Too Much Stuff, Not Enough Space (or Time, or Energy)

The High Expectations Students Live Up To

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Isabella McAllister, Newspaper Editor-In-Chief

Waking up early and going to school, going to work after school, making our dinner on our own at 10:30 p.m. once you’re off, then to shower and start homework. Without realizing it, it’s now two a.m., and you have to wake up at six a.m. just to start it all over again….

From our parents to teachers we are expected to accomplish so much and get things done on a day to day basis. As high schoolers we are expected to maintain high grades, often work after school jobs, finish homework for five to six classes, and get a good night of sleep. 

While we are transitioning into our adult lives, we are still kids. College students are on their own and while yes high school is meant to prepare us for college, but think about it. In high school, we have seven classes a day that only lasts 50 minutes, so am I really getting the things I need to be done in that short period of time? College students may have three classes a day that is an hour or more long but have time to study. They have their own time, and yes they might work a job, but it isn’t like they are scurrying around to finish something due at midnight when they have been gone since 6 a.m. unless they chose to do so. I don’t choose to wake up early and never be home, but I am expected to work an after school job, pay for my car, my gas, shopping, and any food that is outside of the basic grocery list. Yes, these things are preparing me, but as a student, I feel as though I never have time for anything. My routine is just on an ongoing loop of school and work. 

People often say, “Well, maybe you need to cut back,” but the problem with that comment is that I really can’t. I have to work. I have to go to school. I have to maintain good grades. I am in one of my busiest years of school and there is always something. Sometimes it is hard to enjoy my last years of high school and be a kid when my life is constantly full of checklists, routines, and high expectations of peers. 

Parents might believe that their kids don’t need jobs, and I personally think everyone does when they come of age. I think jobs teach young adults to manage their own money and take more responsibility in their lives. I think school is the main thing that makes me feel so overwhelmed. I am bombarded with algebra homework that my teacher barely taught and expects us to turn it in the next day with it 100 percent learned. Or I am expected to write a three-page essay by midnight when I don’t get home until almost 10:30 p.m. My teachers often do not sympathize with my schedule or even technology difficulties I experience. All teachers expect is for you to drop any other responsibilities for their specific class at the time they expect you to do it. 

I understand the idea of homework, but the fact that I have homework for almost every class every night of the week is exhausting. Teachers often get mad if we fall asleep in their class or do not turn in one assignment on time. But how can we when there isn’t enough time or preparation? When I fail a test and continue to burrow my grade even further down, how do I pull myself back out when I don’t have enough time in a single day, let alone an overall week? 

I think for someone who is always busy and not just centered around school, I have adisadvantage over kids who do not take school seriously or even kids who don’t have jobs. They have the time to get their homework done and go to bed at a decent time. They are able to go out to eat either their friends and go to football games. But for me, well I am just doing the same thing every day, the same routine, the same repetition. 

I mean, I can’t even say how many times I have only gotten six to seven hours of sleep in a span of two days, not even a night. According to the National Sleep Foundation, teens need between eight and 10 hours of sleep each night, but only 15 percent are even getting close to that amount. Most people are able to have those opportunities but people that are forced and expected to be busy cannot. But I have to train myself to wire my brain to always have something to do, and when I don’t, I feel like I am failing someone out there. If I go to bed early or come home and just sit on my bed I feel like I am the most unproductive person in the world. 

I feel like as a student, I need to relax and take a breath sometimes, but my life and the out-of-this-world high expectations don’t allow me to. I think that is due to the expectations and weight of what my teachers, parents, and peers believe that I should accomplish to their standards.