Refleksion over skoleopgaver og motivation

Hello, Iben. You may be surprised by this, but I’ve decided not to do your assignment. I made this decision mostly because I just didn’t feel like it. I sort of realized the day before yesterday that I hadn’t written the essay, but then I told myself I didn’t have to, since it wouldn’t really change anything.

Well, at first, I told myself it wouldn’t be a problem writing it, you know, I could write about anything I wanted. What freedom! But then it hit me—a feeling that I would spend time doing something both unnecessary and unimportant. You may think that it is important since you learn some English from it, and it would therefore also be necessary.

And, in some sense, you would be right. And then again, the tides change. Grammatically correct English is no longer the English used in day-to-day use. Sure, I could use words such as “magnificent” and “preposterous” to gain imaginary points, that I could spend on what? When I, and almost all others for that matter, speak English, we do not use such words, since that would be unnecessarily complicated.

Yet it is not only because of the English I didn’t feel like it. It was also because of the fact that while writing about anything you want is a great freedom when it comes to school, but of what use? I could certainly write the whole essay on diving, fungi, a lot of animals, a lot of plants, and a lot of subjects in physics and chemistry, but again, of what use? In what situation could I use any of this knowledge? I mean, if I should end up working in a field where any of this is relevant, the knowledge I have now, as a 14-year-old, is nothing compared to what I should have.