Gretchen McCarthy, Editorial Director
@GretchenCourant
After a week and half holiday break you would think the halls of NCHS would have a relaxed and refreshed vibe, but instead the only thing I could feel as I walked back through the doors was tension coming off people in waves. Maybe it’s because I’m a senior and this break covered January 1st, the day of reckoning for most college applications, but overall it seemed like people had not been able to leave their academic responsibilities behind as they left school for vacation.
This long of a break should have meant a complete and thorough detox from the stressful academic environment we are all so used to. Instead, readings were assigned, tests were scheduled too early in the new year, and midterms loomed alarmingly large and close. This meant that you either spent the last day of break frantically scrambling to prepare for a return that should be painless, or that a voice (for me it was the constant and very audible voice of my parents) was nagging you that you should be doing something productive instead of watching yet another episode of The Office.
Neither of these outcomes are healthy. A break is a break, we should be able to check out for a week and half and not have to worry about the work we aren’t doing or everything that’s waiting for us in the days after we come back. Allowing the intense atmosphere that has permeated NCHS to infiltrate our homes and our vacations is not something that will help to lessen student anxiety, which seems to be a goal of the administration.
This objective to reduce student stressors was the explanation Principal Egan gave as to why the GPA was removed from PowerSchool Portals. In this safe space I will say that this decision was completely and utterly useless. I don’t need PowerSchool to stress me out about my GPA. If given a calculator my eleven year-old brother could tell me my GPA in less than a minute and have me equally stressed as if I had read the numbers off PowerSchool.
However, eliminating the halls of NCHS from our minds for even this short a period of time would allow us to breathe and would in no means put our education in immediate and perilous danger. This brain shut-down would give us the opportunity to momentarily lapse completely in our commitments and responsibilities as all students should have the chance to do.
But as the result of methodically structured schedules, teachers were reluctantly doling out worksheets and assignments so we could “keep up with the College Board schedule.” The early May exam dates for AP Tests forces teachers as well as students to adopt a go-go-go, stop-for-nothing mentality that leaves little room for breathers. It is these rigorous classes moving at breakneck speeds that never truly allow us to stop and do the yoga breathing we need to get us through the next week.
Not only was this break something we needed in order to mentally recharge, but it was also something we have earned. Besides barely stopping at Thanksgiving, we have practically been running at a full sprint since the first day of school. Allowing work and exhaustion to compound like this over time is just asking for a student body that is mentally drained and anxious.
In order to truly combat a tense academic environment, all students need to be given time to fully and properly relax. To say “absolutely nothing” when asked if they have any work. To not have that nagging feel of forgetfulness because their school system has rewarded months of dedication and hard work with a week of zero responsibilities.
If the only time we are allowed to be 110% done with school in every sense is second semester senior year than all I can say is that January 20th can’t get here soon enough.
