By Abriana Trovy
While conducting an interview amongst high school students the question, “Do you feel stressed?” received definitive “Yes” answers.
During an interview with Olivia Gelbaugh, her response to if she felt stress was, “So much, so much stress. All the stress at all periods of the day.” She explains that everything makes her feel stressed; the work from taking regular and AP classes, sports, college and so on. In addition to schoolwork, being a student athlete adds more to her stress. Although her sport is not in season now, she explains that her stress levels increase during softball season. After a day at school, she’s involved in two-hour practices and often games that require her to miss classes. Furthermore, the feeling of being a high school senior adds to her stress levels. She explains, “It’s a little scary, not gonna lie” and how “it’s just like the end of an era”.
To reduce stress levels amongst students, Gelbaugh explains that teachers should be lenient on deadlines every once in a while. She also stated that some classes give out too much homework and at times finds it unnecessary; “I don’t really think outside of English and Math they should be giving you homework.” She sees no personal benefit. On days without homework, her stress levels dramatically decrease.
In a separate interview with Kawena Jacobs, she also agrees to feeling stressed. She explains how school, life, finishing assignments and staying on task all add to her stress. Even outside of school, she feels stress. Jacobs stated, “Definitely work, for sure. Sometimes relationships can make me feel stressed,” when asked to evaluate on her outside of school stress. Similarly, to Olivia Gelbaugh, Kawena Jacobs feels additional stress because of being a student athlete. Jacobs describes it as a, “whole ‘nother level of pressure.” She attends practices before the season even starts and must be ready for when the season does arrive. Being a senior also adds to her stress levels. She feels as if she’s never doing enough for college and making deadlines appropriate deadlines.
Her resolution for reducing stress is teachers giving less homework. However, she finds homework to be essential to learning and understanding your classes.
Both of the girls found the at-home learning style due to COVID to be rather stressful. Jacobs described how it’s a different form of stress because you’re learning all on your own. They both stated how they struggled with getting work completed and are less stressed with receiving normal in-person learning now.
Students everywhere face stress in school. According to the article, “School Stress Takes a Toll on Health, Teens and Parents Say”, many parents agree that their children experience stress in school. The article directly states, “Almost 40 percent of parents say their high-schooler is experiencing a lot of stress from school….” Students themselves also agree they feel stress in school. The article also states, “A survey by the American Psychological Association found that nearly half of all teens – 45 percent - said they were stressed by school pressures.
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