Now a days being a school has been a lot harder, due to stress. Back then people work harder to get their jobs and be big, they had more options and opportunities for them to start new inventions and ideas. Nowadays it is more competitive because there are fewer spots and everyone is trying to be better than the person ahead of them. Kids stress more because they are expected to be high, even though they need help and are struggling, the adults think that we should work hard because they want our lives t be better than theirs, because we are the future.
Being a student in 2018 could possibly be argued as a stress filled experience that seems to be never ending. Adults don't seem to understand the lack of sleep that comes with being a high school student yet when we ask how we can improve in our classes we're told to sleep more even though it's all of the work we are given in these very classes that keep us up past 3 am. I wish adults would come to an understanding that being a student now is especially draining and try and understand our perspective instead of just quickly cutting us off to say "when I was in school..." Being a student in 2018 is 10x times as hard as it was a decade ago. Also, expectations to be able to juggle a student life, social life, home life and still make time for ourselves is especially difficult. I'm not asking for someone to feel bad for us as a generation because pity isn't going to help us thrive as students but, to understand that being a student isn't easy.
Being a student in 2018 unquestionably has its ups and downs. The technology aspect helps with getting things done faster, however many assignments cannot be accessed without internet, which is a struggle for some students to access. I personally often go to places with my family that do not have access to internet, thus making it quite difficult to complete these assignments. It good though because I feel like there is a lot more support for students than there has been in the past. My school tries to make sure that each and every student feels supported and happy in their environment, and I personally do. Most teachers, in my opinion and personal experience, really seem to care about their students education, and to me that is huge. I also love the fact that though there are still cliques, I feel like student bonding events really help to bring students together, and that is to me so amazing.
Since Elementary, all my parents told me was their teenage years were the best years of their lives. I'm sure that was true for them but what about now? I'm a sophomore and I haven't been to the same school for more than a year since i was 12. When i turned 13 everything hit me like a sack of potatoes. The work-load increased, the kids got meaner. Having to sit in class while the girls in the back laugh and whisper about you isn't even the half of it. And going home and having to see mean things commented under your posts and STILL having to finish the english assignment you never even understood in the first place even though you stay after school for extra help every tuesday. With all that on your mind it's harder to do when your self confidence is already shot. Yea, i guess i could block all the mean girls or tell someone at the school about it but its the KNOWING that they hate u while u hate yourself is the problem. But being a teenager was supposed to be the best years of my life right?
Honestly, adults are always telling me that they have so much stress in their life because of their jobs, but school life can be pretty stressful. Some people cant keep up on schoolwork, and other students can be pretty brutal.
There's a few things I wish people - especially adults, since most of us teens are in the same boat - would understand about us. The first is that most of us aren't that image of a student that many adults seem to hold. We're not lazy; we're too stressed to begin projects. We're not stupid; many of us are taking matters into our own hands on issues we find important and contributing in any way possible, whether it's signing a petition or friends and family about those issues. We don't hate learning; we hate being forced to learn about things that don't hold our interests. Many of us have passions that don't involve the common core subjects, passions that spurn creativity. We love football, marching band, dance team, cheerleading, being part of the school newspaper. But we don't have time to pursue all that we want, because how are we supposed to balance our extracurriculars with the hour of homework each of our six or seven teachers pile on us and wanting to hang out with friends and having time for ourselves? Another very huge thing is that the school system is insufficient, and has been for quite a while. There isn't a point in forcing us to learn the common core to the degree that we do, as many of us don't need that. Assessments aren't a fair measure of us because they measure our ability to memorise, not our ability to apply our acquired knowledge. More of us are developing anxiety and depression than ever before because of school, and the pressure we're under.
Overall, I would say my high school experience has been much more difficult than my parents. Back when they were in school, a 4.0 would guarantee you a ticket into any college you want to go to. Now, most good colleges expect a 4.0. Many of them expect even higher. With weighted classes, being at the top of your class is way more difficult than it was in the 1980s. My parents always tell me that high school isn’t hard, and if I’m struggling now just wait until college. However, they didn’t have the same amount of classes that high school classes have today. In conclusion, I wish our Gen X parents knew that high school today wasn’t the easy, carefree environment they remember.
Of all the pressures and intensities exerted on students while at school, the reality of life is assuredly one of the most challenging to cope with. As a junior high student in my freshman year, I am not a stranger to staying up late at night studying tediously for exams, while also balances household responsibilities and extra circular activities. Accepting that no matter how hard I work and how much effort I give, some times I will miss the mark and not fulfill my own expectations, is a lesson I’m still learning, and I hope that others will understand too. Naturally, our expectations should be high for each other, but we must also remember that making mistakes is vital to improving ourselves. When something doesn’t go the way we planned, we need to take a step back and recognize it as it is: a failure, but not a defeat. I would want the students of 2018 to remembered for their struggle to balance their faith, education, social life, aspirations and trials.
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I’m fifteen and go to a highly competitive high school. In my district, there are several vocational high schools that students can apply for in the eighth grade. At thirteen, we are already cordoned off into future careers; the application is based on grades that we got when we were eleven. Theoretically, this means one failed test in the seventh grade could have derailed us on our tracks to our dream high schools.
Right now I’m going through what I call a mid-high-school crisis. It’s the end of sophomore year, and I still have no idea what I want to do with my life; there’s no way my middle-school self could have known and chosen the right vocation. Students are supposed to choose electives that relate to our passions, but how are we supposed to really know what those are without much introduction to the topics? What if our future careers have nothing to do with any of the elective choices? Colleges, we’re told, look closely at our course selections, so we’d better choose well.
It seems that everything these days circles back to courting colleges. 1/2
I wish more people, especially adults, understood that not all students are the same and we shouldn’t be clumped together because of a few misguided teenagers. I have heard adults call us phone addicted, lazy, young people. Yes, there is truth to that statement, but I can attest to the fact that there are individuals who aren’t any of those adjectives. I am one of them. I am a student who loves to learn, who values self-effort over cheating when it comes to school work and assessments. However, it isn’t only adults who make assumptions about my generation’s lifestyle. It’s also us, my fellow students, who make assumptions about each other. Due to my academic interests, people automatically conclude that I am smart and a “nerd”. Just because you are strongly passionate about a hobby or an activity, it doesn’t mean you are automatically good at it. Getting those high scores on tests comes from working hard every day and taking time out of my day to study and review content from my classes. Admittedly, I don’t do it on a daily basis, but I do it enough so that I can fully comprehend and remember my class’ content. I wish people took the time to learn more about me before judging my character based off assumptions and stereotypes. I am my own individual and I don’t fall into any specific category, I am simply me.
There are many things that I wish people understand about being a student in 2018. As a student I see firsthand the many struggles and challenges students have. Everyday each student comes home with piles of homework, multiple projects, not to mention the amount of studying that each kid must do to "succeed". Education has changed dramatically. Kids stay up till 2 am doing homework, not because they want to, but because they must. Each student in today's society stresses about school. The advanced classes, college level courses, and extracurricular activities take part in this stress. Teachers and families encourage kids to get into clubs and other activities, but what they don’t understand is that we have so much on our plate. As teens we cannot handle the load that is dropped on us. I wish that adults would understand that kids cannot handle the stress and need a break.
I think alot of people should understand students in 2018 some of us are smart,dumb,and funny all the adults think think we listen to rap and only rap some of us dont and school is hard i mean really hard to pass your class ( umm you should do all your work you should pass) no some how you get a f or a D for doing all the work
I wish that more people were able to understand how much more difficult it is being a student in 2018. There are so many more things that are "necessary" for getting into a good college. The College Board is pushing for more and more AP courses that students should take. This is because they make money from the more AP classes that people take. The more AP classes that people take, the more textbooks that are required to do so. Since the College Board makes the textbooks, they make more profit. Along with APs, there are all the extracurricular things that we need to do, that our parents push us to do. We need to do band, sports, chorus, musicals, and clubs. Everyone is told that the more things that we do, the better chance we have of getting into college. As a result of this we have little to no time to do whatever we want, not to mention that we have tons of homework due to the amount of APs that we already have to do. Back in our parent's time only a fraction of this was necessary to get into a good college. Whenever we do have time to do whatever we want to do, it is usually so miniscule, that we can only do so many things before we have to do something else. Also our parents are telling us to spend more time with family, when we don’t even have time to do that. It’s insane the amount of effort that we have to put into so many different things. To conclude, these are some of the biggest things, in my opinion, that people don’t understand about being a student in 2018.
Everyone has a different experience during their school years. Whether you go to a city public, surburban public, any private or religious based schools, all have their ups and downs. Personally, I am in a public city school, in Philadelphia to be exact. Of course social media and technology will be brought up in a topic like this as now a days, adults think that’s all we pay attention too. I feel as thought technology is nothing more than a great advantage for students in this era as we can easily access more accurate information, whether it’s to help us with problems we’re struggling on or just helping our overall knowledge on the world. Of course us kids will sometimes exaggerate how it is to be a student. This is not to be mistaken for how high depression and anxiety is for teens now a days. Many teachers do not realize this and will think we are just lazy. Growing up in a city school and having friends that go to surbaban schools also made me realize the difference between our learning experiences. Although not all, because I do have some teachers who I am greatful actually care about my education, I feel as though teachers where I’m located don’t care too much to teach. I understand many just want to get paid but this is also our futures put at risk because we will not be ready for the real world once we leave. I do feel as though growing up with more acceptance now than we had even 20 years ago makes such a more happy and safe environment.
The only thing that I and kids my age are told when we complain about school stress is, “We’re preparing you for high school.” This is an example of an unfortunate trend in the modern American school system; kids are not being taught to validate their troubles, enjoy the present, and do what they love, but rather to rush and live their lives for the future. In elementary school, it was, “Let’s get you ready for the final year.” The final year of elementary was devoted to testing “in prep for middle school”. Middle is prep for high school, and high school is prep for college. While we understand that preparation is important, we’re never taught or able to enjoy where we are right now. With our draining schedules, we try to be present in life outside of school, but it isn’t easy when we are weighed down by school projects and responsibilities. The whole purpose of school is to teach us the skills we will need to have a good life, but an overload of projects and exams prevent us from being invested in things like family time and mental health care, which improve our lives currently and for the future. Many of my peers have gone through clinical depression that had so much to do with the lack of value the school system puts on students’ mental health and happiness. Among these peers, I've found a common belief: we would all be so much happier and more mentally healthy if our health, happiness, and favorite activities were more prioritized, and our stress was more validated.
People should understand that as students we should have better time schedules. Students need to have at least 8 hours of school to focus and to do good in school. Students should try to take the advantage of participating in activities and school so that they can get a good scholarship. Students need to be able to understand clearly on what the teacher is trying to teach. If Students are focusing more in school and they are getting help from teachers then they can do more better in school and to move on into college and become a successfull and full educated adult. In this time of year time goes by fast. So students need to take their time wisely when they are working or trying to pay attention or even studying. Students have to make this year in school good and try to have that mindset of trying to go on their phone or not following the uniform policy in school.
I wish people understand that students in 2018 are going through amazing opportunities given by the school to help us learn about the outside, grownup world. We students are granted new resources that help us go through the school year in a smooth and less wasteful tactic, the internet! Google Classroom has been able to remind us and supply us with information and is now easier to access rather than for us to waste so much paper just for notes that we'll toss aside once the year ends. Basically I am saying that the high school student life has plenty of positive things going on for it and can show that this year is going for a great head start. I'd be lying if I said there shouldn't be any changes, students out there aren't as motivated as they should be and I believe that teachers should definitely make more of an attempt to open their minds up to as many new experiences to make the best well rounded students out there. Just a comment (hope it wasn't too long :p) MR COHBRA WHERE'S MY EXTRA CRED?!
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I honestly don't know what I want more people to understand about what it's like to be a student today. Do you want me to tell you about how stressful it is? Or how I feel pressured to fit in? Or even how I'm scared that my school is going to be shot up at any minute? There is so much that students want you to understand but it could be completely different for each student. Honestly, I think I'm just too focused on the future to care about any of that. The future is unknown to everyone. No one knows what's going to happen tomorrow, or next week, or next year, or in the next decade. Everything is always changing and for a student, like me, in this day, it's pretty scary. I'm only a freshman so I don't know if I'm going to get a good score on my SATs, pass my driver's license test, or even get into college. It doesn't make me stressed or anxious to think about these, but just thinking about how uncertain the future is can be a little frightening. Students aren't the only ones that feel the uncertainty of the future, but adults too. Many adults don't realize that students feel this way and vice versa. That's what I want more people to know about students today, that we're just like every other adult, we aren't sure what lies ahead. Students should also realize that everyone else feels the same way about the future too and then maybe we can all start to understand each other.
Teachers don’t understand the extracurricular activities that us students in 2018 have outside of school. Sports and clubs after school can be extremely time consuming and physically and mentally draining. Students do not want to come home to complete multiple projects and an hours’ worth of math problems. The absence of a daily study hall also makes completing these tasks at home that much more harder and time consuming. There are also things that need to be done around the house. Time is limited, and no one wants to spend their time doing math problems when they could be getting valuable hours of sleep. Overall, us students have outside lives too and have better things to do in our free time.
