Dear America: School Is Stressful

Imagine you have tests in math and history Monday, science quiz Tuesday, a game Wednesday, essay due Thursday, a project due Friday, and practice and homework everyday.

In school, we have 7 classes, five core classes and two electives. Not all electives assign homework, but all core classes do at some point.

Over half of the students here play a sport or join a club which takes up 2-3 hours after school and on weekends for games and practices. With classwork, studying, homework, sports, clubs, family, etc., it gets hard to manage your time, and teachers assigning extra work makes it more stressful.

With too much work people tend to stay up later than needed to finish homework on time and be prepared for the next day in school, which leads to students not getting the amount of sleep necessary to focus and put in effort for school.

Students in high school, middle school, and elementary school need mental health days, or just time away from school to breathe. Missing too much school can result in detention, so weekends should be able to be time off and away from school. During the weekend students shouldn’t have to worry about finishing an assignment last minute or have to study late on a Sunday. Yes, students should be in charge of their own work, and it should be done in time so they don’t have to worry about this, but with a lot of work and other home, friends, and family things going on during the weekends makes it hard to finish the work.

Having restricted amounts of absences can make it hard to take breaks for mental health.

Schools should assign less homework at one time, or at least spread out the due dates, and pay more attention to students that are struggling.