I was sitting in my second block English class daydreaming about the days ahead; it was finally Homecoming week and I was so excited for my plans. Soon my thoughts were interrupted by the Tuesday morning announcements blaring on my teacher’s computer.
The video was almost ten minutes long, displaying every single after-school event that would take place that week. I mentally took note of each carefully-planned Associated Student Body (ASB) occasion so I could later offer the idea of attending to my friends.
There was one slight problem, though. When I asked each friend, they all said the same thing: “I would go with you, but I have so much homework.”
This isn’t an uncommon excuse and, to be quite honest, I probably should have been thinking the same thing. Therefore, I couldn’t even be disappointed about missing the fun activities.
This lack of attendance to social activities, for me, is normal. The amount of homework I am given – sometimes up to three hours each night – causes so much stress, which can limit me from doing normal teenage things outside of school. I want to do everything I can to have the best high school experience I possibly can, but it’s difficult to balance that with the excessive homework I must complete.
Junior Lydia An shares the same annoyance. She is involved in a vast amount of extracurriculars at school, including Debate, Speech, DECA, Environmental Club, ASB, Knights’ Way, Peer Jury, Service Club and the JV girls’ tennis team. While trying to implement all of this into her schedule, An also strives for academic excellence.
“I feel like so many teachers promote getting involved and doing extracurriculars and events outside of school, but they don’t realize how hard it is to balance that when they assign so much homework,” An said.
“Get involved.” This exact phrase is plastered onto every wall at Prospect and voiced by every teacher, alumni and even some students, but it is such a difficult thing to achieve with such a large workload. In fact, getting involved and joining clubs is the #1 piece of advice for freshmen at events like 1Prospect.
Sometimes, I just don’t think teachers understand the academic pressure that is put onto students. The homework, on top of that, just adds stress.
I talked to Courtney Forbes, a therapist from Pure Health, who explained that stress from school and homework is one of the top issues that teens come to her with.
“Teens right now have a lot of pressure to perform high academically for college,” Forbes said. “They just want to achieve so many things and want to be good at everything they do, that it’s hard to balance it all.”
I take Dance 2 for PE, and every class period starts the same way. We sit in a circle and participate in a question-of-the-day. Usually, when the class is on a Thursday or Friday, we will talk about what our weekend plans are. I’ve noticed that almost every senior answers that they will be catching up on college “stuff.”
I get it — the college process is intense and requires a big chunk of time to complete. But between that and working on homework and other assignments, it seems like seniors are really hanging on by a thread right now. It’s just sad that they are spending their last days before adulthood worrying about little homework assignments.
Not only does thinking about college applications make me anxious, but also the classes that I am in right now, specifically AP classes. I’ve taken AP classes since freshman year, and they still have not gotten easier. The amount of homework plays a huge role in this.
According to multiple teachers, including AP U.S. History teacher Brad Rathe, the block schedule does not help with the homework issue. Don’t get me wrong, I love the block schedule and truly can’t imagine having all eight classes in one day. What sucks, though, is the amount of homework that piles up.
“To be honest, I like the block schedule,” Rathe said. “But it does make teaching AP classes harder. You meet in the classroom less, having to get through so much more content. You don’t really have time to teach anything else.”
Of course, with a block schedule, we are able to have an extra day to complete homework. But because of that, I feel like teachers are piling up more because they think that with the extra day, it won’t be a lot.
“Having those teenage experiences and giving yourself a break is the self care that students really need,” Forbes said.
I take part in something called Young Life, which is a Christian organization. We meet every Tuesday to take a break from our stressful lives at school and hang out with each other. It only lasts about an hour, but my friends usually meet to get food or ice cream somewhere after.
I love a good scoop of Cap’s Cookies ‘N Cream, but I’ve never joined them for that.
Why?
Homework!
I have never gotten what I consider the full “Young Life experience” because I am leaving to study or finish my third hour of homework for that night. Caring about school and getting work done is obviously a good quality to have, but it gets to a point where I miss out on fun things with my friends because of it.
“I do feel like I have to sacrifice my free time and [social life] to do homework,” An said. “It’s hard when you see your friends hanging out or at a football game [or school event] but you’re at home studying. It gives me FOMO.”
Obviously (but sadly), homework is just something teachers have to assign and something students have to do. But it would just be nice to have more time to be a teenager and spend time with our friends than sit at home finishing up worksheets and readings. Teachers, please consider the mental health and well-being of your students before assigning an abundance of homework every night. We’re struggling here.
And maybe next year, for homecoming week, give us a couple homework-free nights to attend ASB events. You’re right, they do work hard planning those; we should be going to them!
