How Much Of School Should Be Fun?

With Elliot & Stella

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Do you always have to pay attention in class?

Elliot - When we say learning, that is simply referring to the school curriculum as technically you’re always learning new things socially aswell.

Stella - Of course, the purpose of school is to get an education, however, that's not the whole reason why you're there. Otherwise, everyone would just be learning at home alone on a computer. This shows how incredibly important it is to create new social skills that you'll use for the rest of your life.

Yes, so, to me, this means it is okay to not always pay attention and instead dedicate time towards creating better friendships, being aware of when the time is to pay attention so you don't miss important information.

Should school curriculum focus more on life skills?

I think most schools do something towards teaching life skills, such as a small range of cooking or helping find a career, however, it is not enough.

Yeah, going into the real world after highschool can feel daunting, and the more you know about it the better.

I think they focus too much on subjects such as English and maths that although they are important for most jobs, you are just left with all this information that's not going to help you anywhere in everyday life.

Do you always have to be productive?

Well, it can be impossible to always be productive, but I have known people who could always get everything done in class so they never had to do any homework. Not only this, but they still managed to get perfect grades.

I think completing the work in the time given at school can be easier for some people, depending on how interested they are in the topic, and how much their grades mean to them, but it is okay not to be able to work every second of class time.

Should you choose subjects you enjoy or subjects for a career?

I think that's a tough choice, but you should probably pick your interests.

Yeah, your plans for the future are most likely going to change so much when you're older so you may as well just do what you enjoy now because if you're not certain about a career, you don't want to have to have all this stress and do subjects you hate for nothing.

But can you find a balance between both? Lots of people kind of decided that they would do a couple subjects for their career and then they'd do a few that sounded fun.

For me, I was so unsure about my career that I thought it was just worth it to enjoy high school as much as I could and do everything I found fun. I feel that through following what I find fun it will lead me to a career that is fulfilling.

So I wanted to tell myself that I would do the fun things, but I knew in year 12, I would have been overthinking everything and would have chosen all the most difficult subjects that I didn’t even enjoy. I am torn as I only really remember what happens in the fun subjects, I still continue to laugh about those experiences with my friends, but it really depends on where your priorities lie.

Is it good to prioritise fun at school?

Friends have always been really important because I need to be around people. I love having a good time and creating amazing memories to look back on and laugh about.

Yeah, but should you focus just be on those friendships or your future?

It’s tricky. If you have never done any work your entire life and you just focused on having fun, maybe it would help you later on if you put more effort in. If you're the other way around and you put in too much effort, then sometimes you just need to step back and let your grades drop a little bit to be able to enjoy life.

How do you decide what matters to you?

I always feared that I would go through high school spending too much time on my schoolwork, however, I never actually got anything done in class as I was always distracted and too tired to focus in that kind of environment, so I instead did everything at home which led to my homework taking over my whole life.

Well, it's difficult because for everyone that's going to be something different. So it's not like there's just one answer that matters.

I'd say that you should probably be aware of what brings you the most joy. Youu need to think about that, but then you also need to think about in life, where do you want to be when you're older?

My other thought is that high school probably isn't going to be the most important thing. Just remember the best memories in your life are still ahead of you, so you don't need to worry too much. So if you had a choice between studying for a year nine math test, that was barely worth anything, and had nothing to do with the rest of your life or going out with your family on a once-in-a-lifetime adventure, what would you do?

Probably the test because I just need to get a perfect grades or I’ll feel so horrible about myself.

Wow, I just can’t understand how something that’s not even important at all can be more important than your happiness, but I guess if those grades are what makes you happy that’s okay.