I wish people would understand how stressful and hard it is to be a student in 2018. Students are forced to go to school at 7:30 in the morning and expected to stay focused for 6 hours so they can get straight A's. Students need to have to have better gpa than everyone else so they can good college, and they also need to do sports and extra circular activities so it looks good for college. On top of that students have tons homework and projects every night. Students also have to deal with pressure of other students and social media. Students want to fit in while doing well in school. People should understand this more, and go easy on the students in this generation
Being a student is 2018 is probably one of the most stressful and frustrating experiences one can go through. If students are expected to get eight hours of sleep, go to school for roughly seven hours, go to two to three hours of extracurricular activities, and do homework for an hour and a half every day, that only leaves about four and a half hours to go to work, eat, spend time with friends and family and have free time to themselves. That is unachievable, it's no wonder so many students are stressed, anxious and depressed. We're expected to act and work like adults, while being treated like children. Students, especially teenagers, are ridiculed for spending so much time online, being unmotivated and acting immature. Then when we take initiative in local and national politics and try and change our world, like we're being told to, adults just wave us off and say we don't know what we're talking about because we're kids. If we're knocked down when we try and make change, then why does everyone wonder why we do what we do. All of this on top of the immense pressure to get the best grades, to go to the best college to get the best job and the most money so we might not be in debt our whole lives from going to the best college. We're not given the chance to be kids and then when we try and act like the adults we're pressured to, we're knocked back down and told to stay in our place.
I think that people need to understand that students in 2018 do work hard and we aren't that lazy. School nowadays is really taxing to the students, we are expected to get As. An A is no longer above average it's what you need to get into college. Also, an A isn't enough you need to have above a 4.0 and be a part of as many extra curriculars as possible. Take as many AP classes as possible so your GPA is higher. Parents are worried about you, but they worry about what grades you have so that you can get into a good college, get a good job, and have money so you can have a good life. However, why can't you have fun along the way. Everyone knows that you only get one life so why be focused on grades and colleges when you are in the prime of your life. People think that it’s a choice between good grades or a fun time, but I've realized you can have both you just need a balance. Go to school, work hard when your there, do things that are available at school if they make you happy. Then go home and do some homework but then take some time to eat dinner with your family or play outside or some video games. It doesn’t have to be stressful, but it can be. Just realize that school is a lot but it's also a great opportunity.
As a student today, the standard is; get straight A’s, take he hardest possible courses, ace your SAT’s, and get into any college you want. What I wish people knew about students is that the average student today won’t have a 4.0+ gpa, they won’t have a massive array of scholarships to choose from. And that’s ok. I wish people knew that it is alright if we don’t all have the same career goals, its alright if we aren’t all perfect students. I wish that people knew that we have the freedom to not be locked up only in our studies and that we need to live as well. I wish people were able to walk in our shoes.
Being a student in 2018 is very stressful because of all the work our teachers are giving us. Teachers do not understand that we are kids and that we have lives outside of this place. During the week of my school musical I was slammed with three books to read and tests that had kept me up till 2 AM due to my extra curriculars activities. I truly believe that teachers do not think we have lives outside of the five days a week and when we turn in “less than quality” after doing stuff all weekend than we get in trouble when they are the ones who assigned at least five hours a night. Also, we have the added stress of high school grades and colleges seeing them plus there have been much more school shootings and intruders in the recent year and that adds even more stress about going to school. In conclusion I think that the worst thing about is the stress we are all under because of the extra curriculars we are encouraged to do and trying to maintain being happy at the same time. Also I will be looking into college soon and now know that they will see my grades and everything that I have done from now on.
Most people my age would say, “I wish more people understood technology!” or “It’s so hard to keep up with homework and getting into college.” But honestly in my opinion, that’s extremely cliché. You see, my struggle in 2018 is just fitting in. You wouldn’t believe how many people I’ve heard being made fun of because they don’t wear makeup, don’t have a phone, or even don’t dress a certain way. What people don’t understand is how many people don’t give a crap. Eat candy! Stay up late! Go out with your friends! People in my grade tend to over react to the little things. People are so self-conscious and care way too much it often gets in their way of living life. I just wish people understood that being a kid, teenager, and student is supposed to be some of the best years of our lives. Yet some people have been wasting away their time stressing out about getting grades and being like everyone else. I wish people understood that it doesn’t matter.
To be honest, being a child of 2018 is a rollercoaster. We have everything at the tip of our fingertips! Apps, social media, and books all on a 3 x 7 screen. Even though, maybe, some of the info is either wrong or inappropriate. I even heard "back in the day", people had libraries, and they had to 'walk' there. I know, crazy right? Since everything right now is being made easier to us, sometimes our problems seem frivolous to the "baby-boomers" before us. We can't complain without someone saying "Back in my time..." And they wonder why there are more depressed teens than ever. Even children under 10 have depression! I just wish adults understood that just because society has made it seem like our lives are easier, doesn’t mean they are. Our lives aren't easier just because we have more things than the adults. In fact, our lives are much worse. Social media can expose, fake information online can torment us, but because we didn’t carry water for 5 miles we shouldn't be affected by it right?
As a student in 2018 I want others to understand the constant amount stress that we are expected to handle. I personally feel that school is no longer about learning ,but memorizing facts to pass the next test until you eventually graduate. Schools are supposed to be a place where you find your passions and explore different opportunities, but it's turned into a competition. Think about it, a classroom of 1st graders are always eager to learn and raise their hands to participate often ,but as they get older students become discouraged. On top of having to study for multiple tests in one day students are also expected to do multiple extracurricular activities and volunteer work. There are only 24 hours in a day and students have an 8-hour school day, then 2 hours of extracurricular activities, then studying and doing homework. Students are constantly told they need about 8 hours of sleep to function every day, but how can we when we have a million responsible to upkeep? I believe education is a great and that helps us build opinions and have points of view on things in life, but it shouldn't be a place I dread going to in the morning.
Being a student is extremely difficult. On top of all the homework, the long seven-hour days, and the lack of sleep, people still don’t seem to understand what exactly makes school so dreadful. I come home every day with at least two hours of homework, which doesn’t seem like a lot for someone who comes home on the bus every day, but for someone like me and most of the kids in school, majority of us are after school even longer for extra curriculars. Teachers really don’t understand the fact that we have other stuff going on in our lives and that our whole worlds do not revolve around them and what they want us to do. Our families and teachers encourage us constantly to take part in extra curriculars yet tell us that “maybe we shouldn’t participate in so much if you don’t want to be so stressed” or they say, “you bring this on yourself.” Having homework on the weekends is one of the worst parts though. It’s the only two days we get to relax and escape from school, yet we still must do schoolwork. It’s just like working from home! What I wish people would really understand though is the fact that kids wouldn’t mind having to go to school and do the homework if only we didn’t have to wake up before the sun comes up. Overall, teachers and parents really don’t understand that trying to balance happiness and stress is one of the hardest things to as a kid, and the fact that we are getting pulled in both directions each day makes it even worse.
In our schools today, there is a new, relevant, festering fear. The fear that you could lose your life without any warning in an environment that should be safe. In 2018, "there have already been 17 school shootings where someone was hurt or killed [which] averages out to 1.4 shootings a week." This statistic needs to change.
After the school shooting in Florida, people from all over the world joined in Washington, DC in the March for Our Lives. More than 200,000 people joined here under one common voice; guns must be controlled in the United States to stop this problem from growing. During the March for Our Lives, the students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School spoke out about their beliefs and own tragedies that have resulted from school shootings. One student in particular that moved many was Emma González who lost some of her closest friends during the shooting. Halfway through her speech, she explained how “…my friend Carmen would never complain to me again about piano practice… Jamie Guttenberg would never. Meadow Pollack would never…” Shortly after this, she became silent, leaving many thinking it was too emotional. Moments later, the crowd perceived her message: “the uncertainty, the tension, the anxiety she created with her unexpected silence had conveyed what the children at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School had lived through, but their uncertainty was not about a speech or loudspeakers — it was about their lives.”
Changes must be made.
#NeverAgain.
School isn’t the same for everyone. Everyone has their own experiences which shape their experience and their views on how it is. Some spend their time in school stressed over the little things, and others such as me exhibit such stress in procrastination through Netflix or really anything other than what I am supposed to be doing. But you wouldn’t ever be able to tell, because I have learned to adapt and do a months worth of work in two hours and still get a better grade than those who tried. Homework though intended to be helpful just sits in the corner until the bus when I quickly do it. We live in a world of technology where help is available at our fingertips so we don’t need to pay attention in class 100% of the time which is a good thing because due to the early start times of class and the lack of sleep that the majority of the school gets we probably were mentally asleep during most of the lesson anyways with our minds anywhere other than here. School is evolving beyond the former standard of listening and learning but not all teachers evolve alongside of it, so if there is one thing that people need to know about students today it would be that in order to learn you need to loosen up because in restricting the way we learn without accepting that learning styles and the way we learn in this day and age are changing, you risk losing the interest of the new generation, our generation.
Everyone wants to manipulate you. Politicians want to use students to push a message or agenda. Just look at the recent school shootings. Many students were just used to demand stricter gun control laws. Most teachers want to manipulate you. They want you to do your homework, take tests, don’t talk or have fun outside of planned activities. Parents want much the same thing. They want to you listen to them, but don’t question them. Get good grades, be involved in school. Peer pressure is also a large factor. Conform to what’s around you. Think like everyone else. Wear certain clothes and act certain ways. All of this is just pure manipulation. What students really need is to be independent. Don’t just let them follow their own path. Encourage them to find their own way in the world. Encourage them to think and act outside the norm of society. The world needs more independent thinkers, not drones programmed to follow the leaders.
Part One
If you walked into a school in 1990, what would you notice? You would see the lack of technology used by students. If parents would understand how social media affects high school students, I think that they would understand what we go through every day. Social media impacts our lives in many ways, but one stands out, social status. Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and Facebook show a person's life and what goes on in it. In my generation, Generation Z, most of the students at my school care about the number of followers they have, and how their appearance looks in pictures. After their picture is uploaded for the world to see, they now only care about how many "likes" or "comments" they receive. When I look around and see this, I become more and more upset how our generation has turned more into robots, and less of human beings. Many other students try to compare themselves to other users on social media. This decreases their self-confidence about themselves and they become obsessed with having more likes or more followers than the other. Also, high schoolers, some of them at least, don't like to show their true appearance. What I mean about that is that they like to use "filters" on Snap chat and post themselves using the "duck face" and not their true smile. In Generation Z, and in high school, many people care about being like for someone they are not.
Part 1
School, something we all must go through. But what more people don’t understand about school is the stress level, the high expectations, the pressure everything kids in school experience. More people in 2018 need to understand that most of us try our best to achieve the highest possible. What our parents don’t realize is that school curriculum has gotten much harder than when they went, we are expected to know more and, learn more in a shorted amount of time. I know from past experiences is that some things we learn today our parents can’t help us because they never learned it. Teachers also expect us to already retain some basic knowledge from common sense. The stress level is sometimes unbearable, teachers don’t communicate with each other and they pile on one assignment after another all due on the same day. Every night my brother and I spend a total of 6 hours doing homework for the next day. People believe that since we learned it in class and had a little practice we should be able to assign a pop quiz on it then next day when kids our age need more than 53 mins to learn and master a concept. Also what some people need to understand is that at a young age we start thinking about college we push our selves to take all honors or AP courses in hope that a college will notice us out of the 200 other kids trying to do the same thing.
I wish more people understood how high the expectations are for high school. Raising the bar high for students is normal, but to high can cause stress. The pressure of a high school student is difficult, it’s the stepping blocks for careers. Going into high school, knowing you can’t fail classes, must do extracurricular activities, being involved with friends and family, and participating adds to the stress. Parents have high expectations for a child, I understand that, but living in today’s world, it’s hard to stay focused and not to get discouraged. The one thing about parents is that they are positive. They try to encourage their kids to “keep moving forward” or “stay positive, it’ll all work out”, but parents don’t understand how difficult school is today. Not just the academics, but the students are difficult too. Every student strives to be popular, so social media plays a role in pressure and expectations as well. I, myself, want everyone to be involved and be friends, but high school students, most of them, care about popularity and make other students feel unwanted. This is what I wished parents understood about school. Academics are difficult as they are but being liked by all and trying to be “popular” is what students live up too. Too much pressure can hurt a student academically and socially. Therefore, I want parents to take into consideration how difficult being a high school student in 2018 is.
As a student myself, I can tell you that we are active in school sports, clubs, and other extracurricular activities that can take up to 2-3 hours. Students age sixteen and up also have jobs and family obligations, none of this is a bad thing, however when you put all those activities together then add in homework, our day becomes more than stressful. In Naperville IL, a student has an 8 hour school day beginning at 7:45 and ending at 3:10, then- if involved in a sport- has after school activities for another 2 and a half hours getting, home around 6:00-6:30 pm. They then may have time to eat dinner, unless they have a job and on top of all that a students average amount of homework takes takes about 1-2 hours- if you don't take an honors or AP class, not to mention the stress and pressure received when deciding on a college. What I would like everyone to know is that life as a student in high school isn't exactly easy, and it only gets harder.
