Imagine going home, knowing that you have a ton of homework due the next day, as well as tests to study for. This already seems pretty bad, but if you have extracurriculars to do that day, the stress piles up. The time that you’ll have to finish your work from school is decreased, and by the time you’re done your extracurriculars, you’ll have less energy to finish your studying. I told you all to picture this in your head, but most of you don’t have to. This is because you have probably experienced it almost on a daily basis everyday after school. Have you ever wondered why we go to bed so late, and why some of our teachers don’t? Have you ever thought about how much stress we’re all under, in comparison to how much stress our educators have? Has it ever crossed your mind as to how high are expectations are from everybody and why our mentors don’t have to live up to them? I’m sure at least one of these have crossed your mind a couple of times before. Students of our generation are expected to handle way too much stress for our age; so much that we may even be working harder than our teachers! Honourable judges, teachers, and fellow students, with all due respect, today I am going to prove exactly why us students work harder than our teachers. First of all, let’s take a look at what a student’s schedule after school might look like. We’re expected to be well rounded right? This means that we should be getting good grades in school, as well as being healthy, fit, musical, artistic, and involved in the community. If we try and fit these expectations into our already busy schedule by playing sports or learning a musical instrument after school, then a lot of our homework and study time is being used up. Students end up ... ... middle of paper ... ...iatric patient in the early 1950s? It’s really alarming that if we were becoming this stressed over our school work around sixty years ago, we would have been considered mentally insane. The sheer fact that we could be accepted as psychiatric patients in the early 1950s is more than enough to show that we work much harder than our educators. Adding in our expected quest to become well-rounded and learning drastically more difficult things every single year proves it further. Students lose a lot of sleep that we learn we need because how much work and studying we have to complete. Our whole lives turn into preparing for tests and finishing assignments, with no time for anything but homework. They say your high school years are going to be the best of your life, but how can we have the best years of our life when we spend it working harder than our own teachers?
Every student Pope interviews explains that their high marks in their classes are a result of working themselves extremely hard in order to fulfill someone’s expectations. Kevin Romoni, a tenth grader at Faircrest, for instance, reveals his real intentions for high school are not to fully connect with his classes, but simply to just “get into college and make his parents happy”(9). The high amount of pressure put on Kevin distracts him from the primary goal of attending and excelling in school, which is to become engrossed in learning and motivated to succeed by a genuine interest in the subjects. Also seeking her parents’ approval, Michelle Spence feels so stressed about receiving excellent grades to be accepted into a college her parents will commend, she “[cries] all the time from stress….and contemplated dropping out of school”(83), despite already being a straight-A student. Although her parents might be attempting to encourage her, the competitive atmosphere at school is too frantic. It is devastating that students are completely overwhelmed by parents’ attempts at motivation, and I believe that their stress will not reduce until the expectations set for them are not pressed as forcefully. The stressful environment students live in leads to their disengagement in learning, which creates even more stressful
From the beginning of high school, students strap on their seatbelts and prepare for one of the most vigorous races of their lives – becoming successful. With the rare occurrence of a break, kids are expected to keep on driving as fast and as powerfully as they can in order to get into a “great” college, which would be followed by graduate school and then an actual job that would make a lot of money. In American society, common values include working hard, determination, and being so productive that free time is not even a question. However, this philosophy is taking a major toll on American college and high school students. For at least 40 years, America’s future has been steadily growing unmotivated, tired, and hopeless due to the overemphasis on performing well in school. This phenomenon is appropriately expounded in William Zinsser’s “College Pressures”, which takes a look at the top four sources of tension that cause these feelings of dejection and agitation. After reading this article, I came up with a few solutions to this national problem. It is time to switch the harsh, over-encouraging green light of education to a comfortable yellow one. In order to make this ideal transition, directors of education across the country need to primarily reduce the amount of out-of-class assignments, lighten the grading system, and incorporate days in the school year that allow students to express their thoughts about school and provide useful feedback.
