Students Protest Against Stressful Schoolwork

School can be stressful for many people, some more than others. There has historically and currently been many criticisms for the way schools are run in this day and age, due to the negative impacts it can have on students mental health. Studies have shown some negative effects of schoolwork can result in an increased likelihood of developing anxiety or depression, as well as academic stress, anxiety attacks and insomnia. Freedom High School students share their thoughts on Freedom’s own hand in aiding these conditions.

“Too much, way too much. It’s just too much,” said senior Sania Hasan. “They keep giving us more work even though we already have work to do.”

Even if the amount of work is small, some assignments and projects require tons of time and energy to be put into them that could be used for finishing other work. Thus the pile keeps adding on until it’s too much. 

“Once I finish one [assignment] another immediately jumps at me,” said sophomore Jumana Al Khyat. “They give us work when we’re already working on other[s]. They give us a lot of big projects and a lot of work at the same time.”

A frequent complaint of students is that schools give out too much work, that it’s stressful to finish all the completed assignments and projects on time.

“A lot of them require a lot of work for them to be done, which makes me worry I won’t turn it in on time, which makes my grades go down,” said sophomore Febronia Farowez.

“I can’t get it done on time even though I spend hours doing it,” Hasan said.

Additionally, the consequence for late work is a reduced grade. So even if students manage to turn in work, they won’t get the same grade they’d normally get after the deadline is passed.

“By the end of the quarter I have A’s and B’s but in the middle they jump a lot because of late assignments,” Farowez said. 

Although many teachers will accept late work with the consequence of a reduced grade, stricter teachers might not be so forgiving and will outright refuse any, further adding to the downward spiral of failing grades.

“During the quarter it’s all F’s,” said Hasan.

Due to the internal and external pressure to get good grades, either enforced by parents at home, or pressure to get into college, this leads to a very high-strung and distressed working environment.

“On a scale of 1-10, 8-10… School pressure is so bad,” Khyat said, when asked how stressed they typically were. 

Many students agreed with this statement.

“I feel overwhelmed a lot,” Farowez said. 

Things don’t have to be this way, however. It is possible to have a school system that allows students a little-to-no stress free environment, while also letting them to learn at their highest potentials.

“They should give us one project a week, not every single day. And [no] extra homework,” Khyat said. 

Another solution could be to aim for more of a balance with the amount of work distributed at home versus at school.

“Less homework and more classwork,” Hasan said. “And if a student is struggling, a teacher should assign them a tutor to help them.”

Furthermore, reducing the amount of work in general could lead to more positive results in grades and students’ mental health.

“Make the work a little easier so we aren’t stressing about multiple classes at once and not assigning as much work,” Farowez said. 

It’s not too late for things to change. With the thought of student’s mental health in mind, as well as various factors that could lead to underperforming academically, schools can come up with a solution to fix their problems, which will lead to higher grades, happier students and a more welcoming learning environment.

The suggestions for Freedom High School’s grading system as well as way of teaching students will hopefully lend itself to listening ears, and may the next school year bring more fruitful outcomes than the last.