I.am.going.crazy.

First of all I live in korea and the education is pretty messed up here. I'm just so overwhelmed right now because I have like 5 assignments piled up..

Let me tell yall about my schedule..

Mon/Wed I have 3 hrs of english
Tue/Thu I have 3 hrs of math
Fri I have 1 hr of Chinese / 3 hr of english debate
Sat I have 3 hr math / 3 hr korean literature
Sun i have 2.5 hr science.

These are all after-school academies.

I do math 3 years above my age, and pretty similar in science. and it's HARD.

COMBINE ALL THIS WITH 8 HOURS OF SCHOOL EVERY DAY + SCHOOL EXAMS (i have to keep my grades perfect) + HOMEWORK FROM ALL THOSE ACADEMIES PLUS SCHOOL.

I don't know how long i can keep this going and it's physically / mentally killing me.

aaaand the thing is, this is considered close to AVERAGE. It's a pretty competitive neighborhood i live in, and yeah. this is average and I'm FALLING BEHIND IN MATH.

I'M DOING SOMETHING FREAKING 3 YEARS ABOVE MY AGE, BUT THE OTHER KIDS TO HIGHER.

I logically know I DON'T suck at math, but everyone else makes me feel that way and i don't know, i have to keep EVERYTHING perfect and it's driving me crazy.

Tbh I want to pursue art or music, I sincerely think it'd make me happy and I do have a bit of talent but my parents don't like it.

I have to be absolutely PERFECT if I want to get in a good high school, which will help me get into a good university, which will ultimately make me happy according to my parents but why can't i just be happy now??

I'm trying to learn guitar and practice watercolor right now and i really like it but it's really hard to squeeze all that into my schedule.

I'm a bit overwhelmed, all this with anxiety, depression and messed up parents is driving me crazy, please help.

By the way, it's 12 15 am here and I haven't slept before at least 1am in a while.

I'm not sure anyone here will be able to speak about education in South Korea, but I feel very qualified to state that lack of sleep isn't going to help anything. It's especially not going to help you remember stuff. I don't know what your parents think about it, but it seems your sleep is affected but the excessive amount of school work, and maybe you could bring their attention to it in some shape or form. I mean, it doesn't matter how many hours of science/math you pile on if you don't remember any of it... And also it's generally recommended to leave a couple hours of idleness before bed to let the brain wind down...

I'm sorry it has to be this way for you when it isn't what you want if you ever went to the HS i went to you would certainly make us all look like imbeciles in math

That sounds like a tough regimen

I recall watching some documentaries on South Korea's education system, and frankly, I cannot really consider it exactly humane. All around the world, there are education systems which are far less intense, yet plenty of remarkably successful individuals graduate from these schools every year. There becomes a point in which studying becomes rote memorization, which is no longer learning. From what I have seen, Korean education is less about learning and more about enduring.