By: Angelica Leal
Endless nights, unbearable headaches, high amounts of caffeine and energy drinks, snappy moods, bags under eyes, and begging for a free day to catch up on sleep. Sound familiar? Staying up for parties or hanging out with friends is tolerable and a good way for people to relieve some stress they may carry on their shoulders, but staying up late cramming in on hours to finish homework can be despised by every student. Stress is a common word used by students, and the most common reason of that stress is usually homework.
From the beginning of high school, students have moved on from getting hardly any homework to slowly but surely drowning in it towards their senior year. A study conducted in 2014 by Stanford found that, too much homework is associated with greater stress. “Fifty-six percent of the students at the school considered homework as a primary source of stress, much like many other students across the globe.”
But what exactly is considered stress? To some, it’s not being able to sleep and having all-nighters to try and get the work done. To others, it’s thinking about all the work they have to do for the rest of the day and thinking about getting little to no rest at all. According to the true definition of stress found in the dictionary website, it means, “a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or very demanding circumstances.”
Demanding. Schools and teachers demand for students to finish their work before class. They demand students to get enough hours of sleep so they won’t sleep in class. They demand students to be okay. They ignore the cries of the students who waste their time doing the work, begging for it to stop or slow down. They ignore the bags under their eyes, stating “they fell asleep partying or staying up with friends”, when in reality they spent all night until the crack of dawn finishing an assignment. They ignore the demands of the students when they cry, saying they’ve had enough and they beg to stop.
During finals week, the stress is increased. Along with studying for certain classes for the finals students will be having, other classes who have already done or just not doing finals still assign students homework. According to the Out of Stress online magazine published in 2016, “Larger class sizes, shorter break times and strong pressures to perform well on standardized tests all place students under large amounts of stress.” Now having to deal with finishing the homework and studying and worrying over the the final exams, the stress that the students had now doubles.
On the bright side, towards the end of the school year, everything dies down. The homework pile decreases and students are finally free. They can enjoy summer. Sadly, the cycle must continue. The next school year, may be worse, may be better. Only time will tell.
