Misconception #17: School years are carefree

Over the years, I have been writing about misconceptions regarding the schooling process. The purpose of these posts is to explain why I disagree with various comments that I have heard people make about schooling. These are meant as personal thoughts rather than conclusive proof, and I will admit that I'm not always the best at explaining my thoughts. Regardless, I have decided that I should be willing to share these posts when I encounter someone online who makes an argument that I have already discussed.

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Can someone explain something to me? How can anyone consider school years to be carefree?

I have heard arguments about enjoying your school years because the real world is so much worse. I have even heard arguments that you should try to draw out your school years to avoid entering the real world. While I agree that the real world is seriously messed up, I would much rather work than go to school.

The real problem here is stress. Needing money to survive and having to cope with people bossing you around can definitely cause stress. Of course, teachers are as bad if not worse at bossing people around. You still need money to survive either way. When you are a kid, your parents take care of financial issues for you. This isn’t so much of an advantage as a tradeoff since you also don’t get very much money to enjoy.

You are also more locked in to schooling than you are to a job. If you hate a job, you can quit and look for another job. There are times when you can convince your boss to make changes to your job if it isn’t working for you. In school, you really aren’t given the opportunity to quit, and if you can’t handle your teacher’s way of doing things, you don’t have any choices.

I might as well bring back the topic of emotional abuse. The schools pressure you to do all sorts of impractical busywork under the threat of destroying your entire future. That doesn’t sound carefree to me, and I certainly don’t remember my school years as a carefree moment in life. Perhaps that’s because schooling is not carefree.