Sandra Augustyn

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Professor Solether
English 1101
9 May 2016
Seven Crappy Hours Of Our Lives

Have you ever had a day in school where all your teachers assigned multiple homework
assignments and tests in one day? If youre saying no, then you are lying. Dont you get
stressed out and get nervous? Reasons like this can lead students to develop physical and
mental disorders. Recently high school teachers have been increasing work-load and tests. The
average amount of time a student works on homework is about 4 hours per day. Even though a
student is in school for 7 hours, teachers add on another 4 hours of extra work. My question is
when can a student relax?
Im not trying to say fuck school, but damn, cant teachers lay off a little? There have
been studies that physiologist have looked into stating that school stress causes health issues
in todays students life. In the Huffington post, it stated that the American Psychological
Association took a survey with teens and adults to see who has more stress. Guess what?
Teens have higher stress levels than adults. It even said, Even before the pressures of work
and adulthood set in, for most young Americans, stress has already become a fact of daily life.
And this sets the stage early for unhealthy behaviors and lifestyle choices that may increase the
risk of developing stress-related health problems down the road (Gregoire). In this article,
author Carolyn Gregoire wanted to reach out to parents and professionals to see what could be
done. She asked a APA CEO and Executive Vice President Norman B. Anderson about what he
thinks about this problem. He stated, In order to break this cycle of stress and unhealthy
behaviors as a nation, we need to provide teens with better support and health education at
school and home, at the community level and in their interactions with health care

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professionals (Gregoire). More people started to realize that there is an actual problem with
school stress.
PHD Norman B. Anderson wasnt the only one who started to notice problems, but also
Jennie Huynh. She started to notice problems and changes with her daughter Nora. She saw
how her daughter reacted to not getting a 4.0 GPA. She said, Nora had a total meltdown, cried
for hours...I couldnt believe her reaction (Neighmond). All this school pressure on Nora is huge
and the amounts of homework she has had changed her behaviors. The article also states,
And the pressure is taking a physical toll, too. At age 16, Nora is tired, is increasingly irritated
with her siblings and often suffers headaches, her mother says (Neighmond). School stress
caused mental and physical issues with Nora. Her mother says that she constantly works on
homework or studies. She doesnt have much of a social life. Another fact that is stressed by a
clinical psychologist, Mary Alvord, says, A little stress is a good thing, it can motivate students
to be organized. But too much stress can backfire (Neighmond). Almost 40% of parents
addressed that their kids are stressed out from school. The biggest leading cause of stress is
homework. If teachers saw what is happening I believe that there would be a change in the way
they teach. School stress isnt something that just goes away. It can cause multiple issues in a
childs future life.
Speaking of issues that stress can cause, a perfect article made by the government
listed things that can happen to someones body or mind. In this article it states, However, with
chronic stress, those same nerve chemicals that are life-saving in short bursts can suppress
functions that arent needed for immediate survival. Your immunity is lowered and your
digestive, excretory, and reproductive systems stop working normally...Problems occur if the
stress response goes on too long (National Institute of Mental Health). Clearly it stated that
any kind of stress that occurs for a long period of time causes problems. Students attend school
5 days a week. They are stressed out for about 7 hours a day. What does that have to say about
school stress? Its constantly occurring weather its homework, tests, and social life. I can

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imagine that students have bigger issues with their health than many people. The article also
states, People under chronic stress are prone to more frequent and severe viral infections,
such as the flu or common cold, and vaccines, such as the flu shot, are less effective for them
(National Institute of Mental Health). It also says, Over time, continued strain on your body from
routine stress may lead to serious health problems, such as heart disease, high blood pressure,
diabetes, depression, anxiety disorder, and other illnesses (National Institute of Mental Health).
All of these facts about stress is what half of the students have. Especially anxiety disorder.
School is the biggest factor why students develop these kind of problems. I for one have anxiety
and have experienced problems with my mental and physical health. This isnt a problem that
can be brushed off. I still cant get back to my original self, it takes time to heal and work on
trying to cope with a certain amount of stress youre dealing with. This is such an important
message to pass on to society.
Even just spreading the message around could finally start having people think about
what could be done. More and more students skip school because they dont want to be there
for that reason. Lets stop these heavy work-loads and high expectations for students. Lets stop
these mental and physical health problems. Lets help those students that need help. Lets
create programs for students that need help reducing their stress. Lets stop school stress!

Work Cited

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"Fact Sheet on Stress." NIMH RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2016.
Gregoire, Carolyn. "American Teens Are Even More Stressed Than Adults."The

Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2016.

- "School Stress Takes A Toll On Health, Teens And Parents Say." NPR. NPR, n.d.
Web. 15 Apr. 2016.