By Alexander Maclean, Year 12
“I have so much work to do”, a statement often spoken by students in high school. As students strive for academic excellence, many extracurricular activities, and personal growth, they are often challenged with managing their time. This can negatively affect students’ health, such as their sleep cycle and mental health. However, every problem has a solution, and this scenario is no different.
In today’s competitive world, students are faced with tougher challenges, as they’re expected to excel in every subject while managing extracurricular activities and their own lives. Over the years, schoolwork has increased significantly, with hours of homework, projects, and tests becoming the norm. In addition, students are encouraged to do extracurriculars to develop a fortified university applicationThe amount of activities the single student is expected to accomplish is overwhelming. Two out of three students are not getting enough sleep to go to school, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which drastically affects their academic performance and health. Among high school students, 72.7% reported insufficient sleep, with about 20% reporting sleeping fewer than 6 hours a night, an imbalance in a student’s sleep schedule can have major effects on their path to adolescence and can lead to other health problems such as heart disease, kidney disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, obesity, and depression. Extracurriculars may be fun for the student, but they put studying time away, making it harder for students to catch up on work and perform well on tests.
There’s also personal growth to take into consideration. There’s a common belief that free time leads to nothing but harmful growth. However, studies show that college and high school students should be getting at least 2 hours of personal free time per day to maintain stable mental health.
One possible solution to address the overwhelming demands on students while promoting their well-being and academic success is to implement a Balanced Student Life Program in schools. This program would focus on three key areas: academic workload management, structured extracurricular involvement, and personal well-being support. To manage workload, schools would set limits on homework hours, introduce flexible deadlines for major projects, and incorporate study periods during the school day to reduce after-school stress. For extracurricular involvement, the program would limit the number of activities per student to prevent burnout and encourage students to choose activities aligned with their strengths and interests. To support personal well-being, schools would designate mandatory free periods during the day, offer sleep education workshops for students and parents, and provide mental health resources. The program would also involve policy reform and ongoing assessment to ensure its effectiveness. By adopting this holistic approach, schools can foster healthier, more balanced lifestyles for students while maintaining academic success.
In conclusion, there’s no doubt that high school students have major trouble managing their work and personal lives. However, a student should not suffer consequences just because they couldn’t manage work given by multiple teachers in such a short period. Teachers must remember that students are humans too, and that they are still in the learning process, a period of time teachers were in not so long ago.