Being a student today is very stressful because you're constantly worried about how good of a college you will get into, what your friends will think and also where they are going. You always want to impress your friends, but also having a job at the same time, dealing with family responsibilities. Also our generation is obsessed with social media and are always checking our phones and distract ourselves without realizing it. I wish they understood that absent days are needed, especially if you have a job!!! everyone needs a break once in a while, and although we may seem like we don't care about our grades, we really do. A lot of older people believe that our generation has no reason to be stressed but in reality we do! We need to take SAT’s and colleges are holding higher score standards everywhere, and we want to start our lives right away and make something big out of ourselves. I think for someone who hasn’t been in school in a long time would have a really hard time understanding the way things are done now, they never had internet access whenever, could go online and help themselves at home, or maybe not even have a wonderful relationship with their teachers. It may have not been as stressful as well because a lot of people didn’t even go to college either. It’s important for them to understand so they don’t judge us as a generation because they think we’ve got it easy.
The rat race to college we embark on when we enter high school is difficult, yes, and competitive, yes. Those that claim it causes increased stress among students are correct, at least about a significant number of students. But this new era that we have entered - one where near-perfect grades are not enough, being a basketball star is not enough - is, in many ways, a positive good. We are being forced to both work harder and do things that haven't been done before (high school students have invented apps, published research... we have proven ourselves capable of a lot). Certainly there were impressive college applicants in the 60s and 70s — but to be sure, not the across-the-board academic and extracurricular excellence we are seeing today. The push to be unique on your college application can sometimes result in students being artificial, but it can also result in students pursuing things that both interest them and set them apart from the crowd. I believe that to be a wonderful benefit of being a student during this era. We have, as a general rule, the solid education, opportunities, and Internet connection that allow us to do great things: let's pay our dues.
Part 1:
I think it is safe to say that I am not the first teenager to argue that school has become much harder since the time of our parents. In high school I would endlessly argue with my parents over grades. I pleaded with them, trying to explain that things were not as easy as when they experienced it, which they denied. In her essay, “What Do You Wish More People Understood About What It’s Like to Be a Student in 2018?,” Meghan Miraglia takes the stance that being a high school student in 2018 is significantly more difficult than in the years of our parents.
Part 2:
The author states the claim that schooling has changed with the times and become more difficult. She does this by providing an example of the schoolwork she receives. “Not only do I have to worry about a sea of never-ending ‘terror packets’ (a monster packet for my AP history class; an eight-or-nine page horror story disguised as a pleasant way of solidifying my understanding of this decade or that decade), but now I have to worry about The World” (Miraglia). Advanced placement classes, along with any other college level courses are a large source of stress for high school students. Nowadays, students are taking a significant amount of credits in high school. “The National Center for Education Statistics studied high school transcripts from 2009 and found high school seniors were taking an average of 27.2 credits, a jump from the 23.6 credits high schoolers were taking in 1990” (Rogers). In this modern day there is so much pressure to attend college. It is almost assumed that all students will further their education. This being said, not many people see college as an option. They make the decision to proceed to higher education out of fear that they will not be able to be successful in life otherwise. With this in mind, many students feel the need to get ahead in high school in order to make their college workload as painless as possible.
Part 4:
Not only have high school classes become harder, but also standardized testing. Author of article, “High-School Senior: I Took the SAT Again After 41 Years,” Sue Shellenbarger, took the SAT after 41 years and her results were not pleasing. “But this time around I score in the 430-to-490 range out of a possible 800 in math, a drop of 23% to 33% from my 1967 score of 640, after adjustment to reflect changes in scoring. Using the wealth of admissions data available online, I learn that if I were actually applying to colleges, that score would put me well on my way to getting rejected by my undergraduate alma mater, Michigan State University” (Shellenbarger). This is near proof that standardized testing has become harder. The author prepared the way that she felt an average student would and was not happy with her results. She found that she did not do nearly as well as in 1967. With standardized tests becoming harder, a more extensive preparation period is needed. This, on top of all of the students’ assigned school work can obviously add up, only escalating their stress levels.
Student life in today’s era is somewhat easier than the past few decades. We have computers to help us with our homework. I admit we have an easier life of studying and getting work done fast. However, the society itself or even technology can be damaging, and thus harder to live a student’s life compare to the past.
In this era, schools are handing out chromebooks to students in grades 6-12. As a teen, we cannot hold the temptation any longer of going on Facebook during class instead of paying attention. Parents think that blocking the sites will solve the situation, but teens will go to random sites to fulfill their needs. Due to technology, studying now becomes more of a stress. Yes, it is mainly our faults for succumbing to our temptations, but it is still a huge distraction. Many students (data supported) experience worse grades after owning a chromebook for school.
Another point is society. Due to social media, teens admire celebrity looks. If one person is pretty, whose looks can compare to a celebrity, we take those judgments and criticized those who aren’t “celebrity looks level.” As a Korean, our culture is about looks. It was a rule: If you’re not pretty, your life will go south. In school, Koreans adopt that part of their culture and will viciously judge other people’s looks. This “culture” barely existed back in my parents’ days. They never experienced pressure. Through this “culture”, South Korea now becomes the #1 country with highest student suicide rates.
We have a lot my exposure on things that make us not want to get an education or even try anymore. We deal with more deaths, tragic deaths at that. We don't really get much of a childhood anymore. We see friends and family deal with depression, drug use, alcohol, deaths, poor environment, and etc. When we are shown that we can do it, ( it being successful) when we move on from a horrible stage in America, we can be better. We can be more voiceful, helpful, and just over all more successful.
I am currently 14 years old and a freshmen in High School. What I wish adults knew about being a student in 2018 is that there is a constant pressure to be the best, academically and socially. Adults will always try to implore you to stop comparing yourself to others because it is a waste of time, but is that not what colleges do exactly? You are constantly compared to kids at your school, and even kids all around the world. It is simply impossible to survive in this lifetime without being compared to others in all aspects of education. It is always going to be who has the best GPA in the school, or who has the most significant extracurricular. You can never simply just be the best for you, but the best in the world. My parents often tell me that they wish they could go back to high school. I sit there in awe because I cannot believe that they would choose to go back to the life of stress and anxiety. I know that my education is a privilege, but sometimes I cannot help but feel as though it was a burden in disguise. I am grateful that I have these opportunities, but I feel that school is all that I do. We are never going to get these teenage years back. Do I really want to look back at my freshmen year as a big anxiety attack? So please, do not tell me that I am good enough for me because that is simply not going to cut it in the real world. That is setting myself up for failure: believing that my best is good enough when it comes to my education.
When I yell “you don’t understand me, mom!” from the cavernous pit of my room, applying charcoal eyeliner to my lid and fashioning a belt out of an old My Chemical Romance t-shirt, I truly mean what I say. How come my mom and dad had the golden opportunity to be raised in the 1980s, while I'm stuck trapped under the rubble of a still recovering economy under the hands of an orange Frankenstein's monster, elected by my predecessors? Of course, my parents and teachers, or any other form of authority, often question why I, as well as others in my generation, express so many strong and polarized political views. It must be hard to imagine a 15 year old girl deeply frustrated by our nation’s “loosey goosey” gun regulations, when at the same age, my parents were thinking about dating and their (respective) pets. Even though that much is true, it's important to note that our media has changed dramatically when compared to 30 years ago. I don't mean Smartphones and new technology- the difference between now and then is that my teachers finally have more leniency to discuss important political issues with students like me. I’m not special at all, but when I can talk to an adult and actually debate, it makes me feel like I can actually do something in the world. Even though I can't legally vote, and am therefore ruled obsolete by the people in office, I can learn about how my decisions affect the world. Whether you like it or not, people are going to tell you their political opinions.
I think everyone said it all in the previous three hundred and sixty eight comments, but just to give an example it's spring BREAK right now. And I have 4 classes which I have homework in. And in two of those classes I have to do work everyday. During spring break. And I'm not the only one.
I don't need anyone's understanding. Nor do those 368 students.
We need someone to hear it all.
And do something.
And yes, I know you're not supposed to start with "and"
I wish people would know that high school students don’t have to go to college to succeed in life. Succeeding in life can just mean happiness. Shouldn’t they be happy? Happiness can come from a multitude of things but early on we are pressured to live a certain way and conform to other’s beliefs and morals.
I wish that from an early age that taught students how to properly deal with stress. Throughout high school, teachers place tremendous pressure on students and tell them that it is part of growing up without telling them how to properly deal with it. This leaves students unhealthy and [forces] them to create outlets for this stress. Many students turn to unhealthy habits that will cause problems later on in life.
It would be a lie if I said that I know what I want to be when I grow up. To be honest, I don’t even know what field to go into, and I have to decide what majors/colleges I want to do in about 2 years.
I am a student from one of the most rigorous STEM schools in the nation, and I am fortunate to receive a high-quality education that relates to the sciences and technologies. In and out of school, I participate in various STEM activities, and I’m proud to say that I know how to successfully build a six-feet-tower out of newspapers that can hold a soccer ball, and that I can write a java program that can determine the score in a bowling game. Even though I enjoy these projects, I’m unsure if that’s where my passions truly lie.
Debating is one activity that I love. Whether I am advocating for a certain political issue or speaking as a legislator in a congress chamber, I am always joyous when I get to speak on what I’m passionate about. However, my school doesn’t have a debate team or the funding to support one. As a result, I often can’t really practice debating, and although I love it, I don’t know if going into a politics-related career is fit for me. Right now I’m straddling between what seems like two different careers, and although I still have 2 years to decide, I honestly have no clue what I am truly passionate about, and it’s scary to think that I might choose something I’ll regret doing.
2
Growing up as a student-athlete isn't a walk in the park. It isn't a walk anywhere for that matter. It's run up an exponential graph-- the road gets steeper and steeper, but the farther I go, the faster and harder I have to push.
As a student in 2018, I wish that my parents would understand that school today, is nothing like it was 40 years ago. I wish that my teachers would understand that with my full time, 40 hour a week, job, is school. I wish they would understand that I practice soccer almost 15 hours a week, so that I might get to play in college. I wish they would understand that when I get home at 9 o'clock 4 nights a week, I have to do their 3 hours of homework a night, take a shower, and eat my dinner. I wish college's would understand that I am doing the best I can, that my GPA won't be as high as the girl who can pay for a private tutor, who is favored by the teachers, and who can't afford to take an on level class. I wish they would understand that it is harder than they think.
I wish, and I wish, and I wish.
But that's all it will ever be.
Scrolling through the comments, I haven’t found a single one that states school life is easy or stress free, but I mean, I’m not about to disagree with that either. I’ve only been in high school for two years now and I, as well as many other students, have found it considerably harder than middle or elementary school. And honestly, after closely reviewing the reasons why, I definitely wouldn’t begin to say that the entire high school education system has now become the nightmare most students claim it to be.
I’ve taken my fair share of AP, honors, and on-level classes, and I can assure anyone, there really is quite a difference between each level. I’m not going to say that any of these levels are easy, but then again, school isn’t meant to be easy, it’s meant to challenge learners and educate students. However, many students find themselves with sleepless nights and scarce, if any, free time available. I can guarantee you, the vast majority of these students are taking exclusively AP or honors classes. There should be a certain balance between these advanced and on-level classes in order for high school students to enjoy the most of their school life without pulling out their grey-to-come hair every other day. Now, the reason why these students push themselves so hard is another story (*cough* colleges). So I really hope many schools, counselors, and especially colleges keep this in mind.
Can’t perform to your greatest without sleep. Can't sleep without balance.
There's no sugar coating, school is hard. The rigorous work and the pressure from parents and teachers combined with mandatory extracurriculars, mandatory if you want to go to college. Everything is mandatory. It should comfort you that everyone else is in the same boat, but it doesn't, because everyone is out for themselves. It has made me learn more about myself in ways I shouldn't have to know at this age. It has taught me how to deal with my own stress and anxiety while still having looming deadlines. Most of my teachers can't see us having any life outside of their classroom. They give us mounds of work that is pointless, not teaching us anything. They give us work that doesn't even relate to the class we are in. They think we can do it, and we barely can.
Some teachers don't do this and these are my best classes. The assignments pertain to the subject matter and actually help me to learn the material, and the teachers are passionate about the topics and lessons. This may be a shock but these are all of my more rigorous classes like Latin 3 and AP Calculus. They are still difficult but not overbearing. I find pleasure going to these classes because I know I'll be challenged rather than loaded with busy work. These classes will have the most impact on me, teaching me lessons that I will remember.
