Embedded Files
Depression, Anxiety, ADHD, Stress. These are only four out loads more things people deal with on a daily basis. Teens are labeled as moody and lazy, when in reality we deal with very adult things like everyone else does. The workload we get in school only adds onto the stress we get from responsibilities outside of school boundaries. When an adult is moody or tired people understand and give them space, they don’t get called lazy. In contrast when a teen is moody and tired we are told to sleep earlier or that it's because of the amount of time spent on our electronic devices. We live in a world where electronics are in our daily lives and we use them for work, socializing, and school. Some students have jobs or family responsibilities. We have to manage being an adult at home while being a student at school. Students act out at school because we don’t have a lot of time to have fun at home between our responsibilities and the amount of school work we have to do.
The teen brain doesn't start until 10 am, however school starts at 8:30 am which isn’t the worst or the best decision. The lack of sleep students get could also impact the student performance in school, and this could influence the student's mental health. Students tend to feel very overwhelmed with how early classes/ school starts, along with the amount of work they have to do before their next class. Having overwhelmed students and students who hardly get the sleep they need leads to the student's mental health deteriorating.
Between school, work, home responsibilities, and homework some students hardly have time to think about fun or hanging out with my friends. It may seem like they could be exaggerating, however they’re not the only ones who feel this way. I spoke with four Roosevelt students, one from each grade to explain how they feel about the workload and how it affects them and their students. An anonymous senior said their year is going good, relaxing for the most part. They mentioned that “school has in fact taken a toll on my mental health and not in the best way I suppose, however last year was my toughest year in terms of stress and workload.” A sophomore student of this year mentioned that “classes are going decent so far, and there isn’t a whole lot of homework at the moment.” Sophomore year seems to be the least stressful year for teens at the moment. A Junior year student states that “This year kind of sucks honestly, and it’s so stressful due to a bunch of homework and tons of essays to write in such a short time.” Juniors seem to have the most amount of stress, they seem to have more work than the other three grades. Thiscan lead to lack of sleep as mentioned before. This student describes her freshman year as “pretty chill.” She further explains that it is slightly stressful because it's my first year as a high school student but it's kinda like middle school. Being a new high school student she exclaims that she “just feels as though the workload is a lot for someone who was an 8th grader a few months ago.”
Over all, it may be said that students of all grades deal with stress one way or another, although the level of stress isn’t the same. Mental health is important and maintaining a good mental health balance is difficult, especially for high school students. School should be helping with stress, not being one of the main reasons for it. It’s understandable that people are trying to do their job, however even just being flexible with deadlines is super helpful. Student brains work differently than adult brains, they need more sleep to concentrate and do things to the best of their ability.
Authors note: If you are super stressed and can’t afford or don’t have time for therapy but you would like it, our school provides in school therapy for free. To make an appointment just go to your school counselor or the health center in school, and ask them to help you set up an appointment. It’s completely free.
By Audrieauna Brown
Roosevelt High School
Published December 14, 2022
Report abuse