What Students Are

Saying About the State

of the World
To start the new year, we asked teenagers
how optimistic they were going into 2023.
Here is what they said.

‘The fact that the world has been able to move on with perseverance
after the tumultuous past few years gives me hope for where it’s
going.’

I would personally say that I am optimistic about the trajectory of the world rather
than optimistic about its current state. There is a lot to be done to improve people’s
lives and recover from events like the pandemic. However, the fact that the world has
been able to move on with perseverance after the tumultuous past few years gives me
hope for where it’s going.

— Sophie, Nashville
‘Having a positive thought on the world makes it seem like a better
place.’

Yes, there is poverty, war, disease, and famine, but that’s always been a reality. The
world has always been in a state of needing to be better. It almost seems as though
we’ve convinced ourselves that the picture-perfect utopian world we have read about
is the only world that could allow us to bask in its beauty even if just for a minute. But
there is always going to be suffering, that is by definition life. We need to stop
comparing our reality to that of which we’re imagining, beyond that, we need to look
back on history and put our own society in perspective. We’ve been through world
wars, slavery, pandemics, and so much more. But today we’re raising children in a
world where you can marry who you want, vote, run your house on green energy, and
vaccinate yourself and your loved ones.

— Lillian, Glenbard West High School

‘We can make the world better. It starts with ourselves.’

Am I optimistic about the state of the world? Absolutely. Many argue that the world is
being ruined by humans. That we as humans, are ruining the natural balance of life,
ruining nature, ruining the climate. However, even if humans may have small
negative effects on the above, the advantages of humans being on earth outweigh the
negatives. Humans have the potential to change the world, in a positive way. We can
divert rivers to help habitats and induce premeditated burns to help forest growth.
We can change the fundamental way all of the world’s ecosystems work. Humans can
and have made a positive impact on the world, and they will continue to, which is why
I am optimistic about the future of the world that we call earth.
— Tarun, Farmington, CT