The Art of Not StuDIE-ing By Vianca Ocampo
Admit it, being a student is straight on tough.
It can be said that teens of today have triple the workload and double the problems than teenagers 10 years ago. Other than our usual battles with puberty and hormones, we are also burdened by the idea that we have to somehow, someday, uplift the world and make it a better place. Teens today are constantly pressured and drilled to fit in society, perform academically well, and act accordingly all at the same time. Instead of being able to be free to do whatever we want, we are chained down by our responsibilities. Included here is our task to hone our talents and broaden our field of knowledge.
Studying should be a fun process. However, things can get way out of hand easily. At one point (or maybe even several points) in a student’s life, studying becomes an agonizingly unending process of senseless brain activity, coupled with a whole lot of sweat, mucus, and tears. When this happens, the constant drive to study gradually disappears, and is replaced by hopelessness and misery.
It is in this challenging stage that teens result to other means for relief. When the pressure of studying, coupled with problems from peers and families, take over the mindsets of teenagers, conflicts start to arise. This is when we enter the point of our lives when we play tug of war between being the good guy and being the independent rebel. It is also in this stage that we experience the pressure of growing up and fitting in our rightful place in society. It is here that we realize that things are messy in the real world. And when reality finally kicks in, everything changes.
One grave result of over-studying and teenage pressure would be suicide. This is no new problem in society for we see incidents of these being reported over television reports and written all over newspapers. Students, teachers, and parents are all well aware of the existence of suicides in our schools and universities. What we fail to see however is the gravity and the extent to which this issue has grown for the past few years.
Records have shown that this ill effect of studying has quickly taken its toll in our country. Due to extreme depression, pressure, and anxiety, more and more teens are taking their lives away. Based on data from the National Statistics Office, the suicide rate of the Philippines has been increasing for the last twenty years. Suicide among males has risen from 0.23 to 3.59 per 100,000 males between 1984 and 2005. Meanwhile, the suicide rate for women has risen from 0.12 to 1.09 per 100,000 females. Together with this is the alert of an increasing trend for suicide generating in the 15-24 year-old bracket. This means that students in the high school and college level have a high risk of committing suicide.
On a Global School-based Health Survey (GSHS) conducted by the World Health Organization last 2004, a total of 17% of students surveyed responded that they seriously considered suicide, and have already gone as far as making a suicide plan, during the past 12 months. Between the ages of 15-24, 15% of males and 35% of females have had suicidal thoughts, while 56% of males and 52% of females had attempted suicide.
Although death is a common event in our country, isn’t it alarming that our “leaders of tomorrow” are resulting to jumping off skyscrapers and hanging themselves from ceilings? Upon seeing the records, statistics might not be as significant now. But as the society continues to change, and as teens continue their lives without proper support and guidance, the numbers would only increase.
There are a lot of factors that we can blame for the rapid increase of the rate of suicide. One would be mental health problems. Based on the results of the 2004 GSHS, 42% of the respondents have said that they felt sad and hopeless almost every day for two weeks or more during the past 12 months. Moreover, 11% mentioned that they feel lonely most of the times, and 15% stated that they feel worried and could not sleep during the night. These may result to graver mental disturbances such as anxiety, depression, and insomnia, in which, if severe enough, may encourage teens to have suicidal thoughts. Another factor that can affect teenage behavior would be major life changes in one’s life such as family problems, and financial changes. But one very peculiar reason for suicide, which roots from school activities, is the feeling of hopelessness due to academically-related problems. Names and faces of scholars and
academic achievers are seen in the news, not because of their achievements, but because they have taken their lives away. This has been an unfortunate issue going on for years now.
Our studies may become a burden at times, depending on how we deal with the pressure that comes with it. However, if we persistently battle against the feeling of despair and disheartenment, we would triumphantly overcome the challenges of teenage life. An effective prevention to feeling depressed and suicidal would be to keep a positive attitude towards everything – be it grades, friends, or family. It would be okay to fuss over our test results once in a while, but to take it personally would be dangerous (fatal, even). Another cure for suicidal thoughts would be to always keep a close and open relationship with your friends and love ones. In this way, you would be able to have the support and care you need to get by with all the wretched problems life brings.
Suicide may be an easy way out, but you wouldn’t want to waste all that potential over something trivial or answerable. Things may not turn out the way you want them to go, but what’s good is that you’ve learned in the process. Studying should and could be fun, if we will it to be. We just have to keep a clear and open mind about it, and not kill ourselves in the process. - END Vianca A. Ocampo St. Scholastica’s College Manila vianca_ocampo@yahoo.com