Growing up, I was definitely a Disney Channel girl. I was obsessed with every show, from The Suite Life of Zack and Cody to Hannah Montana. I learned many valuable life lessons from these shows, and they did end up having a big impact on who I was while growing up. Although some may complain that Disney Channel has gone downhill in recent years, I have to disagree. From what I've seen, the shows currently playing on Disney Channel contain important lessons that really resonate with children of today.

There is one show in particular, though, that has completely exceeded my expectations, and that is Girl Meets World. Girl Meets World, the Boy Meets Worldspinoff, follows Riley Matthews, American teenage girl, and her friends as they navigate upper adolescent life. Unlike many Disney Channel shows of past and present, Girl Meets World depicts and “average” protagonist with an “average” life, making it extremely relatable for viewers. That being said, Girl Meets World is anything but average. Despite its success among a wide range of viewers, rumors have been swirling that Disney Channel may be cancelling the coming-of-age show, as the network has yet to renew the show for a fourth season.

I honestly believe that Girl Meets World is the best show Disney Channel has ever created, and I am deeply saddened at the thought of Disney deciding to cancel it. In a time where a lot of hope has been lost, Girl Meets World teaches valuable lessons to a new generation that will ultimately influence our world in a positive way. Not only does the show tackle common problems among young teenagers, such as dealing with schoolwork, budding romance, and friendship drama, but it has also introduced many important issues that other children’s shows fail to show. These include bullying (Girl Meets Rileytown), gender inequality in math and science (Girl Meets STEM) and even religion (Girl Meets Belief).

The most amazing thing about Girl Meets World is not even the fact that important and rarely discussed issues are being presented, but that they are being presented in the most authentic way possible. Often times, when children’s shows do decide to present more serious problems, they tend to sugar-coat them. This is not the case in Girl Meets World. Girl Meets World is a show that will tug at your heartstrings because of the emotion and authenticity each character brings to the story. In Girl Meets Rileytown, Riley has a bully. Rather than brush it off and come up with some scheme to defeat this bully, like most children’s shows would tend to do, Riley spends the majority of the episode in emotional distress. She openly shows the amount of pain she feels as she cries into her best friend’s shoulder and even admits this bully is affecting the way she sees herself and her value. Although this episode is particularly somber, it ends with a message of hope, as Riley realizes with the help of her friends and family that this bully does not define her. Every single episode of Girl Meets World is met with this same authenticity and ultimately, hope.

I genuinely wish that this show would have been part of my childhood growing up. I believe it could have saved me from a lot of heartbreak and trouble I would face as I got older. Growing up in typical American suburbia, as a child, I had very little exposure to real life issues that affect us more and more as we grow older. If I had a show like Girl Meets World to expose me to these issues and learn how to deal with them, maybe I would have understood them more once they directly affected me. The fact that children are being presented with a show like Girl Meets World fills me with such joy and hope. It would be a true shame if we lost it.

Girl Meets World is a show that teaches valuable life lessons to older children. It tells stories form a variety of perspectives, allowing viewers to understand different viewpoints and, therefore, be more empathetic and understanding to the world around them. Exposing young people to circumstances they may ultimately face not only gives them ways to deal with these issues, but also shows them that there is validity in their feelings. Girl Meets World successfully exposes its young viewers to real world issues while also offering a sense of hope that is essential to our newer generation. This is a show that has the potential to chance the world. Please, Disney Channel, don’t let it go.