the need to imitate anyone. I pride myself on not sounding like anyone else. There’s sooo many people I've been inspired by, but I actually try not to listen to too much rap music to make sure my voice is my own. I really love Azealia Banks as a writer. Her flow is so dynamic, especially crossing over into dance music - I appreciate her pen so much. Very unique and definitely in her own lane with rap.

17. Do you have an agenda as an artist? Are there overarching concerns you want to communicate to the listener?

Definitely to create a multi-disciplined platform that gives a way for me to create space for building and visualize a black future. One part of that is to create a new path for people who identify as black femmes to feel comfortable being a part of whatever this experimental niche of rap is, because it's overwhelmingly cis-male dominated. But mostly to push the culture forward and inspire people to push boundaries in this world as I push boundaries within my art.

RAPS + CRAFTS is a series of questions posed to rappers about their craft and process. It is designed to give respect and credit to their engagement with the art of songwriting. The format is inspired, in part, by Rob McLennan’s 12 or 20 interview series.

Photo by Kristin Powell (details)

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ajivasanbanquethall · 4 years

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10 Reasons why our Education System is broken

Hold up! If you’re someone who’s like me as a student, you’d like this but if you are not from my generation you won’t know what I am talking about. You may have clicked this post in anger of a stupid kid who doesn’t know what she’s talking about. Don’t get me wrong here, I like school. I think every kid likes school, we just don’t like the worries and homework that it comes with but that’s not the problem is it. The reason most people will not understand this is because you’re not in school, but us teenagers are and it is oddly different from up close. The problem is not with the education, well maybe it is but the whole education system as a whole is broken and if you’re a student you know it too.

Do you know a country which succeeds in education, a country which is doing better than any country in the world? If you guessed Finland you are right. If you’re a student Finland schools are a dream come true. No homework. No standardized tests. Lesser school hours. For all the parents, yes these are beneficial things, it is a proven fact, check the education statistics of Finland. Finland is a great example of why our country's education system is broken. Here's why our education system is broken.

Also Check: Social issues in the world

Kids are scared of School

Well that’s not entirely school but we have all woken up in the morning crying about going to school, ever wondered why? We have all at some point come back home and told our parents, I hate school, school sucks. We’re not joking. We’re scared that if we don’t understand something, we will get an f in our test and fail. We’ve all been there, pretending to look away when the teacher asks a question that you don’t know the answer to. I don’t think a student should feel like they shouldn’t try at all just because they might end up being wrong. You’re scared that on the next test, you’ll get a B or a C and when you bring that home to your parents they won’t be happy with it. We’re scared that getting a low mark in math and science will affect our whole future. Students aren’t scared of learning, they’re scared that their learning may never be good enough. Everyday that I wake up, I am not looking forward to going to school, I do because I have to. There is no excitement. Like most things in life, we do things because we have to but we spend 15 years of our lives in school and that’s a very long time. Shouldn’t we at least get something to look forward to too.

Kids Do NOT learn creativity at school

Everything we learn in schools is by the book and we forget the creative aspect of things. We learn math for so many years and yet when we get out of school we don’t know how to earn money or pay taxes or buy a house. We’re taught the math behind everything but we’re not actually taught that thing. Today, if I were to go out in the real world and earn money I wouldn’t even know where to begin. You see schools are so focused on the tests and creativity just can’t be tested, so we simply don’t learn it at all. I’ll put it simply, Drew Barrymore, Johnny Depp, Benedict Cumberbatch, Walt Disney, Thomas Edison, Benjamin Franklin, Bill Gates, Albert Einstein, Richard Branson, are just a few out of thousand of people who dropped out of school but they’re still famous. They have still accomplished things that most people who have gone through years and years of education have not been able to. They left school and found their creativity and today we look up to these people everyday, most of these people who we are being taught about in our history lessons. We look to learn from people who have been dropouts themselves.

