I created an AI image based on what a 13 years old girl told me. This image is about what it feels like to be a teenager sitting in the school. This box on the floor is an urn with ashes.
We were at a dinner with several friends and I was talking to this 13 years old girl who was going to be acting in our next one minute campaign video. I explained to her that the video would be about children who rebel against the school, which has never asked them about what kind of school they would like.
Then I asked her experience, for example why do children missbehave in school.
She had a shocking answer:
‘There have been 4 deaths in our class’.
What do you mean, I asked.
She meant that several families had gone through fatal stories. For example a couple divorced and the children started to live with their mother but then she died. The head teacher of the class also died at some point for unknown reasons. She went to bed one night and never woke up since then.
This has seriously harmed the ability of those children to pay attention in school which dreadfully influenced the atmosphere of the class. But the school did not seem to react to the problem, so the work just went on as usual. As a consequence, children have tried everything they could to obstruct the course of the lessons.
Most schools in Hungary never ask children what they need. The state never asks teachers how they wanna teach. Most adults, like me, are accustomed to this. Perhaps, the school has made me accept that life in Hungary is largely designed according to the needs of those in power and not to my needs.
But when you are young you are different. You are still closer to your natural feelings, like this expectation that all human interactions have to be based on empathy.
During this conversation I realized that there was no need to explain to this young actress why this campaign was about how many children are pissed off by their schools.
Rising up together, rebelling against the regime is like realizing that we all have common feelings and that we can no longer suppress that. I can perfectly identify with children who hate schools. They can save the World.