Jeremy Shidler sits down after lunch in an attempt to finish a few assignments after a tough school day.
By Kennedy Schnieders
Sweaty palms, rapid breathing, and a slight headache. To some it may seem like the makings of a horror movie, but to students it may just be another stressful day after school.
Firstly, how do students define stress? Not everyone will possess the same definition of stress in school because of how they respond to external influences. Junior Joshua Kuhn claims, “To me, stress in school is the natural anxiety that occurs as a result of constant deadlines, tests, and multiple courses progressively getting more difficult everyday.” While most students may believe that their stress is solely caused by the workload created by their classes, a handful of others may hold that it is also due to their personal goals. Junior Libby Read stated that when she is stressed she feels overwhelmed because she never feels like her work will be good enough. While these two connotations may be completely different, their root cause may be very similar.
Stress presents itself differently in every student; different people become stressed by dissimilar things and the ways in which they handle this stress can vary. There does, however, seem to be a common consensus about some of the causes of stress in school. Tests, homework, finals, and personal pressures are just a few of the stressors that are applicable to nearly every student. “I put pressure on myself to do well,” said Junior Jessica Stillson when asked what causes her stress in school. Not only that, but, “Taking many AP and upper level classes resulting in a seemingly impossible workload,” all contribute to stress in school, according to Libby Read. In addition to this, junior Jeremy Shidler, claims that, “I am most stressed in the beginning of a class until I get used to the type of assignments given and know how they will be graded.” The majority seems to agree that the main stressors in school are personal goals, a large workload, and new, difficult classes. All of these factors play a pivotal role in absorbing students’ time after school.
A student’s workload can dictate how their time is spent after school. This very situation can cause stress in the lives of many because of poor time management skills, or because of the limited amount of time that they possess already. One of busiest times of the year for student athletes, however, is during their sport’s season. “Whenever I am in a sport season time is even more of a premium. My free time after sports is devoted to homework and late night studying. Therefore, there is little to no time for relaxing,” asserts Libby Read. Aside from sports, another key factor in determining the time spent on homework, although self-inflicted, is the dedication level of students. “I try to complete them[Assignments] quickly as I get them to keep from forgetting details or ideas about the assignment,” claimed Jeremy Shidler when asked about his homework habits. When asked the same question, Joshua Kuhn asserted, “This depends on multiple things. I try to get assignments done quickly and ahead of time. However if I have multiple things going on in other classes and outside of school, my assignments can sometimes get put off till the last minute.” Along with this, Kuhn mentioned that, “I usually finish it[Assignments] at home, but sometimes at work. If I am at home I usually have music playing or a t.v. show.” The common consensus among students seemed to be that they would attempt to complete any outstanding assignments as soon as possible; however, there are a variety of activities and things going on outside of school that can hinder their ability to do this. Along with this, the environment in which they complete their work can affect their stress level as well.
Joshua Kuhn busily proof-reads a paper he has been working on for the past few days.
Students handle their stress differently; some work off their stress physically, while others prefer to carefully plan out their time. This stress, however, can also affect other parts of students’ lives as well. Jeremy Shidler reported that, “I typically do not get overly stressed, if I find myself too stressed I simply take a break from it all.” While one student may not ever get overly stressed, another may become stressed very easily and therefore they will handle it very differently. Jessica Stillson mentioned that, “I talk to my friends and ask them how they’re doing in those classes.” Conversing with friends and family is one of the more common remedies for stress in school, according to students; however, one thing that the majority of students don’t seem to agree on is how this stress is affecting their lives. “It affects how I spend my time, if I’m stressed, I usually study more,” stated Jessica Stillson. On the other end of the spectrum, students may find that stress has a negative impact on their lives. Libby Read believes that, “School stress can make everything seem harder. Eventually, even the small insignificant problems seem to become much worse than what they really are.” While some students believe that their stress is easy to manage and that it does not have a negative impact on their life, others do believe that it is much harder to manage and that it does impose quite a few negative effects.
In all, students at PHS can agree that there a quite a few universal factors that contribute to the stress in their lives. Be those from school work or their own personal goals and values, there is stress that is resultant from school. The ways in which every student responds to and copes with this stress are very different, despite many of them sharing similar workloads.