The School Newspaper of Winston Churchill High School.

The Observer

The School Newspaper of Winston Churchill High School.

The Observer

The School Newspaper of Winston Churchill High School.

The Observer

School Must Work To Help Alleviate Seniors’ Workload

 

There are simply not enough hours in the day to be a first semester senior. As if trying to plan the next four years of life isn’t stressful enough, mix in picking the right colleges to apply to, finding teachers to write recommendations, addressing numerous envelopes, and writing countless essays to up the ante. Don’t forget to study for upcoming tests and quizzes, keep up with daily history reading, maintain your GPA, all while continuing to practice for sports teams and participating in other extracurricular activities.

The fact of the matter is, there is simply not enough time. A simple solution to this overload of stress is a weekend in which teachers of predominantly upperclassmen classes do not assign any homework so that seniors can devote their time to college applications.

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With a steady stream of assignments and due dates, seniors constantly feel bogged down. Homework becomes the nightly priority and college applications usually get pushed off until the next night or the end of the week. By having a weekend without the added pressure of homework, seniors could better structure their time for applications, which could significantly reduce anxiety and thus improve the quality of both the homework and applications.

According to Principal Joan Benz, this is a particularly bad year for seniors because with the numerous days off during the first quarter, teachers want as much time with their students as possible, resulting in more homework.

While more days off may seem like extra time for seniors to do their applications, the reality is that on the days off, teachers just pile on more homework. The lack of classroom instruction requires more independent study at home in order to stay on track for each class, consequently leaving less time for applications.

Benz also advised that seniors should start working on the college application process beginning in their junior year. However, most students use the spring break of their junior year and the summer before senior year to visit colleges and usually do not finalize their list of schools until at least August or September.

The end of October is often the peak of most seniors’ stress level and this year, it just so happened that the end of the first marking period was two days before the Nov. 1 early decision or early action deadline. Seniors were not only trying to finalize their grades and study for quarter exams, but they were also frantically trying to finalize their applications to submit that weekend. College essays are not to be taken lightly–rushing them for the purpose of completing assignments can be highly detrimental.

If seniors had been given a weekend without homework, perhaps in the middle of October, to finish their applications, they could have better focused their efforts on school during the end of the first quarter.

There are only so many hours in a day, and when students are forced to divide their time between homework and applications, the high stress levels result in extreme lack of sleep, nervous breakdowns and/or panic attacks. There never seems to be a break from the workload, and the combination of mental stress, physical pain and caffeine addiction can create a downward spiral for seniors.

If teachers were to help seniors for just one weekend during first quarter, the start of senior year could be a lot less stressful and more enjoyable.

 

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School Must Work To Help Alleviate Seniors’ Workload