Overall, I would say my high school experience has been much more difficult than my parents. Back when they were in school, a 4.0 would guarantee you a ticket into any college you want to go to. Now, most good colleges expect a 4.0. Many of them expect even higher. With weighted classes, being at the top of your class is way more difficult than it was in the 1980s. I started taking high school classes in 7th grade, college level courses as a sophomore, actual college classes as a junior. My parents always tell me that high school isn’t hard, and if I’m struggling now just wait until college. However, they didn’t have the same rigor of classes that high school classes have today. In conclusion, I wish our Gen X parents knew that high school today wasn’t the easy, carefree environment they remember.
1
Dear every adult ever: education has changed, YES, I said has changed since you were my age. So when its 3 am and you tell me that I should've started my homework earlier, I know you don't understand that. Not to try and undermine school when you were a student, I am sure you had your nights of no sleep. But there were no advance placement credits, AIG and IB programs, and you could just play a sport to play a sport, not just because it looks good for college. I want adults to understand that being a student in 2018 feels like every assignment from homework to an exam can make or break your entire future. That no longer will being the top 10 percent of your class is enough, if you don't have the sport and community service hours to match it. It's like being in a triathlon, you have to be the geek, the jock and the giver in order to be successful later on, or at least that's what every counselor and teacher has led us to believe. I wish more people understood the immense pressure it takes to be a student, an athlete, a good citizen, a son/daughter, and a teenager all at the same time.
I never thought I would have the time to write this response. That sums up my view of current student life.
Yesterday, I slept for five hours. One of the few useful things high school has taught me is that midnight occurs at 12:00 am. If I'm lucky, my breakfast consists of a slice of cold toast left over from the previous day. Lunch period means working on group projects and making up neverending exams. Right after school, I have track practice. And after track practice, I have an assignment due in less than an hour because Google Classroom has given teachers the wicked power to set not just due dates, but "due times."
I am constantly rushing through life. Looking back, I must have been a pretty hilarious sight, with uncombed hair flying around my face, unlaced sneakers barely hanging on, and six enormous bags dangling from my skinny arms as I rush to catch the bus.
Teachers often stare at my dark circles and ask how they can help. I laugh at their sweet concern as the weight of my backpack digs into my shoulders.
3
The reason why it's so hard to be a student in 2018 is because many of the students in your school are being bullied or have been i recently move from woodward,ok to fort supply and of course i was bullied at woodward it's a big school. Now you may ask did i tell anyone and i would have to answer no because i figured telling someone would get them in trouble which means they would bully me more os i never told a teacher so therefore i just dealt with it.
Being a student in today's world? It's hard. I wish teachers knew the stress some students go through with all the homework, assignments, test, quizzes, projects. For me it's like never ending list of things to do. It's come to a point where some students are so afraid to get sick knowing that the work at school is just piling up. It's not just one class either for some people its two or three and in so cases four. I find my head spinning in circles at the end of everyday, feeling as if I'm never going to get caught up.
Times have changed from when my parents and grandparents went to school. The list of requirement of what students have to learn today has grown dramatically in only a generation. Classes juniors and seniors are required to take today were college classes in 1950. When my parents went school there was nearly the amount of homework and studying there is today. They would come home from school and go straight to work on tobacco farms or shrimp boats, leaving little time for school but this was the same for everyone. Teachers didn't tell them that you won't become anything without college education like they today. People are brought up to believe that you can't get a good paying job if you don't go to college and get a degree in something. Being a student now is a lot harder than is was generations ago. But being having the privilege to have a school to go to and not have to work has hard in life as your parents did… That show us how the times are changing.
For all the adults enforcing education upon us, I ask you this: Am I human? I legitimately don't know anymore. I am constantly given homework, lectures, quizzes, tests, told that if I can excel in every class, participate in every extracurricular, I will be happy and succeed in life. Yet, when I look into the eyes of valedictorians and alumni who aced their classes, I see their creativity drained from their poor souls. I see their hands gripping onto whatever sanity they have left. René Descartes once uttered the words "cogito ergo sum", I think, therefore I am. These unfortunate "scholars", thrust into this world of lies, do not think. They...are not. Mindlessly conforming to the masses, these fellow humans hope that one day, their lives will be fulfilled with prosperity. It's profoundly heartbreaking when they sink into the abyss of depression and take their...own...
I am clinically depressed. Once before, I was on the verge of ending my own life. Yet, I am still present here through the efforts of my friends and family. Forever grateful am I to my classmates and teachers, nay friends, nay brethren; I am fortunate enough to be in such an accepting community, where I am not ostracized for my mental illness. I am disgusted by the lies my siblings are told: that conforming to the mechanical cycle of study will lead to a life of greatness. The bitter irony that I taste when I see congressmen, groomed by this school system, stupidly bickering over matters that should be simple.
3
1. I think the hardest thing about being a student is the expectation and pressure we put upon ourselves. We stress and downgrade ourselves, and set ourselves up for failure because we believe we cannot we can succeed if we are not the best.
2. I wish my teachers and my parents understood that I am trying my hardest to do my best, but sometimes I doubt myself and my head hurts so bad, even though they can't see the pain.
3. I think my generation experiences stress after we compare ourselves to others. We worry when we think we're not good enough because we didn't get the best grade in the class, then we overthink our future and start stressing.
4. I think the only positive aspect of being a student is actually learning something new each day. Even though it may not be something important or completely brilliant, it's something.
5. I think if they created a better environment for our generation we would enjoy school more. For example, the administrative board could be less strict and teachers could be more understanding and grow a better relationship with their students.
6. School, in our generation, in a word would be: overwhelming. As well as we stress about grades, we stress about many more like social status, others opinions on us, opinions we make upon ourselves, etc. It is important that they understand that each individual person is dealing with something, both physically and mentally, and you cannot be so quick to judge but rather learn to understand the person.
I feel as though that attending school in this time can be super stressful. One thing I would like teachers, and adults to know is that we are extremely tired. It is hard for us to get the correct amount of sleep needed along with completing all of our work. I think that us students need more time and motivation in order to get our work done.
The hardest thing about being a high school student is managing time efficiently. Students who participate in extracurricular activities and sports can relate to this challenge. Though I am completely devoted to my education, I also have many hobbies that I enjoy when I need a break from my staggering amount of homework. Some teachers either can’t understand or don’t know how difficult it is to balance out hours of homework and hours for students to pursue their hobbies. I wish teachers would understand that some students struggle every day to be motivated to do four more hours of homework after coming back from eight consecutive hours of school. I wish parents would understand how hard it is for us to decline quality family time because we still need to catch up on our readings. It’s hard to pick between what we love to do and what we need to do in order to get good grades. Though there are many evident flaws in our school systems, I can see some good in it. Most students in my school tend to pick a teacher that they can go to for support, so that they can talk about things other than school work. That’s the most obvious difference between having a strict and comfortable relationship with your teacher. I think that’s what makes learning better for us. For those who haven’t been to school in years, be aware that it has changed tremendously, from the concern for our safety to the classes we can take. As the world changes and grows, so do our educational institutions.
1
I attend my school for its diverse community, educational opportunity, and friendly, cooperative environment. I'd thought that its status as a safe, academically-oriented school would create a welcoming atmosphere, but this year especially I question whether sacrificing personal time, not to mention necessities like sleep, is worth an ‘education.’ After all, in today's society, the 'ideal student' is tireless - a hardworking individual expected to put full effort towards each one of their challenging courses, while maintaining extracurricular activity, membership to various societies, volunteer hours, athletic prowess, and more. The ideal student evidently has no personal life, no time for personal pursuits or discovery of individual passions, no time for their own interests not pertaining to future preparation for a college or career. Continuing all of these activities becomes an impossibility. I thank my teachers for preparing me, but hope that the school system can reflect on the fact that mental and physical health (which entails basic safety in schools as well - from bullying to gun violence) should be an absolute given. We as students cannot be expected to abandon our childhood to mature more quickly and work unending to establish credentials to be 'better off later on;' we as students ought to focus on exploring our interests and abilities, establishing life skills and a passion for learning, and growing as happy, healthy, balanced individuals.
3
As a sixteen-year-old in high school my life has never been as stressful as it is right now. An all out war has been waged between my school life and my social life. I have seen myself change in these last six months from an enthusiastic learner to an uninterested student numbed to any work thrown my way. If I could tell my teachers one thing, it wouldn't be to dumb down their lessons in any way. I just wish their constant barrage of busy work such as worksheets we never come back to or anything else in that vein would stop. I am all for learning and becoming more educated in any course I take, I don’t mind school much at all. What I do mind is the pointless exercises we’re forced do that just come off as a last-ditch effort by the teacher. When kids are given a bad impression of school it can completely skew their view of education and lead them down the wrong path. I believe school can be a great place for anyone to flourish and get an idea of what they may do in the future. If the students were given the attention and care they deserved, there wouldn’t nearly be as many issues.
I want people to understand that students the lucky that we are students in 2018. Sure, we have stress and pressure when doing school work, but people in the past were even more busy. In the 1800s, students of color as well as young girls they didn’t have as much educating opportunities. That is why there were schools only for specific races. Today, all students have the opportunity to learn in public school.
If you were accidentally late or misbehaved in the past, the teacher were allowed use something to hit students. At that time, corporal punishments were allowed. Nowadays, teachers only give students a tardy slip and maybe a tiny punishment. Something I want people to understand is that if you think that school in 2018 is stressful, I don’t think that you would be able to survive through the school in the past.
As a student, I understand how stressful and difficult studying and doing homework is. I hate studying for the very difficult tests, but it was even more difficult many years ago. Kids from many years ago also needed to help plant crops, get food, and a whole lot more responsibility us kids doesn’t need to do nowadays. Personally, I think that I am super lucky to be a student in 2018.
I am currently a sophomore in high school and I've realized that as frequently as every year, peers become more and more competitive with each other as they strive for acceptances by the best universities in the country. Society thinks it's okay to ask a sixteen year-old which job field they'd like to be in for the rest of their lives. It's not. Combining this with the common curriculum of high school teachers of "getting you prepared for the future," teenagers are often left confused and stressed beyond belief. What is the future? As a student in 2018, I don't know what major I'm looking into, nor do I know what I'm interested in. I feel like the lack of focus on the development of students' interests is one of the biggest issues I hope America realizes is what most students in 2018 face. All I know is that I am tired and stressed and tired and stressed and tired. On the other hand, there are a few special moments in high school that define who you are for maybe the next month, the next year, or maybe for the rest of your life. Only time will tell. Whether that be a friend, a teacher, a book, I've learned that my surroundings at school have helped me learn more about myself. The term "impressionable teenagers" shouldn't be as negatively portrayed as it is in media. So while the education system is not flawless, I still applaud it for everything it has done to shape who I am today in 2018.
3
What it means to be a student in 2018 is that you get a good look at what your generation has to offer. So far, I have noticed that my generation will bring up division. I see in the halls of my school that it is either ‘you are with us or against us’ on both sides of the political spectrum. Just recently we had the 17 minute walk out after the Parkland school shooting, where one side was allowed to state their opinion but didn’t give a platform for the other. The reason being that both sides do not want to hear a differing opinion and rather than having productive discussion, they just yell at each other with “USA! USA! USA!” or “DOWN WITH THE PATRIARCHY!” While that did not happen at the rally, it does happen in a variety of large or small ways in our schools. Although I have to admit that there has been some reasonable discussion, I only had one so far; the majority of my school experience has been polarized.
part 1
Our environments largely influences our personalities. All those expectations from parents and teachers can create behavior in students, where they either stop trying at all or become so tightly entangled in the sea of perfect grades that their life is as or even more damaged than not trying. I find myself as one of those who is stuck thinking about GPA, I have a lot of stressors unrelated to school, and I find that without extracurriculars (which counselors say I should be doing more of) and not a lot of social time (fine by me, as I am introverted) I still face a lot of stress and pressure over school. This is bad; because my parents are the type to promote being happy and taking a break at times. If I were one of my friends; with parents, classes, and situations that evoked more stress, I know I would not make it. My brother is very similar to me, as we both have a lot of pressure. He chose to give time to cope with it and does not take as hard of classes as myself. Even though there is an age difference, he clearly knows more than me, if he does not become successful, or at least well off with money than I do not know what the world is.
I plan to be a teacher; which I assume makes this critique on the education system more unique. A year ago, I remember overhearing a student talking about their want to be a teacher, because they did not think think they were smart and the job seemed “easy.” Although referring to teaching kindergarteners, this comment brings up a lot of issues in life today. Not only does it capture how students can be left behind, but it also shows people’s lack of appreciation for teachers. I love the idea of being about to teach people; to me I feel that the only way to help people know something is if you teach them yourself. I guess this feeling comes from my experience, as I might be taking hard classes, but I am aware of a simple thing that my of my peers do not comprehend: even if people are given opportunities, if the path to reach them is hard it is not fair to say they had the same chance to get education. I guess it is strange that education suffers from not only overworking, but underworking students at the same time. I do not think that helping students have less work or supporting the education of other students can be achieved by one teacher, or really at all, but I do know that teen stress is a growing problem that should be addressed.