In Alexandra Robbins’ book The Overachievers, she makes the astute claim that high school students today are incredibly overworked, leading to severe detriments to their quality of life. As a student in highschool, I am inclined to agree with this claim, especially since Robbins uses clear evidence and ideas to support her assertion. Three of Robbins’ most important ideas regarding this subject matter are as follows. First, she claims that testing has become a business that doesn’t genuinely help the modern student. Next, she claims that chronic sleep deprivation is a huge health concern that affects even the best students. Finally, she claims that the high pressure schooling system has created damaging binaries amongst students. These reasons
Growing up, my parents never expected perfection but expected that I try to accomplish my best. The effort I’ve put forth in learning has been reflected in my grades throughout my high school career. I’ve entered myself in vigorous course work such as AP Government and AP English to become well prepared for my college career, all while maintaining a 4.4 grade point average this year. Not only do I engage in AP classes, but up until this year I had no study halls. I wanted my day to be packed full of interesting classes that I would enjoy learning about. My grades and choice of classes prove the effort that I put forth in my learning. Working hard now can only pay off in the future. Learning now creates a well-rounded human being. Working to learn is why I am so dedicated to my studies now.
In Frank Bruni’s response to “Overloaded and Underprepared,” he discusses the expectations of many high school students throughout their career which people view as a “perfect society.” Today, society has high expectations of high school students, which causes students to become stressed due to extracurriculars, jobs, and other organizations they are involved in. Throughout the response, Bruni shows disappointment because of the lack of sleep students receive each night and the stimulants students use to fulfill their goals which helps Bruni get his main idea across effectively.
All schools require students to maintain a certain minimum GPA, attendance, and discipline standards in order to be permitted to continue practicing and playing with the team. Coaches push the point that school comes before the sport. Although it takes self-control to finish things on time during sports, a student who doesn’t do homework during their season most likely doesn’t do it the rest of the year either while they don’t have a sport. Whereas a student who cares about their grades and regularly does their homework and focuses in class will continue to do just that no matter their extracurricular activities during the season. One of the lessons I've learned from playing a sport is how to manage my time and keep an organized environment. In my opinion nothing could have given me the same motivation to figure this out besides wanting to do well while playing soccer. Making an assumption like this is not fair nor valid when there are different types of
Although written in the 1850’s, the societies portrayed in the books share similar characteristics to modern day society. For example, society expects too much of high school students. A New York University study claims, “Nearly half (49%) of all students reported feeling a great deal of stress on a daily basis... Grades, homework, and preparing for college were the greatest sources of stress for both genders. A substantial minority, 26 percent of participants, reported symptoms of depression at a clinically significant level”(“NYU Study” 10). Evidently, there is a rise in stress levels among modern students. One can attribute this to the pressure schools and colleges put on kids. Colleges want to see students participate in extracurricular
In high school, I have enrolled in AP, Pre-AP, and Dual Credit classes to prepare for the exceptionally challenging classes that lie ahead, especially in the subject of science. Taking Pre-AP/AP and dual credit classes has enabled me to persevere and has further improved my work ethic. When I was a junior, I had a lot on my plate. I was on a very demanding dance team, in National Honor Society, Service Cord, and had academics to worry about. I struggled for a long time with the course load, and contemplated on dropping some classes, but I didn’t. I began working harder than ever before, after practice ended at about 5:30pm, I would go to George Memorial Library every day to do homework until the library closed at 9:00pm. Then I would go home and continue doing my homework until it was complete. That year I learned how dedicated I was to my academics. The same drive that I had that year will be the same drive that will get me thorough
That is where “Como reducer el estres academico” comes in. This article is all about how to deal with the stress college students force upon themselves by trying to do too much. The primary source of stress in college comes from the pressure put on students to excel in all areas of life—not only do they have to take (at least) fifteen hours of classes and hold down a 4.0 GPA, they must also be active members of organizations, get a job, find internships, be social, and worry about finding a “real job” as soon as they graduate. Wearing many hats, so to speak, is a part of life, and being able to balance multiple facets of life is an important skill to learn early, but students who try to go above and beyond in each of these areas soon find that it is impossible; sooner or later, something starts to slip. “Como reducer el estres academico” urges students to focus on academics first; after all, that’s why they go to college in the first place. However, it also urges them to realize that they might not be able to juggle five or six college courses at first and that it is okay to drop classes if they feel too overwhelmed. It also suggests reducing extracurricular commitments in order to make time for academics (again, the reason people go to college is to get an education). Both “Perfiles
Everyone says “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” well that is very, very true statement, even though my name isn’t Jack. Millions of students worldwide get up at early hours of the day to get to school to learn a lot of stuff that we don’t need to know, such as information about Puritans. Not only that, we must endure the torture of worrying about our grades; that if we don’t work hard then we get bad grades, and that makes it much harder to get into Harvard Law School. Everyday, students must worry about their grades and they must do their work, and it isn’t fun.
