While teachers try to limit student stress, the immense pressure students face is sometimes misunderstood. Hearing directly from students about what stresses them most and about how they can best help students could make a huge difference in students’ overall well being.
After a long day of school and a late night sports game, there is nothing that students dread more than coming home to a big pile of homework. That is the reality of being a student athlete, but there are some things that teachers can do to limit stress, starting with understanding what exactly causes this angst.
“Having too much homework per night causes me a lot of stress,” junior Joslyn Hughes said.
Many students can relate that homework is a major cause of stress. More commonly though, tests and other major assessments are the number one propelling factor of anxiety.
“The biggest source of stress for me as a student is exams and grades. I put a lot of pressure on myself to do well on exams, and I stress about my grades in all my classes,” senior Dylan Feiner said.
As Feiner implies, the pressure to get good grades stresses a lot of students out, especially at such an academically competitive school like NVD. However, grades do also act as a motivator for some kids.
“My goal to get the best grades possible motivates me to work hard,” sophomore Demi Yarkon said.
While it is good to set such high standards for oneself, this extreme pressure over grades can add to increased stress.
“I think grades motivate me to try harder on assignments but at the same time it makes me very stressed,” junior Chelsea Zirin said.
Not only is there pressure to get the highest grades, there are also high expectations when it comes to choosing classes.
“I feel a lot of pressure to take advanced classes because I want the best grades possible for college,” junior Molly Brisman said.
Similarly, Feiner also feels pressure to take AP and Honors level courses to make herself the most competitive applicant in college applications.
“I feel pressure to challenge myself and take AP classes in order to set myself up well for college applications since most universities value AP classes and students that push themselves academically. However, I am also self motivated because I believe that I belong in the advanced classes, and I want to challenge myself,” Feiner said.
Taking one or more AP classes is typically manageable on a day to day basis. However, when deadlines and tests across classes overlap, stress piles on fast.
“When deadlines across classes overlap, it causes me a lot of stress because I have to allot a certain amount of time to prepare for each class and sometimes I don’t have enough time to put my best effort into every class at once,” Yarkon said.
This is where teachers can step in to help negate student stress. By taking students’ requests for extensions into consideration or planning due dates with other teachers, overly packed days of tests and presentations can be avoided.
“I wish teachers would be more accommodating with test dates. My tests are actually always on the same day so it gets really stressful studying for all of them,” Brisman said.
Feiner shares a similar opinion.
“If teachers are willing to work with students to extend deadlines or make up assessments, this is helpful for reducing stress,” Feiner said.
While students understand that teachers also have deadlines to meet and are trying their best to support students, there are some things people suggest teachers switch in order to provide the best help.
“I always appreciate when teachers assign work in advance so that I can plan accordingly and best manage my time,” Hughes said.
Not only does publishing work ahead of time help students, but also making sure they fully understand the expectations is another way to prevent student stress and further questions.
“I think teachers reduce my stress when I feel like they actually help me understand what I’m worried about or provide me with help so I don’t feel trouble when doing assignments. I’m most stressed when I don’t know what is going on,” Brisman said.
At NVD, students and teachers alike are constantly trying their best to get their work done and done well. If teachers are able to better understand even just a few things about their students’ stress, the entire high school may work smoother.
“I wish all teachers were more flexible. Some already are which I greatly appreciate!” Feiner said.
