Back in elementary school, the end of the school year brought an abundance of popsicle parties, extra recess, movies in the auditorium, and pure excitement for the summer ahead. It was the teachers, rather than the students, who were burnt out, while we got to sit at our desks and collect all of our artwork from the school year, occasionally allowed to choose where we sat in the cafeteria. There was always something special in the air of elementary school playgrounds during the last few weeks of school. What. A. Time.
Unfortunately, as we got older, the last weeks of school became a time for work to pile up. Students can become more stressed than ever, experiencing the pressure of the end of the year, the freedoms of summer seemingly just out of reach as teachers attempt to keep students focused in the hot school building. The good weather is tempting, but students must unfortunately turn their attention to final exams, final performances, the end of sports seasons, and more.
As the work is piling up, the long awaited spring and summer weather begins to arrive, something greatly valued by NHS students. The super-blue skies and green trees can make it even harder to focus, when many students would so much rather be doing things other than their school work. Students are often found begging their teachers to let them have class outdoors or staring longingly out their classroom windows. But even when the glorious weather would suggest otherwise, the school year still hasn’t wrapped up, which is something that can be difficult to grasp. How is one supposed to remain in a “schoolwork” mentality when all they can think about is beach days and sleepaway camp? The extra effort it takes to keep oneself in the “work zone” can tire students out faster than finals seem to be approaching (which is to say, pretty fast).
So much emphasis is placed on finals. Students are convinced they must do well for the sake of their grades. Many finals cover a class’s material over the entire span of the school year and are often extremely difficult. Even just thinking about studying for finals such as these can be stressful in anticipation of the hard work to come. Many students have had it ingrained in their heads over their entire lives that they must achieve high grades to be considered successful or to have a successful future. This harmful mindset is strongly enforced by families, society, the whole design of college acceptances, high school itself, and more. We’ve experienced this ourselves, and seen it in the vast majority of our friends. High schoolers are constantly comparing themselves to each other in terms of grades, extracurriculars, and productivity, which can make studying more about competition rather than about doing whatever is best for you.
On top of these final stressors, many teachers are loading on work to conclude the school year. With the last days of school creeping closer and closer, it has become seemingly crucial for classes to accelerate their teaching styles so students can be given all the information that they are meant to learn during this period of time. Oftentimes, the extra work doesn’t help students absorb the material at all; in fact, it works against the students’ ability to understand what they are learning due to all the added stress.
Whether it’s due to the urge to run outside and play on the swings, the overload of work, or the fear of failure, it becomes hard to just sit down and get to work during this time of year. For this reason, many students find themselves watching Netflix or scrolling on TikTok for longer than this common teenage homework rant: “I’m too tired to actually do any homework, so I just go on my phone for like two hours. I just go on TikTok and watch random stupid TikToks for like two hours and then it’s dinner time, so I have to go eat dinner and dinner time takes like an hour because I like talking with my family, then after that I have to start all my work, but I don’t wanna do my work because I wanna procrastinate. I just keep procrastinating until it’s like 11 and I’m like ‘oh shoot I have to do my work…’ and yeah.” Many of the students that fall victim to the cycle of procrastination are also overachievers or perfectionists, or otherwise feel as though they aren’t good enough. They cite “my life feels like it’s falling apart” as a reason for their exhaustion. There are standards set by teachers and parents and peers, the standards that can be unachievable during this time of year, and when students believe that their quality of work can never meet them, they procrastinate it by watching Netflix (this is not a self-callout), and then later that curse themselves for making that mistake, believing that their life is crumbling because of it.
Whether you’re a junior in seventeen extracurriculars who can’t figure out where to apply to college or have been “staying up late to watch How I Met Your Mother” (or more likely, both), and unless you’re 9th grader Ivy Brough who insisted, “I’m not tired!” You’re tired. I’m tired. Our teachers are tired. And it is so easy to tell yourself that you should be spending more time studying and less time napping, but endless self-criticism will wear you out just as much as studying for finals at 2 am. Acknowledge that our entire generation experienced our last two years of school isolated from the challenges that would’ve helped prepare us for whatever year of high school we’re struggling through. Not to mention we spent them in the midst of a pandemic, which took a toll on our mental health, relationships with others, and academic skills in ways that we never could have imagined. That we are struggling in ways that may not be apparent to the rest of the world, and that it’s okay to screw up over and over and over again and still be downright exhausted. And regardless of the number of hours of the night you may have spent turning over the plot of Jane The Virgin in your head, try to be proud of yourself, and maybe you’ll feel a little more energized and be able to make it until summer. And in keeping with the “you’re not alone” theme, here are the reasons that the NHS student body is tired, from most to least common:
An abundance of homework
Procrastination
Stress about finals
Lacking motivation
Staying up late to watch TV
Waking up early
After school activities ending late at night
Anticipation of summer/the last day of school
Staying up late to finish homework
Social interaction
“My life is falling apart”
History work
Family life
Undeserved mistreatment by other people
Thinking
Science work
Overachieving
Math work
Gym class
French work
Final projects
Figuring out college/future plans
Community service
Covid-19
English work
Burnout
Being overwhelmed
Balancing family and school
The plot of Jane the Virgin
Don’t worry. You’re not alone! We love you. Get some sleep tonight.