Many student believe that school is often too stressful. In fact, 8 out of the 10 people I asked said they were very overwhelmed about how much homework they get on a weekly basis and think they are expected to do too much than they can handle! Although most of the people I asked are only in ninth grade, many were already thinking about their future and collages. They think that good colleges expect way too much out of them. For example, One of the people I interviewed said this: “ I don’t know how we’re supposed to do it all! I mean, they expect us to maintain an A honor roll average, Get a above average ACT around 30, Get plenty of volunteering hours in, Play multiple sports or be in multiple clubs, Be fluent in a foreign language, Play an instrument, And get a job! If we screw up even once, That could be the factor in deciding if we make it to the school we want. And sometimes that isn’t even good enough!”  I thought about that, And in reality, that is entirely true, Unless you have a ton of money and you can just pay for the cost, you are most likely not going to make it. This proves how little chance you have to be very successful in life. And don’t even get me started on Ivy league schools.

The only 2 people who did not think school is stressful were coincidently the 2 people who do not care about their there grades as much as the other people. But there was something else that was interesting, the 2 smartest people in the group were the ones that said the school was the most stressful! But I later found out that they were in the CEMS program, so of course it is gonna be stressful for them. 2 people said science was the hardest class, 2 said their language was, 1 person said there hardest class was AVID, and 3 said their hardest class was math. While the 2 CEMS students Both said Physics was their hardest class. The most interesting part was hearing why they thought that class was hard. The AVID student said because “ We have to take so many notes, and there is so much homework to do at home”. Both the language students said “ Because the teacher only talks in Spanish, And it does not really help because that is the same thing my Spanish teacher last year did. And she was crazy!” It depends If you’re not doing anything extra outside of school, Because then school is really your only worry and then it would probably be pretty easy. But there isn’t enough time in the day to do all that stuff, So it adds up quickly because you have to do all that stuff for college and school that I listed before, and much more.

I mean, what about your family, you have to spend time with them. You can’t just ignore your family. What about other activities? Like Doctor appointments or therapist meetings or stuff like that. What about your pets? I have 2 dogs and a couple of fish, The fish don’t take any time but the dogs do! I have a Boxer, Bulldog, Pitbull mix and those require a ton of attention! Plus, you have to practice sports, you can’t just be naturally amazing at them. You also have to try to eat healthy and work out often to stay in shape. Also, what about chores, or helping out around the house for your parents. I personally have to unload and load the dishes, mow the lawn, clean the glass, put away the groceries, and do my own laundry as well as regularly clean up the house. I can also do odd jobs for my parents like help them move stuff or help my dad move his stuff to a new storage unit, which we did last Sunday. Don’t forget about personal entertainment, like watching Netflix, playing video games, watching YouTube or anything of that matter. I would go crazy if I couldn’t do those things.

Last but not least, what about social time? Like hanging out with friends and doing whatever we want or going outside and playing whiffle ball or kickball or football with my neighbors. Or just randomly riding your bike around and going to the gas station. Social media like Snapchat or Instagram also take time. People are expected to consistently check those to keep streaks or just stay in touch with friends!

But the most important thing to do; personal hygiene! Like brushing your teeth or taking showers every day or even just putting lotion on with the purpose of trying to make yourself look good. But under that subject: SLEEP. It is so important. If you don’t get at least 8 hours of sleep a day, you are not going to be up to your full ability. It will affect nearly every aspect of you life if you don’t get enough sleep. Even sports and schoolwork. Sometimes 8 hours is not even enough! And just to keep talking, what about God! Faith is extremely important as well. I’m a Christian, and it is hard to constantly be a follower with everything I have to do.

To conclude, School by itself is already pretty stressful. But with all the other things students are expected to do, it often becomes overwhelming.