Happiness. The state of being happy.

Are you happy? Children in England are commonly found to be ‘among the unhappiest in the world’. Ten teenagers taking their GCSEs this year gave their answer to this question. Perhaps journalistically this is a poor question to ask: it can be answered with a yes or no. Yet not once was I given this answer. When it comes to happiness, the answer is clearly not straightforward.

‘I personally believe I am a very happy person and take pride in trying to make others feel the same way. However, I also understand how the pressure of exams causes so many students to put happiness aside in today's society.’

“Generally, I am happy but there are certainly parts of my life where I am not happy. This is can be at school where I am under lots of pressure to do well and the stress often comes from having to do multiple things at once. I find happiness comes with things not directly related to school such as friends or hobbies such as dance’

‘I would say I am a happy person. Of course, I am stressed because of exams but I don’t believe it has made me unhappy.’

‘I really don’t know, that’s a difficult question to answer.’

‘I am really happy. Life is generally going well and I am optimistic for the future. You would think walking around a school that it is an unhappy place because of the stress, but many adults say that their school days are the best of their lives.’

‘I’m not happy. My school environment is friendly but stress prevents me from being happy.’

‘It's not my school that is the problem but rather a system that I believe puts too much stress on teens.’

‘I’m a very happy person. I think my school is a pleasant place to be and I’m surrounded by many friends that help me cope with the stress.’

‘Happiness is relative and I believe that whilst I am unhappy now doing exams, perhaps that is not what real unhappiness is.’

‘The answer changes. I might say yes right now but five minutes it could change.’

Rosanna Elliott, Bromley High School.