Who wants to be a teenager?

THE pressures of being a student? Where do we begin?

During sixth form, college and the last years of secondary school, teenagers are instructed to bury their heads in books and focus for what may turn out to be the most important times of their lives.

Countless times we have heard parents and family friends tell us that their grades when they left school decades ago were still a major part of their job interviews, potentially the difference between getting the job and not.

But how can this be a good thing?

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The fact that someone in their middle age is still judged upon how they acted when they were in their teens is ridiculous.

We are pulled by society to try and fit in and be popular, but also to work as hard as we possibly can to achieve the highest marks.

We are told that our school days are the best days of our lives, but we must also maintain full effort in studying as we will benefit from our hard work later.

We find it impossible to juggle social life and study as well as we would like, so we have to let some things go slightly, and often this is the education. And who can blame us?

We're told on the radio to "Live while we're young", and that's what many of us want to do — adulthood is not what we're worried about right now.

Also, as students we have to take in to great consideration whether living in Torbay could offer us a good, stable career in the future.

If you want to go into a career of television acting or fashion, you have no choice but to leave the local area and live in a city, which is not necessarily something we want to do, but need to.

Universities also present another challenge, as they will provide most students' first formal interview, which can be a very daunting task.

Tough decisions must be made about which universities to apply to, how to present yourself in a personal statement, how to cope away from home for years etc.

This, coupled with the fact that many graduates are unable to find work as easily as students who would leave school and immediately enter employment, can make us contemplate not applying at all due to the stress of it all.

However, most graduates do agree that it was worth it, despite the debts reaching tens of thousands of pounds, and seem to encourage others to go to university too, saying that it is an experience that shouldn't be missed.

All in all, being a student can be very demanding, but we mostly enjoy it. We have to hand in homework, but we don't have to worry about paying the mortgage.

We don't get the privileges of being an adult, but we do get the fun of being a teenager.

Just remember that we have a right to be stressed out every now and again though!

Article by Chloe Watling, Dean Pomeroy and Laura Wilkins of Torquay Academy and Torquay Boys’ Grammar School