For the student in 2018, the curation of unique passions and interests is the responsibility of nobody but the student, and must be done on the own time of the student. All interests have the capacity to become academic, if educators are intent on revealing this reality to students who are not already aware of this. As institutionalized education moves further and further away from cultivating individual intellectual pursuits, the student is forced to remain exactly that, a student. But why force students to remain chained in the specificity of their lack of knowledge? Why should schools breed students, when the potential of each learner could be nothing short of erudite? The modern student obviously ought to be well-rounded, but this effort does not have to lead to the abandonment of intellectual curiosity.
1
Being a student in 2018 certainly has its ups and downs. I wish more people understood the constant stress we are put under to be the best at everything. I know this has been happening in previous generations, but for my generation of students, being the top of your class and the captain of your sports team and the concertmaster at your orchestra concert has never been of such great importance. Students are expected to achieve all of this, which is nearly impossible. On top of that, once students finally get into the college of their dreams, they are piled on with loads student debt. Congrats, you got into an Ivy League! Here, take this insane amount of debt to celebrate with.
On top of that, college admissions are looking for individuality, but that is hard to find these days. Students are forced to become overachievers and the contest to get into college is basically who can overachieve the most. Because of this, individuality is hard to come by because almost everything has been done before.
It is bad and good at the sametime because you get to learn new things.There is bad things that is going on in 2018 also like school shooting and a lot of people is getting killed some people is getting killed for no reason.It is also good to live in 2018 because people are getting to learn new technology to help them out.It is also bad to live in 2018 because childs 14 or 15 are having guns to show off to people when they don’t suppose to have them.It is also good to live in 2018 because lots of people are able to get jobs because there is a lot of job people can get.
I have been going through this for so long now. My parents don't get it. I am a 13 year old boy trying to get through middle school. My teachers don't see that I'm struggling in my classes. I'm trying my best to fit in the most thing that is bothering me is the bullying even though we have campaigns that support anti bullying it still happens. Teenagers don't really care about that they just think of it as a reminder and never follow it. I have been going through thing at home a 13 year old shouldn't see in his home. I have through so much that just to top it off just to go to school to "learn" no so people can make fun and some people say it's joking around but to some people that isn't. I am one of those people and i think that students my age should stand up together and ,make our schools better places to learn and achieve high honors all across the world. Being in school means, obtaining information, studying for tests, and trying to please parents can be difficult and quite frustrating. Be live me I have been pressured by grades my whole life nothing would please them meaning my parents and other family members. People think the perfect little teenager but I'm not perfect no one is and if your parents and other family members are pressuring you of grades tell them to calm down that you ain't a perfect kid.
As an advocate and academic coach at New Frontiers in Learning, NYC, I find many teachers face the challenge of keeping up with completing the curriculum and supporting different levels children with learning differences learn. With a strong push towards inclusive learning, how can teachers support a wide range of diverse learners?
Long ago, learning differences were not as prevalent for fear of stigma, lack of knowledge, or even services available. Those that were identified as “learning disabled” were segregated into Special Education.
Teachers did not seem to have the flexibility to adjust their teaching methods, nor were they equipped with the right type of support. Today, however, with an influx of awareness and advocacy, teachers have the ability to learn and be more supportive within the classroom. Laws have been put in place to accommodate.
Offering children various modes to learn-visual, auditory, and tactile methods within the curriculum-are helpful for all students, as everyone learns differently, even us as adults. Learning the signs of a child struggling and advocating for accommodations within the classroom is another support. Allowing children to present material learned in various ways-typed, hand written, orally-are all great too. The conventional ‘blackboard and chalk lecturing style’ is a way of the past. Teachers have a lot more tools that they can offer to ensure all children have an equal opportunity to be successful and reach their full potential.
Being a student in school can always be summed up in one word. STRESS. Stress I believe is the biggest quality a student has that can plague them through their school career. The amount of work assigned combined with extra curricular activities all while trying to keep up to date with your social interactions may not sound like a lot but let me tell you as a student it is.
Since we were little your parents have always wanted you to succeed and once you do the first time you have more and more expected of you. After 10 or so years that adds up to a quite large amount. Now let's not forget about self expectations. It is human nature for you to want yourself to be the best at everything. Now everyone knows that this is an impossible task. Despite this we just keep on pushing ourselves to hard. Now most people will say stress but there is so many more big things that come with school. As my English teacher says “Don't live your resume, live your Eulogy.” This is so greatly worded because of how many people in school just do things to show how qualified you are for a college rather than doing something because you enjoy it. When This combined with the expectation of others creates a whirlwind of never ending stress that if not handled correctly can be the downfall of any persons school life.
1
Being a student in 2018 is a larger struggle than many people understand. To be a successful student you must be motivated to do well 24/7, receive an A+ on every assessment, never forget to do a homework assignment, alter your sleep schedule to get the piles of work you receive done, and basically be perfect. While these standards seem crazy, they are what students are held up to on a daily basis.
From a young age, students are pressured by their parents, peers, and teachers to do well in school. No one ever mentioned though, that perfection was part of the job description. With such high standards to meet, stress is a constant side effect.I can recall countless nights crying over my chemistry homework just trying to maintain an A in the class. In fact, I can't even remember a school night I have went to sleep before midnight this year. The constant stress on students to be perfect is very overwhelming and I believe teachers should understand this constant struggle.
PART 2:
While I don't view homework as a bad thing, too much of it can be toxic. I’ve missed out on so many family activities and great experiences because of the monstrous piles of homework engulfing my desk. Me being such a perfectionist, would never not complete an assignment due the next day just to catch up on some much needed sleep. I know so many other students who feel the same way and this pressure to be perfect is simply not healthy. Teachers need to understand that the heavy workload they put on their students causes them major stress and must be limited.
One thing that i wish is for teachers to be fair the treat us like where different and that were are babies
Is Being A Student in 2018 Hard?
What is hard about being a student today? The main thing I have a problem with is how some teachers and campus guardians treat kids, and how some kids treat teachers. The main topic of this essay is to get the message out there that things need to change. I also don’t like how we get 3 pages of math homework after doing it for almost an hour or more. I get how some people need more practice, but if the students are struggling, they should get the homework, not the student who has straight A’s and doesn’t need help.
Overall, what I’m trying to say is that things need to change, and people need to start getting more punishment, so they finally learn that respecting a teacher is better than disrespecting a teacher, it’s way better. I hope this gives other kids a say and the encouragement to say something to stop this. Maybe even write their own essay about this topic.
Please keep in mind that some students, no matter how much they try, are rude to teachers because of their home setting or maybe it really is the teacher's fault. Students these days don't have control of what's going on with their mental state.
Im 13 years old and live in MA. Honestly I'm upset with how teachers treat students like there stupid and do not know anything. It infuriates me.
My main problem with school is the homework. I mean, we do this stuff all day in school and then we're expected to sit at home and do more work? Not to mention that all of the adults I've spoken to about curriculum say how they didn't learn half of the stuff I'm learning now until they were in high school. And I don't mean ninth grade. I mean they were in, like, sophomore year before they learned Algebra1, which I'm learning in middle school. Seventh grade. My parents were three years older than I am now when they learned this stuff.
Of course being in school, obtaining information, studying for tests, and trying to please parents can be difficult and quite frustrating. I wish parents would understand that school is not everything. I wish teachers would understand that we have a life to live outside of school. I wish students would understand that school is something in life that yes is important, but not all there is to being successful. Students today suffer from so much stress and anxiety caused by the future itself. We think, “If I don’t do well on this test, I won’t get into college” or, “If I don’t get a certain amount of points on my SAT, I won’t get the job I want” or, “My mom is going to ground me if I don't get an A on this project” or even, “This test will determine my final GPA”. The future is unpredictable for all students; anything is possible. Being a sophomore, I know that I have plenty of time to think about where I’d like to attend college, bring up my grades and my GPA, and determine what I would like to be when I’m older. But to me, school is enjoyable. I like being able to see my friends and getting to go to classes and learn new things, although tests and homework can be frustrating. Although high school may not be as easy as it was for my parents or my teachers, I still see school as a place that I can socialize with friends and learn new things while appropriately preparing for my unknown, exciting future.
1
One thing I would like people to know about being a student in 2018 is that school is getting harder for every generation, even every year. Two generations ago, not a lot of people even went to college. Now, in 2018, school is getting harder and harder. The kids are getting smarter than the generation before, and before, and being accepted into schools is getting more competitive. As the fight for beating others academically is intensifying, students have to study more than we usually have to, to try to get into a better school and be smarter than other people. I don’t think this is a great thing, necessarily. It puts a lot of pressure on students, striving to be better than they already are. We don’t get enough time to do stuff we actually want to do, because we have so much academic activities that we have to keep track of. That is the thing I wish people could know about being a student in 2018.
Students face struggles that have to do with how a student is judged by their grades and the number placed on their test far more than they're judged for true intelligence. Also, the pressure of having to be the perfect student exhausts us and kills our creativity and individuality because school is no longer about learning and doing things that we enjoy. It's also much harder for this generation of students to get into college/university than it was for previous generations and if a person is lucky enough to get into these schools, then they find themselves having to pay a lot of money because it's a lot more expensive for our generation than it was for older generations. As students, we also have to fear for our lives due to school shootings which lower our focus on learning because we don't feel safe and the fact that older generations keep belittling us and treating us as if we don't know anything doesn't help. They say we're too young to understand the real world but then expect us to be an adult as soon as we graduate from high school. It would be great for them to try to understand the issues that we have to face today. School is more technology-based now and this leads to things that happen in school following a lot of us home and not giving us an escape from all the drama. The best thing about being a student in this generation is that we are a generation of revolution and as students, we get to be a part of that movement of change.
People say that High School is a time where you get to have your firsts. Your first kiss, first party, or first job. But, nowadays you have your first smoke, first inappropriate post, or the first time laying on your bathroom floor. School is a place that teaches you how to read a book and solve math problems. What about our own problems? How do you solve the feeling of being lost, scared, and pressured? If you express yourself in a way that people don't understand they will tease you and laugh it off. If you don't feel safe enough the president will fight violence with violence and tweet it out.
Well, we can tweet it out too. Social media advertises these perfect models, impossible standards, and forces teens to fit into society by posting their bodies, lives, or drama. But, the internet can be a place that brings the world together. Movements like #MeToo, #SchoolWalkOut, and #TakeAKnee help our voices be heard on issues that effect not just us, but the whole world. We can make our voices be heard by just the click of a button. In school we're taught about history because we want to avoid bad things from happening again. And at the same time, bad things are happening every day. We learn how to create essays on social issues and explore art in different religions.
Today, being a student is a challenge but also a privilege. Our individual struggles make us who we are. Our learnings teach us of the things that led us where we are. As students, we can change the world.
Super awesome point, thanks for sharing.
I am 13 years old and at Laurelhurst school. Being a student in the 21'st century is hard because the curriculum is set up as a slightly edited pre computer era plan. Even though many schools have computers they are not integrated into the day very smoothly and most teachers still rely on textbooks. Most schools in the US have repair issues due to the schools aging. My school and all Portland schools you can't use the water fountains.
(Part 2/4 Because 1500 characters isn’t enough)
While having this on their shoulders, students are often told that they have it easy, when in reality, the amount of assignments they get are stressing them out immensely. Just because our struggles are different, doesn’t mean we don’t also go through hard times. Not to mention, plenty of kids have jobs on top of going to school, or have to care for a sick loved one, which also takes time. As students in 2018, we often have to deal with stereotypes that surround us and belittle us. We are often told that we spend all our time on our phones and waste our time. However, not much thought is put into what we might be doing on our phones. Some students may be communicating with friends, others might be reading articles or stories, and some might be listening to music. If we were verbally speaking to friends, reading from a book, or listening to the radio, it would not be noticed as much, even though at the end of the day we are completing the same tasks. We simply opt for doing it on a phone for convenience.
(Part 3/4 Because 1500 characters isn’t enough)
Finally, the last thing that comes to mind about being a student in these times, is school safety.
While schools have increased their security, many of us don’t feel particularly safe in school. We don’t fear getting beat up in a hallway too much, since at least at most schools, teachers and hall administrators are quick to split anything up before it gets too serious. However, whenever we hear a yell, or a scream we all tense up. It’s usually just a few students fooling around, but for a split second we freeze up. Most of the students I know have considered where to hide in case of a shooting, in each of their individual classrooms. Whenever my desk is near the classroom door, and a yell or scream is heard, the only thing I can think is that if anything does happen, I might not have enough time to find cover.
I feel like being a student during the 21st century has become more difficult than ever. Nowadays, the way that curriculum is organized, has been the same for decades, and isn't preparing us for the advancements in technology or the future at all. People are forced to work on things that won't help us for our future, but will help us learn more about the past. The worst thing is having a curriculum for the whole conglomerate of people, because that's implying that everybody is exactly the same. Well that's not the truth, we all have our different learning paces. We need to be able to learn at our own personalized speed in which we aren't overloaded with things that we don't understand.
