Many people believe school is a the ideal place for students to grow as individuals, and growing up, kids often hear that it is “a social area,” a place to develop friendships and improve social skills. But does anyone really know the true limitations on our “social time” in school? Even though it is believed that lunch time is a break from the stresses of high school, in some cases, this is the opposite. During lunch many students can often be seen using this time to study or finish their work before it’s too late. This complication causes many kids to not utilize that “break” they are given, and their social interactions can suffer, compounding the stress they are feeling.

Classes can have a strong affect on student mental health, and not always in a good way. During high school there is a major build up on work. For example, students are given lessons during their designated class time, but they also have to handle homework and studying for tests and quizzes. . Each assignment given to a a student has a deadline, and through the short period of time kids have to accomplish their work, they can experience a series of challenges. It is common for students to stay up through late hours of the night. According to Three Penny Press, an average student spends around three to five hours of homework each night. This leads to a chain effect where the later kids stay up the less sleep they get at night. The National Library of Medicine states that around 70.6% of students are sleep deprived due to getting less than eight hours of sleep a night. To grasp the full extent of students’ pressure and its risk on their mental health, I interviewed one of our school counselors, Ms. Tetreau, who explains how students may feel and what causes their stress.

“What part of school do you think causes the most stress for students?”

“Based on my conversations with students, the most stressful part of high school seems to be time management. Many students are balancing academics, athletics, clubs, social experiences, and their responsibilities at home, which doesn’t leave a lot of time for them to relax or rest.”

“Is there any correlation between students’ stress and what level classes they may be taking?”

“I think that level one and AP courses often have more homework, which makes time management trickier. That’s not the case across the board, but it is a factor in some students’ stress levels, yes…the workload is heavier the higher the level of the course. The expectations feel higher and the social pressure of being around other students who want to succeed and who discuss their grades and progress can create more worry.”

“Does more pressure on the student interfere with their grades in a positive or negative way?”

“I think it definitely depends on the student and the amount of pressure. A little bit of stress can motivate many students to put in more effort, find time to get help and to perform at a high level. It can help create an environment where time management and structure are prioritized, which often helps people thrive and elevated levels of productivity become possible. When the stress or the pressure becomes too much, though, it can have a negative impact on people’s overall mental and physical health. It can cause anxiety, and balancing and prioritizing things outside of school can become difficult because the hours in each day are not increasing.”

“What do you recommend to students who are struggling with stress and pressure in their lives?”

“I often try to remind individuals that they are people first, not just students. The whole picture matters and not everyone has the same life outside of school, the same responsibilities or the same support. We talk realistically about how grades are a measure of success, but definitely not the only one. If your well-being is suffering and you aren’t tending to the basics, you are not going to be able to maintain the quality of your learning for very long. I  recommend consistency, challenging yourself,  and making regular progress over striving for perfection.  There are a lot of ways to bring your skills and talents to life and to feel confident in who you are that don’t involve your grades. I think that it is just as important to learn how to take care of yourself, how to think for yourself, how to advocate for yourself, how to look out for others, and how to have an impact on the world beyond you as it is to have a strong transcript and good test scores.”

A student’s time management is the most important thing they can have when it comes to school. However, it can be a hard thing to manage as students grow academically and athletically.

Stress and Levels in Class

Through the years of high school, students have the opportunity to join harder level classes. For students who

participate in honors classes, they have more work than other students, but for those who are in AP level courses, they have it even harder. Not only does the level increase but so does the homework load. Homework is given out depending on the speed of the class and the subject. This shows that having an AP class, students are expected to complete more homework in a quicker amount of time. Just one class can shorten the amount of time a student has to complete other assignments as well. In many cases, students may feel the need to participate in higher classes due to college aspirations, family, and their own expectations of themselves. Once in the course, the stress to succeed grows in size. The stress a student can feel may not only be based on homework, studying, and academics, but also on “standards.” Amelia Phillips is a Senior at Central Catholic High School who takes multiple advanced placement classes, and I  asked her what it feels like to be an AP student.

“Did you gain any stress the more AP and honors classes you took?”

“As I took more higher level classes, the workload definitely increased, though that is to be expected. I do also think AP can be more stressful in general as well because of the pressure of retaining the information for an AP exam at the end of the year, as well as feeling like you have to live up to the expectation of being an ‘AP student.’”

Grappling With Grades

In a child’s education years, grades are often known to be one of the most important factors of their lives. Starting at a young age, students are told that their grades are what helps them succeed. Many kids grow up believing that their grade levels and GPA are the most important factors that determine their future. Veridian Prep explains that “Before the pandemic, 47% percent of high school students graduated with an A-minus to an A-plus average – an increase of nearly 10 percentage points coming from a 20-year period”. In order to keep up their good grades, many students find themselves working through late hours of the night. When time management begins to decrease for a student, they tend to push through the night when they need to be resting. Many students will push themselves beyond their limits in order to get a good grade due to the rooted belief that grades are the key factor that will determine their future.

Unseen Aftermath

After school many students participate in athletics or school clubs. For many schools, it is often a requirement to take

part in at least one sport or activity. These activities often take away a chunk of the time that a student has to finish their work for the night. This leaves students struggling to find any amount of free time to work on their assignments. Amelia Phillips gave us an insight of what it is like to have an extracurricular activity.

“How do you handle your time management alongside your after school activities?”

”I’ve found that it helps to take advantage of whatever extra time I have throughout the day. If I have 15 minutes at the end of a class, for example, instead of just hanging out, I’ll start doing homework for another class. I also sometimes look ahead at Planbook if I know I have a day with a lot of activities so I can plan to do my homework on nights where I have more free time.”

Time and Tension

Time is an important asset to everyone. For students, it determines how and when they will complete their homework. Time management can be improved or diminished depending on how busy the student is. Sometimes it is harder to accomplish their assignments in a reasonable time frame. According to the American Psychological Association, between 2009 and 2021, “the percentage of high school students who did not get enough sleep increased from 69% to 77%.” It is often common for students to lose sleep during the school week due to the amount of homework that is given to them each night. Amelia Phillips shared her experience with homework loads.

“How many hours would you say you take to finish your homework each night?”

“It varies night by night usually. Some nights I do all my homework in half an hour while other nights I’ll spend 4 hours and still not be done with my homework. It mostly depends on when tests are and whether a big essay or project is due.”

School is Stressful

Inside and outside of school, students undergo pressure to keep up with grades, activities, and expectations. While keeping up with school work, they are expected to participate in after school activities and begin thinking about their future. As a student gets older, college begins to be an important part of their goals. This is also when more pressure gets added to keeping up with grades and GPA. Amelia Phillips gives the students point-of-view towards the different dynamics going on in a teenager’s life:

“What do you think adds pressure on students’ lives in general?”

“I think the pressure mostly comes from the accumulation of having so many things to do in high school. Worrying about doing something for all your different after school activities and making sure you’re prepared for them, while also doing homework for seven classes and trying to maintain friendships is very time consuming. Anyone of those things on its own is manageable, but when you add them all together it ends up being a lot of things at once. Part of it is also the pressure of doing so many different things so you can have a diverse college application, which I’ve seen lead to people taking on more activities and classes than they have time to handle.”

It is important to take notice of a students’ life and the pressure they may feel daily. These expectations can break apart someone’s health whether it is physical by their lack of sleep, or mental by their constant worry. Continue to check in on friends and loved ones who may be having a hard time dealing with the pressures of school life in case they may need someone to talk to.