My TED talk essay by Dylan

My TED talk essay by Dylan - July 2017 Scholarship Essay

TED talk is a great way to help promote social change around the world today. TED talk has changed the lives of many people through its awe inspiring people bringing up key issues of society today. For my TED talk I will be talking about the unrealistic expectations upon youth in society today. From a young age children are told that in order to be successful they must either be smart or athletic and they are pushed greatly into one specific area and forced to specialize in it by focusing all their time on this specific field.
Children from as early as they can talk are constantly being groomed for success. You may say well this is great but for whom is it great for. For instance being smart is pushed upon children. They must learn these flashcards and be as smart as possible before even entering grade school. This is great for a child's future but where is their chance to play, have fun and grow? The child will soon get so wrapped up in “studying” throughout their life that they will lose out on social experiences that are necessary for a good life. Half of getting a job is knowing the field you're in, but the other half is people skills. So while the child is indoors studying away on math problems three grade levels above them their friends are having fun, and also building up great communication skills. The child is doomed later on because they will feel immense pressure when they arrive at high school to get good grades and to be the perfect student.So much so that they will become socially awkward and could possibly suffer a mental breakdown. This facet of the my TED talk topic of unrealistic societal pressures on children is important to me because I have seen first hand what the pressure of you must be smart that is put upon the child from the parents has done to people; some of my friends have had mental breakdowns due to this immense pressure.
Another facet of unrealistic expectations comes from the parent forcing sports upon their child. They start training their child as hard as a collegiate athlete from ages as young as four. This may not seem believable but I have seen it first hand myself, as i've been training since a young age for football and recently I have seen parents who decided to pay a trainer $120 dollars a week to train their prodigal son and daughter to be a football and track star. These kids are trained and pressured as much as me, which is ridiculous. Once children become good at their sport their parents often post them on social media with their highlights, and call the “the next great thing” comparing them to athletes like Lebron James.People then buy in to the hype because everyone wants to know that athlete who made it big. The child is then constantly in the public eye and has no choice but to continue athletics even though they never wanted to commit to just basketball or football. This forces a child to lose passion for the sport and puts unnecessary pressure on them going through life.
Children are constantly being dubbed the next Einstein or Michael Jordan by their parents who put the pressure on them to succeed. They are under pressure from their parents to either become a doctor and cure cancer or be a basketball legend anything less will be a failure. This is why I believe today many children are going into mental breakdowns or are stressed to no end. Instead of doing what they want or what they love their parents and forcing upon them to do what they think is best for them when really it’s only hurting the child.