Another big thing, is social media. I am bullied daily due to what I believe and what I post on different platforms. It's not just social media, it's bullying in general. I have been bullied almost every day since I was seven. I have gone to principals, but they never do anything. I have tried to tell my parents, but all they say is "don't let those words get to you," but to me, words are worse than physical abuse, because they stick with you for a lifetime. It's especially difficult being mixed, because I have had people ignorantly, and racially attack me, saying, "did your parents jump a wall," to, "I thought that you only eat rice." I think that the President's allowance of himself attacking people of race and religion makes kids think that it's okay, and the same goes for the US's media.
(Part 1/4 Because 1500 characters isn’t enough)
Being a student in 2018 has it’s pros and cons. We have way better access to knowledge than we did in the past, partly thanks to technology. This also comes with its negatives, however. Sometimes students are simply expected to have access to technology, and teachers assign online work. While we have libraries with computers we have access to, the time you have to work on such assignments in school is limited, and therefore, if you don’t finish, have no computer at home, and have no transportation to go to a nearby library, you are often at a disadvantage. Not to mention, in class, teachers sometimes ask us to search up terms on our phones and write down the definitions. If we don’t have a phone, or data, then we are told to search it up in a giant textbook, which takes way more time to do than simply typing the term into a search bar. By the time you finish searching up one term in a textbook, everyone with access to the internet has finished searching up the whole list of terms. With our access to information, we are also often expected to process said information way faster than in the past, to the point that sometimes we lose focus and have a hard time concentrating. The pressure to do well and have a high GPA and class rank has increased, and many parents share the sentiment that college is necessary to live a better life.
The most challenging about being a student in 2018, for me, is that I am expected to have many responsibilities of an adult but still am treated like a child. In this time, teens are expected to know what they want to do and who they want to be and often are faced with the challenge of balancing school, extra curricular activities, family life, social life, and our health. The problem here is that while trying to do these things my generation is often blamed for problems in our country. It is often said that our social media is cause for the increase in mental health problems of students now but I believe this is not the case at all. Students now have elevated anxiety and depression levels because we are faced with many challenges the generations before us were never faced with. Because we have all sorts of technology and resources at our fingertips we also have enormous amount of pressure to look a certain way or achieve certain things in our daily life. Our parents faced these things but never on the scale that we do now.
The teachers look at us as we are one. They look at the grade and the size and then they just look at us like we are one. One grade, one class, but we are not. We are all different with a different situation at and outside of school. The teachers give us homework and a due date, which isn’t so bad, unless you are the kid who is a little slower then the rest of the class, but you have to try your best to get the assignment ignoring the fact you take so much time for that one assignment you start to fall behind in another class. We are all different, with different needs, with different problems. Some teachers don’t really help you when you try to get their help, they tell you how to do the problem like you know how as if that's the reason why you needed their help. It was to show me how to do the entire question, not just to ask how to find the one solution when it is more complex and harder for people just learning the subject unlike the teacher who has known how to do the problem like its nothing.
I wish people knew that a lot of students deal with mental illnesses and there isn’t enough awareness for the students that do have a mental illness. Sometimes it interferes with their work or class performance, everything one student does is not always as easy for another student. If odd behaviors are recognized I believe someone should step in to try to help instead of leaving it go unseen. Teenagers are common for having a mental illness but won’t often come out about it. Being a student in 2018 isn’t always easy, some students fear people with guns and school shootings, we shouldn’t have to fear this. School is supposed to be safe. Something needs to be done to end school shootings. Or at least make these schools safer environments. I wish more people understood that.
1
As a student in today's generation, there are definitely many pros and cons. As you go through out your day going from class to class, I bet you don't realize how grateful it is to carry the internet right in your pocket or backpack. Or, as well as how tough it is to rely on that device when an assignment needs to be turned in and it's not working in your favor. Today, technology has taken a huge turn as far as how we use it. Studies say we spend about 5 hours a day on our phone, while I'm sure half of that is being used just at school. It is an amazing learning tool as it is fast and efficient for getting the right information we need on time. As well as smart-boards, televisions, and projectors. Each use of technology has slowly helped increase our educational use, making a work load a whole lot easier for today's generation. And we can see that progressing intensively through the next couple decades. Although technology has made a enormous impact on us students today, parents and teachers don't seem to understand the stress as well. Through the last decade, the tuition, requirements, and needs to attend college has sky rocketed. As far as your GPA, SAT or ACT go, high scores and expectations are held fairly high, which is where most kids also struggle. After high school, you are expected to attend a college and go for the perfect degree. Many struggle just with that. Todays generations definitely have their pros and cons to todays education system.
I wish that people understood that everyone has problems. Just because the problems of a student differ from the problems of an adult does not mean that they are not real problems. To balance school, extracurriculars, family life, personal life, and personal health and well being is incredibly challenging and as students it is safe to say that many of us have not found ourselves yet.
I, for one, am still learning who I am, and I wish I had more time to learn about myself and gain confidence, instead of having to spend 1-3 hours a night on schoolwork after a 7 hour school day. I spend so much time on school, I barely have time for friends, relationships, and family time: all things I value much more than a grade on a test on something that I won’t remember in a few months. However, no matter how much I value the social aspects of my life, school always seems to take over.
The pressure of school is too much for many kids, including me. The pressure I put on myself to be perfect in school led me into a deep depression, but my grades didn’t slip. I literally put my mental health completely on hold to make sure I was still in my honors classes, because missing just one day pushes you so far behind it is almost impossible to catch up.
The amount of pressure students have to succeed and excel is overwhelming, and adults and students alike need to know there is no reason for students to miss family events, develop mental illnesses, or put their lives on hold for just for school.
Being a student in this generation is a struggle. I wouldn't say that classes are the hardest part, it is just the fact of being a student. For me, waking up around 6:30 a.m, going to school from 8-3, and then having many hours of extra curricular activities gets to be a lot. I wish that my parents would understand how hard I work to maintain my good grades and be a hard worker in my other activities. I wish they would realize that when I come home and nap that I really am exhausted and not trying to get away from them or my other family members. I think that there are many unique challenges that my generations experience that maybe my parents did not while they were in high school. Now my generation faces more struggles with time management because there is always something better they think they should do, like social media. There are also many positives of being a student today. I think a big one to me is how technology is helping us learn better. It gives us new opportunities that past generations did not have. There are many negatives and positives you could get out of being a student today, but I think it is just a good thing that we are getting an education.
PART 3
Even at home, we are still elsewhere. In our most private moments, we are still in the public eye. We have learned from a young age to manage multiple social media platforms at once and we feel a constant pressure to stay online, never go off the grid, never be unavailable because someone might need you. Not only this, you have to be extremely cognisant of everything that you do, at any point in time. Nobody has the right to be forgotten. Our posts still exist long after we’ve deleted them. Everyone around you has a camera and is just one-click away from posting whatever bad decisions you’ve made to the world without a moment of hesitation. Trying to navigate adolescence with a concrete permanence attached to every action you make is an indescribable pressure that we've spent most of our youth dealing with. Our lives are almost completely public, whether or not we want them to be.
It is not easy being a student in 2018, but it isn’t all bad. We have worlds of opportunity at our fingertips, faster access to information than ever before, and a constant connection to anyone we might want to talk to. We are very aware of the world around us, and we know how to use our voices and spread our message. Though we’re frequently dismissed as slaves to technology and naive to the reality of the world, our generation will undoubtedly use our voices and our hard work to leave the world a better place than it was when we got here.
Being a student is not easy, we have to face everyday struggles that other generations do not understand. To begin with, teenagers do not know who they are as a person yet, so they use social media to prove and improve themselves. However, social media allows these susceptible kids to be a target in and out of school without an escape. Kids always try to fit in at school, but bullying occurs and it has worsened since the internet has strived since students can't just leave the bullying at school. Social media has also allowed the students to look poorly on themselves because it compares every person to someone that is "better". This has ultimately lowered the self-esteem of the average student. Being a student is also difficult because how well you do in school is a reflection to who you are as a person. In previous generations, college was not necessary; however, nowadays every person must have great grades and work so hard to go to college. If that person does not have a college degree, it is a fear they will get nowhere in life. Every student is learning for the test. Whether it be the A on a regular test, or to get a high score on standardized test- every student learns for the test instead of learning for everyday use. It is hard to be seen as a good student when the grades are defining you.
I got to my high school not knowing if i'm going to go back home that day or if i'm gonna be in a news paper headline.I live in a time where many students just like me are afraid of school that's how it is being a student in 2018.
I’m a 16 year-old sophomore, and like the entire rest of my school, I’m under an immense amount of pressure. While there are plenty of students who simply choose to ignore all of this and lead lives of less stress (or stress of a different sort), I am not one of them. I do well in my classes, which only means the pressure is higher. If I get a less-than-perfect grade, I can feel the disappointment in the faces of my teachers who care about me, and the indifference in the faces of those who don’t, I’m not sure which one hurts worse. My family and friends have come to expect the stellar grades as well, so if I say I didn’t do well on a test, it only places more pressure to do well on the next one. Then, of course, all of your free time is taken up with volunteering and extracurriculars because good grades and test scores aren’t enough to get into a good college. I’m sure I’ll go to college, where the pressure will be (you guessed it) even higher because now other people are counting on me to make a difference in the world, a world where I don’t even have a clue of what to do with my life.
I desperately want to help lives of others, but I’ve yet to find a passion that I want to pursue, or even a field that I know I want to focus in. It also feels like I must chooses a high-stakes profession, or people would think I’m wasting my talents. I would be surprised if the pressure I feel now will ever truly go away, but at this point I’m not sure that I know how to live without it.
1
Being a student in 2018 is difficult. There are hardships and challenges you must overcome. As students teachers and parents have very high expectation and some people might not be able to fill those expectations. Most students in the US have experienced some kind of anxiety or mental disorder because of the hardships of being a student in 2018. Students are commonly known to be bombarded with lots of homework and projects. Students are expected to hold not only to hold grades up, do extra curricular activities, sports, schoolwork, religion and growing as a person. Students also have a lot of work that they must stay up to 1-4 am finishing their work. This leads to not getting enough sleep, which means students can't learn or function properly at school.
Being a student today is hard. Your parents & teachers have high expectations from you & i feel like schools teach us things we wont need later on in life. I think we should be being taught things like money management, survival tips, how to get a job after college,etc. Schools take our days & then take our nigts by sometimes giving excessive homework.
Being a student in today's world is hard because you are figuring out yourself and you are trying to prove yourself to people who know more than you. You want to get into a good college and get good grades, but you also want to have a social life, play sports, and have a job. Social media plays a big role in today's world because it is everywhere. Social media has perks, but also can be detrimental. Bullying is a huge thing in society and social media plays a huge role in that. Kids bully kids and no one speaks up about it. The next day they go to school and have a hard time focusing so they fail a test and that brings their grades and GPA down, and it's hard to bring that stuff up again. It's hard to focus after you've been bullied and it can lead to academic issues.
I honestly feel like being a student in 2018 isn't that hard but at times it can be. one reason i feel this way is because teachers feel as though they teach right because they are the teacher. Or they never ask the student how can i help. i feel like me and many kids may not want to go to class because teachers may not help us the way we feel like we understand, maybe us as students don't understand whats on the board or if you hand us some loose leaf we may say to our self's "oh i understand" not gonna happen!. Some of us and probably many of us don't learn that way and yet we don't want to fail we give up because of the teachers. Or many teachers think because we have the internet everything is easy but yet when we use the internet were cheating or not doing our work properly. make up your minds.
Being a student in today’s society has its positive aspects and negative aspects and is certainly very different from being a student many years ago. While students a few decades ago may have struggled with the issues of having to go to work on farms during the summers even when there was school or having to walk to school from many miles away in bad weather, modern day students may face very different troubles. For example, one tough aspect of being a student today is the pressure to keep up with the advancing technology. Because older people may not understand the role of technological advancements, they often get worried about their students and pressure them to learn how to deal with new technology for their own benefits. The truth is, many parents are wrong. Constantly learning new skills involving new technology isn’t always the best way to make a student successful. In theory, doing a couple hours of homework every night, doing a sport, and going to a class shouldn’t be too hard and should definitely leave some time for relaxation. However, those that haven’t gone to school in many years may have forgotten the reality of being a student and that working constantly for hours and getting a break at the end is not always the most desireable route for many students. While students may not make the most responsible decisions for themselves, I don’t think that parents are always the best people to ask for advice.
In the current world we live in, students today have it easier than those before them. We are able to have any information at our fingertips, but as students today we have concerns that in the past were not. We now have to worry about school security due to rise in school shootings, most recently the tragedy that happened at Parkland. My school has directly been impacted due to three threats we have received.
Although we have our issues today, there is some positivity today in spite of tragedy. The technology provided to us allows us to quickly have access to needed information, and succeed in our studies. We still have room to grow, if we create a mutual trust and understanding between faculty and students. School would be a less stressful place and allow students to learn in a fluid manner.
School life have changed drastically, some for worse and some for the better, but this has allowed students to succeed in ways, the past could never have thought.
