Teenagers Are the Ultimate Strikers

This week students went back to school after a teachers' strike in the windy city of Chicago. I know the conflict was incredibly important and it was paramount to get kids back into school. I know that it's excellent news that an agreement was reached and students are back in class. But I feel really bad for those kids plodding their way to school. Yes, the strike was a pivotal moment in politics and may even have an impact on the elections later this year. But come on. Think about it from our point of view. You may write my statement off as that of an ignorant, whining teenager. That's because you hear all the news from adults. You're only getting the adult perspective, and therefore only biased information. So listen with an open mind.

The lives of hardworking students like me are consumed by the monstrous cycle of school. Monday through Friday is nothing but rigorous homework and school work. Weekends were once a sacred thing held dear as a time free of homework. That illusion was soon destroyed by a little thing called high school. So that's why we students drag our heels when it comes to coming to school. Think about it, these kids in Chicago got like a week out of school. I hate to imagine what I would do get that kind of free time, or what any student would do to get that kind of free time. Free time is a precious commodity that is gone as quickly as we receive it. I never have enough free time to do all I would like, so I multi-task my chillaxing time. At this exact moment, I am watching My Fair Wedding (Don't judge, it's my guilty pleasure) and furiously writing this blog post. Many students are equally competent masters of this fine art, because we have so little free time. So just imagine what those of us with a black belt in relaxing would do with an entire week. I can barely even begin to comprehend what all I could do (it would include hard-core Netflix binging among other things). So think of how jealous I was getting up at 5:30 every morning while hundreds of students didn't have to go to that pit of despair known as school. Granted, many students didn't have anywhere to go during the day, but at least they weren't going to school. Being anywhere but school is amazing. Even though we were all terrified of taking our AP exams, we were still psyched to get to go and take a test outside of school.

So don't hate me for laughing while listening to NPR while I get ready for school in the morning. All these people are tearing it to shreds and analyzing its causes and possible effects, and all I can think of is how great it must be for the students. Sure, the strike shows how the system is breaking. Sure, this is a head on clash between a strained government and organized labor groups with legitimate concerns. But we students are helpless victims caught up in it. So why not get what fun you can get out of it? Think about it. As for me, I don't have to, because I have a 3 day weekend coming up, and I'm not going to waste a single moment of it...