Tuesday 20 May 2014

I Just Want to be Happy...

I don't know how the education system works in other countries, but i can tell you that the education here in Australia is messed up. There are plenty of things that I could rant about regarding Australia's dodgy education system and my high school in general, however today I want to focus on one point in general. Being in grade 12, adults and teachers especially want you to have your whole future figured out. I have had a lot of struggles trying to figure that out... and to be honest I still don't really know. I find the questions "What do you want to do when you finish school?" or "What do you want to be when your older?" very insensitive. I usually just answer with "Oh, I just want to be happy". They look at me like I'm stupid. Society puts such a weight on teenagers by telling them that they have to be wealthy and successful to be happy or get anywhere in life.
Personally I get pretty good grades and get fairly high marks for all my subjects. So you can imagine the careers teachers face when I told him I don't know what I want to do, I just want to be happy. He looked at me like I was stupid and I am wasting my life. He then tried to get me to drop out of art (Which is my favourite subject) to move into a "higher Op ranked subject". I said no, I don't want to go to Uni and I don't want to move out of art. They are so busy worrying about how the schools ranking and how good they look in numbers and don't care about the students.
They are teaching us that we have to be really smart, wealthy and a high social standing to be happy and to get anywhere in life. When in reality money is they least important. As long as you have enough to do what you love and to survive. Anything extra is just a bonus.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying every doctor or scientist is a bad person that only cares about money. There are people out there that just really want to make a difference in this messed up world and help people. But some people think that being a doctor will give them high income and a wealthy lifestyle. I feel sorry for those people stuck in jobs they hate just to support their lifestyle if that means being a lawyer or a dentist go for it. Theres a saying: Do what you love and love what you do. Its your life. Live it how you want to. Not because anyone else told you thats the way to be happy or thats the job that will make you happy because it comes with so many benefits. Don't let people tell you what will make you happy, only you can decide that.
Teenagers aren't allowed to get tattoos, piercings or vote until their 18 because they aren't capable of making decisions, but we are expected to decide what we want to do for the rest of our lives by the age if 14. Why should we be expected to know that. I just want to travel the world and be happy. I will get a job to support that and make it happen, not take over my life.
I live in a town that is full of money and high paying jobs that are mainly fly in fly out. Meaning they leave their families wherever they are and work for 5 weeks straight then go back to their family for 1. What kind of life is that. We weren't born to work all our lives, away from our loved ones. Those people basically work to buy things like houses, cars, boats, food, bikes, and other material things. Then once they have got those things that have to keep working to support the expensive lifestyle they have set themselves up with. That doesn't sound fulfilling at all to me.
Well now I've had my little rant, tell me what you think, what makes you happy?

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