Why you should enjoy school

I have never let my schooling interfere with my education. Mark Twain

This week marks Safety in Schools week, and to celebrate, Happiness Weekly is looking at the importance of enjoying school and how it can affect you later in life. Here’s my personal account of how I didn’t enjoy most of my school years – suffering at the hands of bullies. The outcome of my schooling has impacted my life – here’s how:

School shapes your opinion of future education
While I was bullied in school, my brother – who attended an all-boys school was very popular. He got good grades and went straight from high school to university. Meanwhile, following years of bullying which seemed to leap with me from school to school, I received average grades and was very reluctant to do any further education. I was concerned about the bullying following me. I didn’t enjoy the institution of being schooled – with dominant teachers.

I opted to take a year off before continuing any kind of study, which my parents both supported because as is becoming evident, jobs and careers are more difficult to secure without qualifications. The year off gave me more direction for what I wanted to do, it gave me the space I needed to recover from what I had endured at high school and enabled me to secure some confidence and prepare myself for what may be ahead. I didn’t need to worry – school is very different from higher education institutions.

School prepares you for the future
While you may not realise it at the time, the teachers you like or connect with may influence what subjects you enjoy the most. This may affect what you study in school. Once you’ve selected what subjects you like, you’ll stick with them through most of your schooling which may impact what courses you are able to apply for after school. Before you know it, you’ll be looking through lists of courses and ideas for things to study – whether you want to go straight from school to TAFE, College or university, or not.

The subjects you have enjoyed the most in school will play a big role in the type of career you select. You will consider what you have been successful doing and probably veer towards a career in that field or that uses a lot of the subjects you felt confident in. My advice is that if you are stuck to know what to do, ask your parents to make appointments with multiple career advisors and ask them to map step by step what you need to do. Set goals on where your career could head for you to clearly give you a vision of your future.

School is more like work than you think!
It’s so easy when you’re in school to look at your parents and go “I wish I was at work!” but actually, work is not too dissimilar from school. Workplace bullying is as much of an issue as schoolyard bullying in most organisations – in fact, it’s so serious that the Federal Government is putting laws in place to put a stop to it. The fact is, just like school, some people will like you and some people will dislike you – whether this is colleagues (fellow students) or managers (teachers). Learning to manage these behaviours as positively as possible is essential because it is likely you will repeat the pattern for how you deal with negative behaviours in the workplace.

Get used to submitting work and receiving critical responses – this doesn’t change during future education or in the workforce! Reporting in to management or senior management is the same; you still need to submit various pieces of work that someone else will proof before it goes down a chain and becomes and outcome. You will still have favourite tasks among less favourable things you need to do and you will probably still look forward to lunch and home time!

So how can you enjoy school more or help others to enjoy it?
– Remember why school is important
– Avoid procrastinating (it’s a terrible habit to get into)
– Have fun with your friends – plan your lunches so you’re with them
– Write down your assignments and their due dates, start working on them as soon as you can
– Get in the habit of having a good night’s sleep before an important or busy school day
– Maintain a positive attitude where ever possible.

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. Nelson Mandela.