Many students who feel the pressure to succeed at the high school level have an unhealthy amount of stress. Students who feel this have been cheating, pulling all nighters, becoming depressed, and seeking relief in drug use, and self mutilation. On average in a recent study at Illinois high school students spend 3.07 hours of homework each night on just homework not including extra curricular activities(Jerushapope,2). Also in this high school students reported getting 6.8 hours of sleep each night, but 34.6% reported getting 6 or fewer hours of sleep(Jerushapope,2). Most high school students spend 2 hours of extra curricular activity each night thats not including homework so after those activities you have to come home and do homework and then you will not have a lot of time to sleep. Also most kids do not get a lot of time to spend with their parents during the weeknights. Some kids cannot even make it to the dinner table because they have so much homework and that is not healthy for the parents and their childs relationship. In ...
High school and college are different in many ways. It is true to say that college is more expensive than high school. Of course, it provides a higher level of education, but that expensive fees make it hard for those that come from low income families. At college you also have to buy books where in high school you borrow them from the school. Paying for education can get expensive, but some people pay even more than imaginable. Some cities do not have colleges, so students that want a higher education have to move away to another city where they can get a higher education. This often involves paying for an apartment, food and transportation. However, the cost is not the only thing to consider when comparing high school to college. As college provides a higher level of education, the amount of homework increases. At high school, where it is more of a general education, the time spent at home doing homework is a lot less. This does not mean that in high school, there is no work; it just means that it is a lot easier in some sense. At college you can also choose from subjects related to your field of study if you desired. There are also some differences between the social environment of students at high school and students at college. Since college students have more work to do at home, they have a limit on the time they can spend outside of school.
Today, many students report more anxiety due to stress than child psychiatric patients did in the 1950’s. In a 2006 survey of 1,300 students at a public high school in Needham, Massachusetts found that 58% of the students surveyed reported between a great deal of stress and extreme stress due to homework (Bennett and Kalish). Many students in today’s time, have so many things to do that it is difficult for them to come home, only to have to finish five to six hours of homework. This, with the added effects of after school activities and technology, only adds to the stress that is put on students.
Education today is leaving students ignorant while overworking them to the point that they have little free time to relax and have fun. Teachers are not teaching their students some of the basic knowledge of the subjects and instead are assigning considerable amounts of homework to the students in an attempt to educate them through repetition. I do believe that homework is necessary to reinforce lessons, but the massive amount we are receiving is going too far, especially considering students are still graduating without the education they need to continue to a higher level of schooling. In actuality the lesson they are receiving is how to handle being overworked. If a student joins even one activity or takes on a part time job, their lives become a balancing act. Time becomes priceless and must be used wisely in order to come out on top of it all. With the amount of effort a students puts into their education in grade school they should at least being getting enough out of it to smoothly move on to their next step in life.
Are the new standards and expectations the world has for teenagers really creating monsters? The amount of stress that is put on students these days between trying to balance school, homework, extra curricular activities, social lives, sleep and a healthy lifestyle is being considered a health epidemic (Palmer, 2005). Students are obsessing over getting the grades that are expected of them to please those that push them, and in return, lose sleep and give up other aspects of their lives that are important to them, such as time with friends and family, as well as activities that they enjoy. The stress that they endure from the pressures of parents, teachers, colleges, and peers has many physical as well as mental effects on every student, some more harmful than others. The extreme pressure on students to get perfect grades so that they will be accepted into a college has diminished the concept of actually learning and has left the art of “financing the system” in order to succeed in its place (Palmer, 2005).