Kate McMahon
Opinions Editor
@KateM_Courant
Not everyone looks forward to Mr. Egan’s weekly email, the appropriately named “Weekly Update”, but I for one enjoy it. Maybe it is because it makes me feel important. Maybe because I like receiving emails that don’t have to do with discounted dog beds. Most importantly it might be because nine out of ten times Principal Egan has some good things to say. Although the Weekly Update might not be interesting to all, I am sure the words “homework free” in the subject line a couple of weeks ago interested most everyone. The words immediately got my attention, I clicked on the little blue link and I was taken aback by the caveat of “April break” written before the words “homework free”.
Let me first start off by saying, this is a nice gesture and a great first step. If it has been the administration’s overall mission to look into what causes our stress, then it is about time someone looks into the thing that causes me to count how many hours I will sleep if I get to bed right that minute.
But, a break is exactly that, a time to do something other than school. I want to have so few things to do that I start to re-watch shows I have watched before. I want to have so much free time that I start up a new hobby…like sewing (I actually used to be very good, Google me). I guess what I am trying to say is it is about time that we are turning breaks into what they are supposed to be. A homework free break supposedly prevents the insidious presence of school during vacation, no longer lurking under our beds. It is in our homes, it is everywhere. Dramatic, yes I know, but it always seems to be there.
However, as I walked into the lounge and talked about this elusive, yet very real, homework free April break I realized a couple things: 1) People need to check their school emails more often 2) Nobody was as thrilled as I was. Maybe it is because I was talking to seniors, but the resounding complaint I heard was, “April break, who cares, I will have to be studying for AP’s anyways. This should have been done in February” or “Yeah, but will teachers even follow that anyway?”
So let’s start off with the first complaint. There are plenty of students in this high school that do not take AP tests. These students don’t have to go into vacation thinking, “Hmm I forget all about Reconstruction and the Progressive era, I should review that during break!” While these tests are for our own benefit, it is unfortunate that it is often necessary for students in these classes to do work over breaks because their teachers constantly tell them “there is no time before the test!” So yeah, February would have been great! Write that down for next year! But that is beside the point.
The point is that the administration is recognizing that we as a student body are incredibly stressed and the largest component of that stress is the amount of work we have. In my Connections class we discussed how we each identify our stressors, and how we cope with that stress. I heard several fairly concerning things. When students have to start repeating to themselves, “I will get through this. I will get through this.” Or when they realize there are physically not enough hours in the day to accomplish everything. Other students were talking about how when they were stressed they would just stop what they were doing and stare at the ceiling, but would then realize there isn’t enough time to sit and do nothing and it would be worse if they just prolonged the pain.
So if you didn’t understand the magnitude of what you just read, read it again. This is not okay! Someone actually referred to it as pain. Like a debilitating illness. When did this become healthy? When did this become the norm? On the other hand, it is comforting to know that our teachers and administrators are noticing that something needs to change.
However, let’s address the second quote I heard from the lounge, “Yeah but will teachers even follow this anyways?” This hints at a larger issue, the feeling that students don’t think their teachers care about their level of stress. Our administration has placed a mandatory break from homework during a legitimate school break and students think their teachers will find a way to skirt around it. If you think about it, that is sad. I would hope my teachers think of me and how I am feeling because I know that I for one think about them.
A couple of days ago one of my friends was texting me and was genuinely annoyed with my hollow and inattentive responses. I apologized and said I was sorry, but that I had so much work to do. She responded with, “I wish I were still stressed enough to do work.” I guess that is what has happened. Work and stress have become inextricably linked. My history teacher last year used to tell our class that we were a bunch of grad students and deserved the world. He told us that we run around like fire fighters putting out the burning embers that arise in each of our classes. I remember someone joked once and said, “What happens when we run out of water?” He didn’t respond. I guess we are slowly running out of water and while the administration tries their best to fill our tanks back up. Meanwhile, we can’t help but wonder, what if it is too late?
