High School's Expectations Need a Facelift by Lourdes

High School's Expectations Need a Facelift by Lourdes - July 2022 Scholarship Essay

As a rising senior at a challenging high school, my friends and I have had many sleepless nights, breakdowns, frustrations, and experienced burnout. Last year, it became commonplace to come to school with only two hours of sleep, stressing over a test in three periods, and worried about a project due within the week. I appreciate that my school is preparing me for college, a rigorous educational experience, but in the next ten years, I hope that high school will become more accomodating and realistic with their expectations for students, allowing them to learn more effectively and have a more enjoyable school experience.

Students in high school are expected to take a rigorous course load to be accepted to college. Adults also preach to students to get a good night's sleep and take care of themselves, allowing their brains to develop and allowing adequate rest. However, when one is taking five or six AP classes, each with hours of homework per night, it can become difficult to maintain good grades and properly take care of oneself. Development is at a crucial stage during teen years, but challenging expectations from school make it difficult to put health at the top of a teen's priority list. However, sleep deprivation in teens is at a high, and mental health in teens could certainly be better. In order for these issues to improve, changes to the education system must be made.

A possible solution to the issues presented could be for K-12 schools to start later in the morning. Some schools begin as early as 7:45 a.m., and if a student works late into the night hours on homework, it is not possible to come to class well-rested and ready to learn. Mandated later school start times would allow students some reprieve from a stressful and tiring day in the classroom, and more time to sleep at night. More sleep could also help to improve mental health, which should be a top priority in teens.

A high workload is a difficult problem to solve, considering that colleges provide a rigorous coursework, and a high workload in high school is done in preparation for this. Especially with AP classes, which have guidelines for the materials on the exams, it is necessary to fit all of those materials into the school year to do well on the exams. For this issue, instead of decreasing workloads, schools should come up with effective and well-coordinated testing calendars, ensuring that students will not have too many tests in one day. For example, math and science courses could test on the same day, and english and history courses could test another non-consecutive day. This would allow students to study for no more than two tests per night, alleviating some stress they may have.

Overall, I hope students in the future will not have nearly as much constant stress, and that they can effectively learn in a healthier environment. Although some stress can be good, too much stress all at once is not healthy for any student. It is unfair to expect teens to learn and benefit from school under poor learning conditions, and changes such as later start times and coordinated testing schedules could allow students more freedom to learn and live healthier lives.