Too much class outside of class

The majority of high school students, especially those in higher level classes, have forgotten what sleep is. Piles and piles of homework each night have taken the place of mental sanity and it’s time for this to end.

Not to discredit teachers for the hard work they put in every day, but there is no way they take the stress we endure daily from their classes into consideration. How can a typical day of teaching a few classes compare to a full schedule of complicated ones?

Students have so much on their plates. We have seven classes a day. In each class, our brains are ambushed with a great deal of complicated information. We’re supposed to absorb and learn the concepts in those 50 minutes. Then, we have a five minute breather while we rush to the next 50 minute brain-cram session.

That isn’t even the half of it.

50 minutes just isn’t enough. Students are assigned the lovely invention of homework every night. When it comes to Honors and AP classes, we’re lucky if we can get down to two hours of homework in one subject.

It seems that in the teachers’ opinions, there’s no problem. They think, “I’m going to assign my students two hours of homework due to me tomorrow.” That would be absolutely fine, it’s just that when we have three hours in AP Psych, two hours in AP Chem, one hour for Honors English, etc., it’s just a teeny bit overwhelming.

Plenty of students play sports, have jobs, are in clubs, or have other commitments that they need to fulfill. Can someone please explain how extracurricular activities are encouraged by schools, yet school work is the main obstacle that prevents students from participating in them?

We need a solution. We need to figure out how to reduce not only the amount of homework students have, but also students’ stress levels.

Here’s how: designated homework days.

Solon’s administration has already come up with a schedule of testing days. The educators of each subject have a designated day of the week that they can give tests. For example, the math department can only give tests on Tuesdays and Fridays, the science department can schedule tests on Thursdays.

Each subject also needs assigned days that they can give homework.

This system is helpful for tests, because then students don’t have to study for four huge tests that are all on the same day. Why can’t this process be enforced for homework too?

Imagine this.  If we only had science homework on Mondays, English homework on Tuesdays, math on Wednesdays and so on, life would be a lot easier.

Students will be the first to say that the amount of work and stress is too much to handle. It’s mentally draining, it’s stressful and a lot of times it’s just pointless. If I am forced to sit 50 minutes or more in one class, why do I need to get a migraine from doing busy work outside of school, when I could be doing something more productive like an extracurricular activity?

Oh that’s right, I shouldn’t. If the system works for tests, it’s worth giving a shot for homework too.  

Dear Solon High School, please make a change before your students go insane. Sincerely, a sleep deprived and heavily stressed out student.