Every day students leave to go home from school feeling like they finally finished the long school day. But their school day is never over because homework is cutting into students’ social lives almost everyday. As a result, essential healthy social interactions with family and peers no longer appear in everyday lives for many adolescents. Furthermore, not only do schools damage some students’ home life, they also don’t provide them with a new modern day education system. The world is continuing to update while the school teachings aren’t.
According to California Researchers “70 percent of students said they were often stressed over school, with 56 percent saying homework was the primary stressor.” Many students are coming to school not in the correct condition to learn and harness the new information presented. They, like many others, are often up too late at night trying to finish their homework. In addition, stress is a fast rising major issue for students. It is killing the perspective of school for many students. I have experienced plenty of times when I feel overloaded with many assignments. It’s a struggle for students to try and balance their work between their different classes. Being assigned 30 minutes to an hour for most classes of homework a night is a lot and it piles up.
In a smaller New York Study it was found that “half of students are receiving 3 hours of homework a night.” Students participating in after school activities now also have two hour practices to worry about. The accumulation of homework and practices make for long exhausting days. It is important that adolescents receive an adequate amount of sleep and “relaxing” time a day. By relaxing time I mean time away from work, or time to themselves. These long days of work are not healthy for students and can burn them out even before they reach college.
Another issue I notice for many students is not only the stress aspect of homework but the struggle to balance being a student and being a kid. I feel less and less students are going outside, socializing with neighbors and friends. I recall growing up my parents always telling me to go outside and play after school. I firmly agree that it is very important for social development. I observe that more and more kids don’t spend time outdoors with others and learn how to interact. They are too busy sitting inside continuing their school days. I remember my parents constantly telling me that when they were my age they went and played outside with their friends and had fun. I do understand that I should, but I have too much homework to worry about. In addition, the honest truth is that you will only be a kid once. As you grow up you get more responsibilities and expectations. You now have more important tests and soon jobs to worry about. You can no longer enjoy being able to play outside with friends and have fun. I believe that more and more people are placing an emphasis on the future for themselves rather than just enjoying where they are. Students need to be outside and enjoying life before it’s too late.
Moreover, I also believe that classroom practices and classes should be updated. The world is constantly changing and is showing no signs of slowing down. It seems like every day new technological advancements are being made, whether that be in transportation or the use of AI. So, why are students not being taught to better understand that. I acknowledge the fact that the core classes of math, literature, and science are important for development, but maybe not for later in life.
I have been taught some very great information about topics in math or science but still don’t know how debit and credit cards work. I have taken financial literacy classes but only for half of one year of high school so there is no way I can remember that information. In the article K-12, Deirdre Higgins writes “students leaving high school understand micro and macroeconomics but not how to balance a checkbook.” These classes may provide students with interesting information but why should all students have to learn this.
The future of the world is changing. Technology and AI is being introduced more into it. So I still don’t understand why the majority of schools are not teaching computer programs. If we can teach the future generations how to better understand computers we can see a future we never thought we would. In the article UCI Education it mentions that “computer and programming jobs are growing 2 times the national average.”
The future is changing so why are teaching students about the past rather than preparing them for the future.