At school, most students just push themselves to the end of the day, wanting to find some time to rest. But homework stops them from having any relief. According to Bob Jones high school graduate Kaley Cooper, “I would cry while I did my homework, staying up late to understand it. I would feel so tired and stressed out the next day.” This also highlights how students get so overloaded and have to stay up late to finish all the work. Then it becomes too hard to function the next day, making them have to take home assignments and continue in that cycle.

Time is another thing that affects students’ stress levels. Many people participate in sports and other extracurricular activities. Having to do homework on top of it just adds to the time where students would need to take a breather.

An anonymous freshman at BJ says, “School makes it more tense with my parents.” He further explained how his parents’ strictness with grades has led him to be anxious about them. The schoolwork is increasingly tougher and more consistent than in middle school.

“I feel like people expect something very high of me, especially since I’m in high school now,” Kylie Washington, a freshman at Bob Jones, added.

Robert Cooper, parent of Kaley Cooper, made the another point. “People are supposed to feel stress and face challenges; it’s natural.” It’s true that school is supposed to challenge you and with challenge comes stress, but too much stress leads to major problems with physical and mental health. An article from WebMD said, “Ongoing, chronic stress, however, can cause or exacerbate many serious health problems, including mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety, and personality disorders. Cardiovascular disease, including heart disease, high blood pressure, abnormal heart rhythms, heart attacks, and stroke.”

If students are constantly doing school work and clubs, then they can’t do other things they love. Teachers always wonder why students don’t complete homework. Sure, part of it is laziness, but the main reason is how much each class piles up. Schools need to find a way to alternate which days certain classes have homework or at least ensure that teachers don’t assign homework every single day.