Comfort, Compliance and the Cult of Fragility
School used to be where you learned to cope with difficulty. Now it’s where you learn to avoid it. We’ve built a system that rewards fragility, punishes independence, and medicalises effort. Resilience isn’t something we teach—it’s something we fucking sideline. And no one is talking about the long-term cost of raising a generation that can’t cope with being uncomfortable.
The Erosion of Classroom Civility
The classroom, once a space of basic cooperation—however reluctant—has become loaded with hostility, apathy, and arrogance. The respect has gone. Kids walk in late, with no pen, no folder, no clue what day it is, and expect to be entertained. If you challenge it, you get attitude: “Why are you shouting at me?” or “What’s your problem?” The concept of effort is alien. The idea of consequence? Hilarious. School is no longer a space for learning; it’s an inconvenience in their dopamine-chasing day
How Image Obsession is Warping Girls’ Self-Worth and School Culture
It’s a tough subject, but I’m going to say it: girls in schools are spending more time on their appearance than their education. Fake lashes, full makeup, skirts rolled , TikTok poses at break. It’s not “just a phase”—it’s a full shift in values. Where boys have turned to toxic male influencers as a model for behaviour, girls are copying shallow, appearance-focused ones. Looks now carry more weight than effort. Schools are avoiding the issue for fear of backlash. Meanwhile, girls are being shaped by an attention economy built on insecurity.
I have explored this topic before, but every year I am reminded of the mess, and every year it makes me question whether I or indeed anyone else should consider this a viable career. The mental health strain is undeniable.
Education should be about young people. Yet, in many schools, the toxic culture takes root—one where certain members of leadership dedicate every waking moment to the institution, and they expect everyone else to do the same, as Aldous Huxley said: ‘Community, Identity, Stability’. These individuals often don’t have the same responsibilities as classroom teachers, but their overcommitment becomes the standard. If you’re not staying late, taking on extra duties, or responding to emails at all hours, you’re not “dedicated enough.” The result? Guilt. Exhaustion. Burnout. This is not commitment—it’s coercion.
