My School Life Pretending To Be A Worthless Person – What does this mean for your children? School tends to be a difficult time, at least for most young people. Of course, some enjoy the experience, the interaction, or some of their subjects, but school has an intense emotional impact on most people. The high school is known for being exceptionally difficult to navigate emotionally. 

The developmental stage of the school-aged child plays a significant role, but it is essential to look at why so many children and teenagers fail to thrive and instead look forward to finishing their school careers.

The Role Of The School System: My School Life Pretending To Be A Worthless Person

Schools are driven mainly by academic performance and structured in a way that values and facilitates academic excellence above all else. The academic curriculum rarely prepares learners for the real world and often discredits the importance of skills-based jobs or the Arts. Most school systems seek to build learners’ theoretical knowledge, although it usually does not translate into practical knowledge that can be used in everyday life.

Some of the theories taught can be immensely important to those seeking to work in related fields. Still, to many, workshops, physically solving problems, and applied skills, would be much more beneficial to a much larger population of students. This is also why standardized testing is problematic for Mental Health. When you test a bird’s ability to swim, you are setting them up for failure.

Due to the extreme value placed on excelling academically or in sports, many students who do not fall into either of these categories are left feeling out of place and like they need to be valued. School becomes a dreaded place and experience that these students wish away daily, where they should have enjoyed the learning experience.

Other factors, such as bullying and financial strain, play into feeling worthless and helpless at school. There is a lot of peer pressure that also adds to the stress of students. Pressure to own certain things, get into specific programs or colleges or be in certain crowds. When all of these factors come together, it is a disaster for a teenager’s mental health. The role of parents and the developmental phase

Parents And Development

Many parents are also guilty of perpetuating the pressure on students to perform well throughout school. Some even push kids into careers they are not interested in or rely on results for future financial gain. This type of pressure can lead to pathological anxiety and failing to reach the desired results show feeling worthless and hopeless.

Children go through so many developmental phases as they grow. Each of these phases forms a part of their identity. What they learn, what they are exposed to, how they are parented, their friends, their environment, and the people around them all impact them at each stage of development. This is why ensuring that the school environment benefits the child at each stage of development is essential.

When people feel valued, loved, and embraced for who they are, they become better versions of themselves. When they are forced to fit into some ideal, they have to chip away at who they are, and this is when they become vulnerable to mental health issues and feel worthless.

Coping with My School Life Pretending To Be A Worthless Person

How do you cope as a minor? Many students then choose to go into pilot mode. They act. However, they need to work to get through the day. They study and perform to their highest ability and act like their real interests are worthless. For many kids, this kind of mask already forms at a young age. They are conditioned and taught to push aside what they want to do to perform well, spend time on particular activities, and work with others, such as parents or teachers. 

It can be challenging for young people to distinguish between their true selves and the person they pretend to be when the one they pretend to be is the one who gets noticed and recognized. Many learn to associate their interests with feeling worthless when they don’t get recognition for pursuing their authentic selves as much as they do for the person they pretend to be at school or at all.

This reinforces the helpless feeling and supports that they have to act. Some cope using whatever methods their parents taught them, either directly or indirectly, while others turn to their peers.

Many students feel like they cannot talk to anyone or are unaware of anyone else pretending to be someone they are not. They are not aware that so many others also feel worthless. 

Mental Health Awareness And Intervention

Schools do not necessarily take mental health seriously. They often discount mental health struggles as typical teen angst when they try to reach out for assistance. Usually, the people in charge of anti-bullying- or mental health programs and interventions at schools are uneducated, making flawed school policies or mishandling situations. 

The popular series 13 Reasons Why highlighted how school impacts mental health and the other factors that play a role in an emotionally healthy student. While some schools try to stay on top of bullying and care for their student’s mental health, others begin and end with an annual wellness day that lightly touches on these topics. The goal for schools taking care of mental health comes back to academic performance, so it is to be expected that they will have limited resources and can only intervene to a certain extent.

Reach Out

School may not be the picture of an environment conducive to mental health, so learning other healthy ways of coping is essential when stress takes over. 

Some great ways to cope include practicing mindfulness, reciting mantras that reinforce a belief of worthiness, writing down a plan, exercising, writing or journaling, listening to music, talking to someone trusted, and meditating. 

Parents should also be supportive of positive coping strategies and awareness of issues with mental health long before a child gets to the point of pretending or feeling worthless. It is important to show unconditional love and support and actively boost self-love and a sense of worthiness and belonging.  

Conclusion

Know that school is temporary even when it feels like forever. Be assured that all life has worth, and even when it feels the complete opposite, you can cope, make it through school, do what makes you happy, and bring you a feeling of worth. Schools are not built to help people thrive. They are only a baseline of knowledge that we take into the real world before we learn and become our true selves. You do not have to pretend to be worthless. You do not have to pretend to like school or to be happy there. Just know that you will get through it as worthy as anyone else. You deserve to feel valued and respected. 

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