Madison has a culture driven by families deciding to give their child or children a better education here at our schools. This education culture varies by family—some move to Madison due to our successful sports programs, others for education opportunities at Daniel Hand High School—but while parents see this as an advantageous opportunity, it is also a stressful environment for students that, combined with other decisions, can cause a student to turn away from their education and cause them to make harsh decisions that shape the rest of their life.

When students are exposed to this culture, their whole life changes. The students commit to a certain sport or activity or to achieving certain grades in the fear of not getting into college or furthering their education after high school. Some people really feel these pressures. It shapes how they do work, communicate, and compete with others, and deal with stress for the rest of their lives.

What creates this stressful environment are the students and the parents of Madison, either through positive encouragement or expressing disappointment in the grades the student receives. Some students do not take these pressures well, and ignore it, using outlets to suppress the stress, especially drugs. In recent years, Madison now has a silent community of users, with the group growing more and more each year that Madison does not fully recognize, not wanting to taint the perfect picture of Madison education. If these students do not travel, make connections with the real world outside, and realize Madison and college is not what makes up their whole world, they feel the constant need to escape or face the immense stress created by the community. The bubble of Madison is only making the drug-dependent community grow.

Daniel Zsebik

Madison