Last year, the power went out at my school so we were let out of school early because my school literally couldn’t function without power. As a sophomore in high school, I am a part of a generation that has seen my classroom go from a wheel-in TV to it is strange to not have a smartboard and laptops in every room. Technology has greatly improved the experience of being a student. When I struggle with a concept, I look up a video online to explain it to me and give me practice problems. The introduction of technology into the classroom is one of the most groundbreaking advancements in the history of education.
On the other hand, I feel school is also getting harder -- namely because of pressure to do well. I go to a top 20 high school in the nation, play JV tennis, am a member of the Technology Student Association (TSA), am the treasurer of Key Club, work a job at my local recreation center, am a member of my class council, and try to hang out with my friends. Saying all of this, I would consider myself an expert on what it means to be stressed. I constantly find myself trying to get work done only to be so stressed about the work I have to do that I’m rendered unable to do anything. This leads to constant late nights and adults that don’t necessarily understand what we as a generation are going through. What I’m trying to say is that although school in 2018 is better than ever, I’m still just waiting for summer vacation (which is 57 days away, but who’s really counting).
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Being a student in today’s society has its positive aspects and negative aspects and is certainly very different from being a student many years ago. While students a few decades ago may have struggled with the issues of having to go to work on farms during the summers even when there was school or having to walk to school from many miles away in bad weather, modern day students may face very different troubles. For example, one tough aspect of being a student today is the pressure that there is to keep up with the advancing technology. Because older people may not understand the role of technological advancements as well as some students, they often get worried about their students and pressure them to learn how to deal with new technology for their own benefits. The truth is, many parents are wrong. Constantly learning new skills involved in new technology isn’t always the best way to make a student successful. Also, for those that have not gone to school in many years, they may have forgotten the hardships of being a student. In theory, doing a couple hours of homework every night, doing a sport, and going to a class shouldn’t be too hard and should definitely leave some time for relaxation. However, those that haven’t gone to school in many years may have forgotten the reality of being a student, that working constantly for hours and getting a break at the end is not always the most desireable route for many students.
Being a student in 2018 is like swimming. Once you learn how, it's easy, but as you get older, you feel the increasing presence of danger or trouble beneath the surface. And right now, it's becoming more of a reality for children and teenagers to worry about both their emotional and physical health.
Especially with the tragic events that have happened in schools recently, most of the teens in my school are worried. The thing that worries us the most is that other kids make sick jokes about bad things, and while they will almost definitely never be acted upon, kids still feel unsafe. We also recently had a threat at our high school recently, and it scared many kids in our district, kids as young as 5 years old.
In my school, you can see that most are dressed in sweatshirts and pajama pants. The harsh reality of this is that most kids don't care about school, and the ones who do are the ones with their heads down, careful not to let us see their faces. Teachers don't teach. Everyone blends in, everyone is part of the crowd.
Being a student in 2018 means pressure from your parents, friends, social media, and teachers to be perfect. "You need to get 100s on every test!" and "Why didn't you ask for extra credit?!" are common questions that constantly need to be answered. Extracurriculars are also important to teens, leaving me awake until 2 am, doing homework after band practice. Worries are constant. Depression is common to us.
The startling part is, I am only in 8th grade.
Things nowadays are a lot different in a lot of ways. Bullying is a big problem because of the internet.
People are afraid of going to school because people are horrible. They pick on each other bully people who are different. Some schools people aren’t aloud to speak out against the main stream opinion with out being outcasted. Dear parents: We do not hate you. We are really stressed about our classes and social situations. We try to cope with this by playing video games, hanging out with friends and a whole bunch of other things. We aren’t off doing drugs when we are hanging out with friends we are just doing what we can to entertain ourselves in the little time out of school we have that isn’t consumed by homework. Every time I talk about a female friend SHE’S NOT MY GIRLFRIEND. But most important of all things are different now. We don’t have the same experience as you did. We aren’t the same people. The things that are good about school now. We have very diverse schools. Schools are becoming more accepting to everyone. Technology is advancing our learning, so when we are using our iPads/computers we’re doing homework not always playing games. Schools are trying to help with bullying. They are also helping people with mental disorders and people who are disabled. The school system is so much more diverse.
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As a senior, I know all too well of the hardships that come along with being a student in this day and age. All schools set their students set to the standards that their school board believes we should live up to. These standards are set by the one thing every single student complains about, standardized tests. Everyone has heard of the SAT or ACT right? Both give scores whether or not you can get accepted into a particular college. In my state, we take the ACT and my highest score is a 20, highest is a 36, and I’m content with it. I’m able to enter the college of my choosing. Many people, myself included, are not made for taking tests, especially one that test you on your test taking skills rather than your actual score. Why does my math score matter if I’m going for a degree in education that specializes in English? The answer is simple. It’s all about numbers. The scores we make on these test “reflect” our education system. Possibly that is why more schools are pushing kids to take DE or AP level classes. Now I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. These are classes that cause you to mature faster than usual and are a lot more responsibility. I have stayed up till almost 3AM before because I had an essay due next class period. This brings me to my next point, teachers today do not understand that we have other classes. Students today are given mountains of homework and are expected to complete them within a night or two.The average student’s life today revolves around school.
In 2018 being a student is horrible because if you get in trouble the teachers never believe your side of the story. The teachers have more power than the students because they are older than you. If you are a teacher you can tell the students what to do they can’t tell the teachers what to do. The teachers will have a hard time believing you if you were one of them students that always got in trouble or never do any work in class. If you were a hard working student and staying out of trouble that’s the students the teacher will believe because you the student that he can count on.
What I wish people understood about what it is like to be a student in 2018 is that the grades we get are not really about what you know and how much you know. You might memorize some things but most of the time the grades we get our participation or quiz grades. If I got a memory test done on me it would not come out good! Most teachers give grades on classwork and test is how it should be done. Participation is an easy 100% in the grade book but what if someone doesn't participate or only does a little work? They still get a 100-80%. Teachers don't put zeros or when they do the students that don't do their work gets mad or some teachers put in grades in where that student cannot change their grade no matter what. We also have less safety in school nowadays. We only have a few officers on campus. We have to open the doors in school classrooms for anyone who knocks on them. It has no safety to it whatsoever. Schools need a key like a hotel key that opens on all doors. So if a school shooter comes in, which will be impossible because only students and teachers will be able to get into the classrooms. We need more security for schools.
I wish that teachers would understand the fact that all of them are giving homework at expecting a student to turn it all in on the day after. Sometimes students have to pick between doing an essay in English or doing math out of their textbooks, and when you pick and choose you fall behind. Giving us piles of homework for each class every day is just unbelievable and kind of messed up. Kids have to get home work on tons of homework and eat dinner then have to be asleep by 10. With a ton of work given to them it would be unhealthy to have to stay up late to finish work they are given each day.
Being and student in 2018 is ok but I wish we could choose more electives. The electives that I would chose is more athletic classes. I wish my parents and teachers would understand that I want to take more sport classes. People need to understand that math and other subjects are more advance and more life like. It also important to be mindful to the students ideas.
My parents question us about why I stress about school. I tell them that how I do in school, will affect me for the rest of my life. Sure, we have more technology than our parents had when they were in school. To an extent that is helpful, but it can also hurt us. Phone can be distracting, but so can other students. Social media to an extent can be used to shame people also. SO, to answer my parents, school is easy, but the environment can be stressful or even hurtful.
Being a student in 2018 is super stressful but also fun. This year in 2018 i am a junior and thats when you have to put in a lot of work , the year that is most important in your years of high school. Many different things come with being a junior, there's class ring night , junior prom , homecoming but the stressful part is the BIG tests. Also, getting into college by passing the ACT and getting a high score. It's the year that depends most and it's deciding which direction your future is going in. Being a student in 2018 is also stressful because of the school shootings , threats, etc. You never know if your school will be next so you have to be extra careful and watch the people that is around you, and always keep yourself safe.
What many, not all, but many teachers and parents do not understand about being a student in two thousand and eighteen is that we are faced with higher anxiety rates and stress levels. The weight and pressure of having a successful future is often pressed upon us when students, like myself, are seeking a career that is not promised to have a strong financial ground. Most parents, like mine, see that the education system we currently are enrolled in is something to breeze through with ease. What they don’t see is that a lot of required curriculum does not include what we need to acquire the jobs we are in search for. The general idea of a “good job” is to be a doctor, a lawyer, or in a form of law enforcement. Yet they forget to recognize that entrepreneurial jobs are often the highest paying in jobs for an individuals custom lifestyle. Much like in the 50’s, we are taught conformity in a new way. I feel the parents and teachers of this, and the next, generation should be teaching us individuality and independence. Broaden the spectrum of everyday learning and teach us to be what we can be that no one would ever expect us to be. This is how our generation will be MOST successful in life. How are we supposed to reach “maximum potential” when we are taught there is a limit, the same limit, for us all. As if to say we are equal in one skill particular. I STRONGLY disagree. It is time our voices be heard. It’s time to ask “If you could be anything in life, what would you be?”
PART 2
Becoming an activist is almost inevitable in some respects. We face necessary political action and unintended political divide. We saw snapchat videos of Parkland victims and felt them as if they had unfolded at our own school, to our own friends. We saw Philando Castile killed mere miles away from us and felt the voices of the world descending on our little suburb of St. Paul. We've staged walkouts and protests, made social media post after social media post until nothing was left unsaid, and made differences in our communities that we can already see today. On the other hand, the election of Donald Trump divided the school so heavily that it's become a rare occurance to see a friendship on different sides of the political spectrum. In an overwhelmingly liberal environment, it quickly became apparent who held views against the norm. We have easy access to information on any issue we could possibly imagine and a tight grasp on the fact that it is our responsibility to shape the world into one that we want to live in, because we can’t avoid seeing the effects of the one we live in now. Organizing a protest becomes simple and information spreads like wildfire across the complex and seemingly never-ending networks of social media we connect to every day.
I think it is hard being a student today. I wish parents and teachers would understand that now a days its way different then it was back then when they were in High school. Students now stress more about not being good enough, money, parents expecting them to be something and trying to make them proud. Something good about being a student now is that more people now accept you for you.
What is being hard about being a student is we are put under a lot of pressure to do our best and show our abilities. We are stressed with loads of work and trying to remember what we are taught or we fail which is unfair in my opinion. Some students learn faster and remember more than others and it is not fair that we are based on a pass or fail situation. Most people do not have that luxury which makes school harder for them than the majority. Even though we are slammed with stress being able to actually be a student makes me blessed. We are provided free education and we all should be thankful because, some countries do not have the opportunity to have a free education. Being educated is very important in our society and I think everyone around the world should have that.
Being a student in the day and age of 2018 is very hard for some of us. We have sports to deal with plus we also have many things of homework. There are also many positive things about being a student today because there is so much technology that the work could be viewed as easy. Many students in this day choose a friend group and just stay there but when they feel uncomfortable they do not try to reach out because the way people treat each other today is not the same. In 2018 there is a lot going on during every students day, sometimes very hard to take time out there day for schoolwork.
It is bad and good at the sametime because you get to learn new things.There is bad things that is going on in 2018 also like school shooting and a lot of people is getting killed some people is getting killed for no reason.It is also good to live in 2018 because people are getting to learn new technology to help them out.It is also bad to live in 2018 because childs 14 or 15 are having guns to show off to people when they don’t suppose to have them.It is also good to live in 2018 because lots of people are able to get jobs because there is a lot of job people can get.
Being a student in school can always be summed up in one word. STRESS. Stress I believe is the biggest quality a student has that can plague them through their school career. The amount of work assigned combined with extra curricular activities all while trying to keep up to date with your social interactions may not sound like a lot but let me tell you as a student it is.
Since we were little your parents have always wanted you to succeed and once you do the first time you have more and more expected of you. After 10 or so years that adds up to a quite large amount. Now let's not forget about self expectations. It is human nature for you to want yourself to be the best at everything. Now everyone knows that this is an impossible task. Despite this we just keep on pushing ourselves to hard. Now most people will say stress but there is so many more big things that come with school. As my English teacher says “Don't live your resume, live your Eulogy.” This is so greatly worded because of how many people in school just do things to show how qualified you are for a college rather than doing something because you enjoy it. When This combined with the expectation of others creates a whirlwind of never ending stress that if not handled correctly can be the downfall of any persons school life.
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PART 1
To be a student in the age of technology is to be constantly connected to the world around you, for better or for worse. When tragedies like those in Paris, Brussels, or Parkland happen, the majority of the student body is aware in minutes. We can gain a solid understanding of any topic we choose in under an hour, and share our thoughts to the world in seconds. The world is fast paced and constantly changing, but we’ve been keeping up with it since the day we got our first phones, laptops, or tablets.
