Education is such a broad topic with many differents definitions for different people. Some people look at it as learning and exploring new things. Others may look at it as a waste of time and would rather work or do the things that they enjoy.. What is my definition of education? I can sum it up in one simple word: STRESS. My education is based around a lot of stress, don't get me wrong not all of it is based around stress but a good part of it is. Being a teenager in high school is often looked at as being some of the best and most easy years of your life. Well I am here to tell you that is a load of crap. High school has probably been some of the hardest years so far in my educational career. Now I know that I have to look forward to college and my adult life which gets even harder but for right now it’s very tough. The united states education system has a lot to do with how I feel about my education. The school and government officials have so many rules and regulation that they want the students to conform to so it makes it very hard to enjoy your education. Having a family is a great support system but at that same time it can contribute to the stress that students already face. It can be very difficult to live up to a family's high expectations. I don’t believe in have expectations that are too high however I don't believe that it can be very difficult to live up to them. A little stress is a good thing because it keeps you alert and on your toes but once the stress starts to consume you, that's where the real problem starts. Being in high school can take a lot out of you especially if you are a active student such as myself. Many students including myself have very busy lives because they are involved in many after school activities that consume most of their time needed to do school and and many other things that they enjoy. I have experienced this first hand throughout my high school career. I have participated in marching band, winterguard and a musical. All of those activities take a lot out of you and then you add on school work on top of that. YIKES! I say that because it can become very difficult for a student to maintain all of that while still keeping their grades up. I myself have had some trouble with that between school, marching band, and my new job it is tough to maintain all those things at one time. The school system does not make it any better. Schools make it very hard for students to actually enjoy the things they want to do. It is really hard to go to work knowing you have 2-3 hours worth of homework every night and countless test to prepare for. There have been many times where i would have to choose what homework to do and what homework not to do because I have had so much at one time. Teacher expect you to do all of their homework and pass all of their test. How can you expect a student to go home everyday after dealing with school work and ask them to do 3 hours of homework. I know when i get home the last thing i want to see is a textbook. The school system can be very deceitful at the beginning of the school year. They make it seem like the school year is going to be great and run smoothly but they leave out very important fact to us students. They never tell us how much stress is going to go into being a student. This school system is like a lion's den and we are the piece of steak. It chews us up until their is nothing left but a broken down student consumed with the stress of trying to succeed.