School Stuff

Geeks Argument

9/17/18 The Geeks Shall Inherit The Earth argument writing // adversity prompt

In the 2007-2013 series, Skins, many real life situations that teens go through in high school are demonstrated. With issues from substance abuse, mental illness, and eating disorders to teenage pregnancy and even death being results of the hardships teens endure in high school, bullying and exclusion are a huge factor in students' success in and outside of the classroom. Bullying is accurately shown in Skins through the diverse variety of students portrayed. One of these students is Emily Fitch, a shy, unpopular girl who is constantly living in the shadow of her twin sister, Katie. While Emily and Katie share a few things, like their eccentric, artificial red hair and their last name, the twins have hardly anything in common. From the outside looking in, it can be perceived that Emily is in with the "popular" crowd, but in reality she's only included in the popular students' antics because they allow Katie, the vastly more popular twin, to drag her sister along. While the main reason that Katie is known as the "alpha-twin" is because Katie sleeps around more and dresses more provocatively than Emily, it's also because Emily is known for being a loser, and she's constantly tormented by other students, including her own sister, for being presumably gay in the earlier season, and later for dating a fellow outcast, Naomi, the "weird girl".
The way that students like Emily Fitch are treated, merely because they're not conforming to the mold of the typical high school student, is preposterous. There is no reason that students should feel excluded or uncomfortable within their own school community. Students such as these can be led to suffer from all kinds of issues like substance abuse and addiction, anxiety, depression, dysmorphia, and many more, because they feel singled out and exiled or tormented by their peers. Throughout history we've been implementing the idea of equality into our daily lives. While many of these ideas came much later than we hoped, eventually African-Americans and women acquired the right to vote, interracial and gay couples can get married in 50 states, and we're still working towards equality for a multitude of other minorities.The reason that millions of people today feel more accepted and comfortable in their own skin is because we chose to embrace them despite their differences, rather than refuse to accept them if they decide not to conform. This policy must be implemented into high schools today so that students can feel comfortable and ready to learn within their environment. This way, education becomes a voluntary privilege that students want to partake in because they're less focused on how their peers will perceive them for wearing the wrong thing or acting the wrong way, and they're more focused on furthering their education and creating a pathway for a successful life.