Her future is planned out but she hardly knows if she really wants it and suffers through every minute leading up to it. She does things mindlessly and detached from her emotions, leading her to feel lost and shameful for never doing anything with herself. Without schoolwork, Frances doesn’t really know who she is or what she likes. This lack of identity is another key theme in Oseman’s book. She dubs this husk of a human ‘School Frances’ while ‘Real Frances’ is a rare occurrence. She hardly recalls the last time she’s really, truly talked to someone where the topic wasn’t schoolwork. There is no happiness where there isn’t high marks and “smart-looking” degrees. The main character, Frances Janvier, is all too relatable in her worship of productivity and lack of sleep, but even more so in her idea that college is the endgame. That’s why reading Alice Oseman’s ‘Radio Silence’ meant so much to me. But when everyone around you is telling you you’ll never be good enough, it’s easy to fall into a pit of depression where your happiness is a numerical value. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve tried to steer clear of the groups where school self-deprecation reaps endless sympathy and answers are shared without a second thought. How many of us have fallen victim to impulsively checking Infinite Campus three times a day or can still hear our teachers’ screams ringing in our ears? The culture around education seems tainted and unreal, like a dramatized horror film where failure is the silent killer. You stay up until 2:00 studying for a test at 8:15 and try to learn content all while being told the all too familiar phrase, “You should know this.” Everyone badgers you to share what grade you received before you’ve even touched the paper. Freshman initiation meetings show detailed accounts of how every grade you make will directly affect your future and success. If you are a student here at Chamblee, you know the drill all too well.įrom day one, sky-high expectations from teachers and peers fill our brains as we try to cram in lengths of knowledge concurrently.
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