All subject are not given an equal chance

Let me be straight up with you. I am not good at math or science but I have sat through the classes everyday just to come out and learn something I may never use in my life. I want to be an actor. I wanna act but we all know schools don’t give all subjects the same chance. I have math every day of the week. I have science every day of the week, but I only have performing art, 3 days in 6 days. Just like me there are millions of students who don’t like all subjects, but the subjects that they like aren’t given enough time at school. We give math and science so much time and they might be someone’s future and dream, but not everyone’s. Why can’t all dreams be given an equal chance? Why can’t all gifts be given an equal chance. Some kids are good at music, some at writing, some at arts but we all know that for decades now, all the school’s really focus is on Math and Science. Not all of us understand and not all of us will and that’s okay but we should at least get a fair shot at learning what we are compassionate about. Not everyone wants to be a doctor or an astronaut and not everybody can be. There are actors, lawyers, dancers, musicians and so many other professions which are important. A student never learns that at school because all schools only focus on Math and Science. I have given many entrance examinations in my life and guess what? Math, Science and English are a must. So if I’m not good at those subjects, I am not well equipped to have a good education? I may not be good at all subjects but I haven’t even gotten a chance to prove all the subjects I am good at.

Our Education System has not changed from the last 150 years

Our world is constantly evolving. There is new technology created so often but ours schools have somehow remained the same. Have you ever wondered why you sit in straight rows? Or why all you do at school is listen to the teachers instructions, ‘Raise your hand and speak’ and short bathroom breaks and that too if only your teacher allows that. Schools back then were made like this because students were being taught how to work at factories which explain why a school looks very similar to a factory. A factory worker has to be disciplined and do everything as asked but today we don’t need that. When you walk somewhere, walk in straight assembly lines, have you ever wondered why you do that? We do it because we’re asked to but this concept was introduced years ago to prepare students to be factory workers and somehow schools have not changed since then. Schools need to change. There are so many jobs, so many different technologies. Everything is evolving and the schools need to too. It’s our now but it feels like we’re living in the past.

Grades and Scores define intelligence

Have you ever gotten a C and felt like a complete failure, a lot of people have but that does not define your intelligence. To be completely honest, parents are to blame for this as well. You want your child to get A’s and you put so much pressure on them about it. Your child will not be good at everything and you should not be forcing them to be. It’s okay if you don’t get good grades, it’s not the end of the world. Parents and Schools have a misconception that if a student gets good marks they’re smart and if students get bad grades they’re dumb but that’s not how i works. Schools focus on book smart and you will only get good grades if you memorize everything by heart. Intelligence should not be defined by how much you can memorize, it should be defined by one's ability to learn. I don’t get the best of grades in my class. I’d class myself an average student but I am also one of the smartest people I know and that is because I can hold a conversation and I don’t mean small talk, with everyone. I have strong opinions on subjects that most students I know don’t because schools never teach us that.We learn everything by the book and if we learn by the book we get good marks but there is a whole different world outside of that book which will prove your worth. To all parents, teachers and schools who define smartness by grades, stop. Your child might be the smartest person in the room and you will just criticize them for something they may not be good at. By doing so you are telling the child that they are worthless, not good enough. It’s your job to see your child’s gifts and dreams. They are not obligated to live your dreams. You didn’t give birth to your child to fulfill your dreams and your hopes. Everyone has different talents and getting bad grades does not in any way define their worth in the society.

Every student’s way of learning is not catered too

The reason I am writing this blog id is because I stumbled upon a very good video and they explain it better than I do but Prince Ea said, “If a doctor prescribed the exact same medicine to all of his patients, the results would be tragic. So many people would get sick and yet when it comes to school this is exactly what happens. This education malpractice where one teacher stands in front of 20 students each having different strains, different needs, different gifts, different dreams and you teach the same thing the same way.’ If that doesn’t explain it I don’t what will. Some children learn visually, some learn through audio, some learn better with words and some learn better when things are written, so when every child has different needs to learn and if they are only being taught by something which works for the school, how are we supposed to get “good grades”? How are we supposed to succeed and when half of us are left behind.

Teachers are blamed if the student doesn’t succeed

Do you know what is the world’s most important job? Well there could be many answers to that but teachers are the most underrated people ever. Teachers help build a child’s future. They have enough power to save someone’s life but teachers still don’t have enough power. They don’t decide what to teach. They don’t make the rules. Some teachers don’t even get to decide how they want to teach and if a child does not do well, teachers are blamed because they did not teach them well but that’s not the truth. Teachers work so hard to teach their students things but there is so much that they cannot teach, simply because it’s not what needs to be bought or what the school thinks is appropriate to be taught. I think it’s all the people who make the rules, who design the courses who are at fault here.

