At school, teachers always hold high expectations, in terms of academics and behaviour. In this traditional education system, teachers tend to compare students with each other. The hardworking and academically-inclined students are the teacher’s pet; yet the idle and mischievous students are regarded as the disgrace of the class. If students don't complete the school work, teachers perceive the students as indolent and apathetic.
However, is laziness a heinous crime?
In my opinion, many students don’t complete their work due to the overload of homework and some might think that school work is unimportant as they haven’t realised the importance of education. Therefore, a student we often regard as sluggish might have some undiscovered causes which have led to their laziness.
For instance, I have a friend who has her life filled with tuition classes without any break. I still remember her grim expression and her miserable eyes looking down towards the floor listlessly when she was complaining about her mundane, yet stressful, tuition schedule. Besides, her parents put a high expectation on her as she is the eldest child among the siblings, and she was forced by her parents to get a scholarship because her parents couldn’t afford her secondary school fees. In this dire straits, she just wanted to give up her academics because she was really sick of her life being controlled by her parents. Since then, she began to ignore all the school work given by teachers and even played truant. Can we really blame her for the laziness? The so-called laziness is just the result of neglect by her parents.
In this highly competitive society, top students are more likely to get employed with a higher pay. Hence, parents always put high expectations on their child, and push their child to be the best in academics in order to enter a better university and have a brighter future. However, they don’t realise it has become an invisible pressure to their children, causing the desire to escape for their children. As a result, children may be harmed mentally and their only way to resist passively is to become slothful and run away from the control.
I can’t deny that being utterly idle and carefree is not a good habit. However, being inactive for a while and taking time to relax can help us to rest our mind and reflect on ourselves.
Why is that so?
In my opinion, I treat it as a time for me to take a break and to rejuvenate myself after battling with my studies for a long time. Sometimes being in a lethargic state can really help us to reflect and think about what we can do to better our future.
However, laziness shouldn’t be prolonged, it could make your life miserable and eventually make you lose your direction. If you are the one who is struggling and think that you don’t have any goals in your life, you will eventually find it when you try to explore new things.
To overcome indolence, you can think of one thing that you really want to do. We don’t have to set our target at the start, let’s just begin with the first step. For example, if you want to lose weight, you can try to begin with a 10-minute brisk walk; or if you want to complete a book, you can start to read a few pages.
If you have taken your first step, congratulations!
If you think that you always like to procrastinate, you really have to set your mind to it and make a move even if it’s a small step. Next, you have to set a clear and achievable target so that you are able to see your own progress day by day and feel motivated.
We are still young and we have a lot of time to pursue our dreams and improve ourselves. It doesn't matter whether you fail or succeed, most importantly, you’ve tried!
Every dream requires discipline. Wishing you a bright youth ahead!
I grew up in a Chinese family. I am a typical Malaysian Chinese teenager who attended Chinese school and these kinds of schools are often regarded as conservative, strict and authoritarian.
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