Your Grades Determine your future

One of the many faults of society. I have always wondered why colleges like to take people who get good marks. It's like if you're not good at something you’re not good at anything. Shouldn’t we get into colleges based on our talents instead of what we scored in 10th grade? People like to say 10th grade and 12th grade are the worst because you have boards. I mean I know that and it’s scary. I don’t want my mistakes to completely ruin my future. You already have so much stress on the exam day and knowing that this will determine your whole future does not help. Grades should not define someone’s future because not everyone is good at studies. Ask Einstein, he hated school. Coming back to the point I already made, we have different hopes, different dreams and different gifts so why can’t we all get the same chance to prove ourselves. Why does standardized testing have to determine what college I end up in or how smart or dumb I am. Tomorrow if I were to apply for a job, they’re not going to ask me how much I got in some Math test when I was in 9th grade, heck they aren’t even going to ask me what I got on my boards. They look at our skills, our abilities, so why can’t school. They don’t teach us any creativity, the least they can do is appreciate it. Let me put it in the simplest words I can, a person can come top of their class, go to the best college and still know nothing about the world because all they did was memorize things, exactly what school asked them to do.

Competition instead of Collaboration

If you’re anything like me I don’t need to tell you there is a problem, you know this is a problem. Schools are meant to be about collaboration because out in the real world that’s how things work but in school it’s all about competition. Get better grades. Who can get the most a’s? Who can accomplish the most at the youngest age? Who can get the highest mark on the test? Stop! Life is not a competition and schools shouldn’t treat it as one. We’re all unique in our own ways. We’ve all heard the story where one stick breaks but 10 don’t so why do we still compete. Why can’t we all be good? The world is big enough for everyone to make a place for themselves. Schools should focus on how to create a bond between the students not separate them or stereotype them on the basis of their grades. When we have jobs, we have to work together. The job of a school should be to teach collaboration instead of competition. Why can’t there be a classroom where everyone is smart because they are.

Students are not taught about real world problems

I did not learn any social problems at school. You see when we go out in the real world there are many problems and we as students have never learnt about them. I haven’t ever had a discussion on sexism, racism, lgbtqia, or even mental health issues. The sad thing is I had to tolerate these things from Netflix or Youtube and other movies. I have never had a real discussion about world problems at school. Depression and suicide are problems that need to be discussed about especially because teenagers from the age 15 to 24 years old. Shouldn’t schools educate students about these things? Shouldn’t this be taught as school? When do we talk about drugs or other harmful substances? One session a year maybe and that’s all. As a school, it is your responsibility to educate the students about everything. It’s your job to make them ready for tomorrow.

You see, I am not mad, I am disappointed, nope that’s wrong, who am I kidding, I am furious. Maybe you won’t understand me because of the generation gap, maybe you will. Maybe you were okay with it but I am not. This is present and this will determine my future. I am studying in a broken system and this will ultimately impact my future and every other kid who is going to school today. Another great quote by Prince Ea, ‘While students may be 20% our population, they are 100% our future.’ They say change is a good thing, then why haven’t schools changed. Most people may love homework but according to the research held by Stanford University, homework causes a lot of stress. 56% of students said that their stress is due to homework. 43% viewed the test as the reason and 33% put pressure on getting good grades as one of the reasons. Do you really want your students or your child to feel that much stress, most of it because of you. Stop having any expectations from your kids. They have their own dreams, their own passions. It's okay if they don’t get the best grades. Stop scolding them for things they may not even be able to control. It is that hard for people to appreciate the positives rather than look at the negatives. Every student has a gift, embrace your child. Don’t put expectations on them. They may be very different from yours. It’s not your life, it’s their, let them live it. Nobody said it like it is so I did. I love education, I do, I just hate the system. So if you’re reading this share it so people know how difficult it is for a child to cope up at school. We don't grow up and forget everything we learned at school.