Being in High school, soon after this, your life choices and decisions will be left all up to you, meaning you need to know a lot of thing to manage your own life. Know how to file a bank statement? Know how to write a check, how to address a police officer, now how to pay a speeding ticket, how to rent a car, hotel, phone? School is a place you're supposed to go to be "successful" in life. You go here to "better" yourself, acquire knowledge of the real world, know how to deal with dilemmas and problems. However this isn't the case. Many people who have been through high school or college, may or may not have an idea of what life is like in their line of work. They possibly didn't even know if they want to work in that particular set career, for they didn't have any experience or prior knowledge. School may give you the knowledge of the career, however it doesn't give you the experience. Sure you may have a teacher you don't like, which in you career is a boss you'll hate. You might have an annoying peer, that is the equivalent of an annoying co-worker. You may learn life skills like cooperation and toleration, however you are not taught about the work you are possibly interested in. From being an athlete going pro, you gotta incorporate endorsements, an agent, lifestyle, social media. To being a small business of engineering, you must know prior knowledge of older consoles or models, ordering of certain products and manufactured goods, advertising, and much more.
Maintaining a good attendance has to be the hardest thing for students today. We tend to miss a lot of school, get tardies, and detentions. All that affects our attendance. Students today are lazy and dont like waking up early to go to school. Teachers and parents need to understand that we are teenagers and go to sleep late and its hard to get up in the morning for school. Being a student in 2018 can be stressful. All the classwork, homework, tests and trying to keep up on all 7 classes can be hard for students today. Technology has impacted us students today , we tend to be more focused on our cell phones than our teacher, we fail our class, our cell phones are a big distractions and teachers need to take more action. Teachers should make a “Phone Jail” box and have all of the students put their phone in there. Technology is affecting our education.
Being a student in 2018 is much more stressful than being a student back in the day, because now we have different ways of learning than when our parents were students and teachers are now stricter and i only think that because our generation is more powerful now and we have a plethora of talent but being a student in 2018 is very scary because you wake up and think what if someone comes and threaten to blow our school up or what if someone says today is he day i shoot the school but the reason why its hard to be a student now cause you never know what is going to happen
Being a highschool sophomore in 2018 is, intense. Just this morning I got a grade I wasn’t happy with and I went to ask the teacher why I received this grade and her voice changed to a whole different tone after I asked. She then proceeded to make a huge scene in class with all eyes on me. Maybe I caught her when she was in a bad mood but I don’t think I deserved that. Teachers getting angry adds a whole other stress level onto our lives as students. This week I have midterms and I have multiple midterm packets all due this week with a hundred questions on one of them. On top of that it is the end of the grading period so it's our final chance to reach for that A, well in my case, B. I was never a straight A student because I’ve never been that good at math but I’ve never had a C and that is probably about to change.
Personally I believe that the grading system adds to our stress as students, one number determines the rest of your life and that scares all of us because there are some classes you just aren’t good at. And not doing well in that class can mess up your GPA which then messes up the rest of your life. Sports, extracurricular activities, friends, jobs, etc. these are all things that we have outside of school that also add to our stress. Plus we all need alone time every now and then but we can’t do that if we have tons of school work or jobs. If the grading system or teachers were to change, us students wouldn’t be as stressed and would perform better.
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Genuinely, being a student in 2018 can be depressing and stressful. The amount of 'things' that we do in a day/week can make our brains feel like it'll obliterate at any second. Growing up, my parents constantly talked about college. In school, all I am reminded of is college. "You need to join clubs, do sports, get straight A's, take honors/ AP courses." We are taught to be the best of the best and anything lower than that won't be accepted. Even when my dad bought me my first DSI he bought me games that improved my 'intelligence.' From personal experience, if you don't attribute to the top students who are guaranteed a spot in college, you are looked down upon. You can feel isolated and alone which can cause tremendous damage to a persons confidence, introspection, and pride. This is actually a personal theory i've had about mental illness amongst teens and how the numbers of suicide rates raise and raise. Adding so much pressure isn't healthy for a teen, especially since our brains aren't fully developed.
Despite this, having technology is a huge benefit I think we all can agree on. Being able to search a definition of a word in seconds help students in this new generation in many ways. Another benefit, if you're lucky enough, is good teachers! I feel teachers connect with students a lot more nowadays and can influence us teens with good decision making. Teachers also do a good job with making sure their students stay up to date with assignemnts and grades.
Being a Junior in high school in 2018 is terrible. I’m at the point where its time to start thinking about my future and I am completely unsure of what i want. I’m happy to get school over with already. Theres alot of school work that really doesn't matter. Not to mention if your late or absent not only are you penalized but now your behind so the work starts stacking up and that's only holding you back more. I’ve stayed up past midnight many times trying to get assignments done just so i can get my credits so i don't have to be in school any longer than i have to. All i want to do is hang out with my girlfriend and play fortnite. Why does school have to take up so many hours of the day?
part 1:
You love your students that are easy, you love the students who have already been taught how to behave, how to think for themselves, how to be driven, how to kiss up to you for the grade they want. You don’t love teaching, you love being handed world class students on a silver platter, students who have always and will always have the ability to thrive with no thanks but all the credit to you. Students who already have guiding light in their lives. “Students who want to make a positive difference in the world” what about the students who need to have a positive difference made in them? The students with all the brain and none of the discipline? The students whose grades struggle because they were never taught how to study, how to manage their time, how to play your game? What about the kids who have been overlooked for years, just waiting for a single person to look upon them and see something that no one else has? Instead you gaze upon the students who have excelled their whole life.
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part 2
Why are you only helping the students who don’t need your intervention? Why are children with Everest IQ’s failing your pathetic classes? We are bored and ignored. We are everywhere. We are collecting dust on the backs of our sleeping necks when we lay our heads down in class. We are getting dry-cracks in our eyes from blank stares at our grades. We are wondering how we could be told our whole life we could do better, we are smarter than this, we are wasting our potential, we are wasting our minds and still this is where we are. Nowhere. No one ever mentions the “how?” of it. Teach us how to do better, teach us how to expose our intelligence, how to live up to our potential, how to live up to our own minds. No one ever took the time to invest me, and only now am I realizing how much more could have become of me if maybe one person had taken the time delve into my mind. Where would I be now. How many kids have been overlooked?
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Students in today's generation have been exposed to new generations of technology such as computers and cell phones. Though the objects around us have changed our perception of life itself, we as people have changed others points of views as well.
What is it like to be a student in 2018 they ask? It's time consuming, stressful, and can bring an abundance of anxiety and emotions that some of us just will never understand. We all have our different stories though on how this new year has affected us and frankly it mostly revolves around the same thing. Again with the upbringing of new technology, bandwagons, and stereotypical ideas that were inspired by different cultures or random acts found on the even the deepest darkest parts of the web.
I'm a student with an IEP (Independent Education Program). I've been classed as someone who, most of the time can't do their work properly and can't seem to focus on the important aspects of life at times. The learning disabilities that I was born with just added on to the struggles of being in school. Though this is probably what a lot of students in the past had to face, I'm here to say that because of today's generation it's obviously made my learning environment more difficult. And if I am being completely and utterly honest here I am partly to blame for how much our society has affected me and others who may or may not relate to what I go through on a daily basis. It was my choice and others to be distracted so easily.
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I’m not going to lie: being a student in 2018 who’s also disabled is stressful. They’re a lot demands put on me, both from outside sources and myself. I’ve been fortunate enough to take mainstream/AP classes, but not without challenges. A couple teachers throughout my high school career made it clear that they weren’t interested in teaching me. This was always emotionally straining for me. Not only was it difficult to get my schoolwork done in those classes, it was really disheartening to be discriminated against from people I look up to.
But even without a disability, being a student in 2018 is anxiety producing. In light of the school shooting in Florida, the US government is discussing allowing teachers to be armed with guns to ‘protect’ their students. This scares me beyond words. School has always been a place where I felt safe and protected. Now, not only do I worry that my school will be the next one to fall victim to a school shooting, I’m worried that my teachers will be able to keep guns within the same room as I and other students are in.
But, being a student in 2018 isn’t all bad. One of my favorite things about being a student in 2018 is my compassionate teachers. The help from my teachers carried me through the past four years of my life. One teacher in particular has helped me through the past four years. Because of him, I’m a stronger, more compassionate person. It gives me hope to see someone so full of love in a time filled with hatred and fear.
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Jayden Jackson
9th Grade
14 Years Old
To be completely honest,being a student in 2018 in many ways is way more stressful than many adults and/or parents believe it to be.There are many factors that contribute to this statement,and these are my reasons why.One of the first factors is that they are always stressing to us about college and what do we want to do after high school.I’m a freshman,so I have more than enough time to think about that and they just basically throw too many things about me about after high school and I haven't even finished it yet.Another thing that stresses me about high school is that sometimes there are certain things that we learn about that I feel like won’t ever be applied to real life.Since high school is preparing us for college and adulthood,then why are they teaching us stuff we will probably never hear after high school?The last thing that stresses me in high school is that there are so many ways your grade can go down and limited ways to actually be able to boost your grade up in a fast time.Sometimes things happen where I have constant
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The year of 2018 is way different from the past . Some students this is getting closer to graduation and they are getting lazy from doing all of their work . Their parents should realize if they have done all their work and got all their resources from teachers they should give them a break or to just to relax and have time of. Since the teachers have fulfill your brains with all of the resources that you need to prepare for college you should take that with you at all times,but their is to much that is going on right now through seniors heads. So i would just give them a time a think about what is their next path in life once they enter out of high school .
1st Paragraph:
Home is the stressful part, a rollercoaster of ups and downs. On top of this, I also am forced to deal with
being buried in homework, deprived of sleep, and struggling to maintain relationships with friends and
family. When we get home from school at 3:30PM, my sister and I are the only ones at home. After a long
day of school work, all we want to do is sleep, but unfortunately don’t have that option. We then start
what will become hours of homework. From Chemistry to Calculus, the homework piles up on a daily
basis, making it difficult to have time for anything else. When I finally am done, I then need to deal with
my parents who had recently returned from work. Technology, as wonderful as it is, has provided parents
the ability to watch their students grades fluctuate throughout the year. So, for someone like me, who’s
grades can go from a C to an A in one day, it’s incredibly difficult to deal with my parents who expect
excellence. This stress on me is incredible, and at times, unbearable. Combine that with the sleep
deprivation that comes with homework, and you’ve got a student who is barely functioning at times,
leaving me unable to maintain healthy relationships with family and those around myself, letting the cycle
continue.
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2nd Paragraph:
Life at school itself is different however. The minute the first hour bell rings at 8:10 in the morning, I start
to wake up. For me, School is a place where I can spend time with my friends and do fun things in class. I
have amazing teachers who make class a breeze, or at least bearable. Woodworking in particular has been
a class where I can decompress from school work and my life at home. I can talk with friends, work on
intricate projects and have a great time overall. Even classes that are hard can be a place I enjoy being in
simply because of the peers in the class and the teacher I have. Examples of this includes Calculus and
Physics. For me, I get to unwind from the previous night at home when I’m at school. I can discuss
difficulties at home with my teachers and friends as well as discuss fun topics like video games and
hobbies. In addition to all of this, technology has made it easier to communicate with my friends. While
I’ve been told by my parents and other adults that my generation is not social, I beg to differ. Technology
has never made it easier for students to socialize with each other. Every night I talk to my friends and it’s
what gets me thru my day at home. All in all, students have it tough, but it certainly is bearable and
technology, while it does have its downsides, helps students keep in touch with each other letting us relax
from an exhausting day.
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Personally being a student in 2018 is harder than it was in the 1900’s. With technology advancing more and more everyday, Every student is addicted to their phones and can’t seem to put it down. I am a freshman in high school and i personally am on my phone 24/7. It takes away from my education, but it is my fault, i can put my phone down and get the education i need. It's hard, for everyone really. We have computers in schools and no textbooks. I use one text book everyday and i'd completely rather that over computers. Students are able to cheat and share there answers with other classmates in the classroom, which is taking away the education needed to excel in life. But that's not answering the question. What is it like to be a student in 2018? Well, There's not really another word to use but hard. Everything about today's society is tearing kids apart. I, Personally, Don’t act like im 14 i act more like a 18 year old. My kid years went by faster than it did in the 1900’s. And i completely blame it on technology. If we didn’t have phones and computers i would still be acting like a child and not like a young adult. So, yes its hard. I barely had a childhood and high school came by so fast. None of use are pure anymore. And it is affecting our education because we care more about what people think of us than our future. Were living in the present. But the future will just get worse as the years go. And i'm worried for all children now. Everything's going downhill.
More people should understand how much work you have to do, people underestimate the work that's given. We have lives outside of school so and doing school work is not fun at all. So that makes it even harder but you have to do it and if you don't it will effect your grade drastically. Parents always want you to do thing around the house like cleaning or taking out the trash, i know that's what we are supposed to do but sometimes that affects the time we have to work on school work and when you work your bosses don't care about you having your school work done because they need you there. When you work you have to work twice as hard to stay on track. Thats ways people dont understand what it's like being a student in 2018.
Most of my teachers and my parents and my friend's parents seem to know how challenging school is for us. But I do think that its not as hard as their's was growing up. Our school is mentally hard and time intensive. My mom grew up in Florida when they had finished desegregating schools and "busing" was a thing. She rode a bus that took her to a school across town because they were trying to make schools more financially even and give children from more poor parts of the town a different atmosphere. Then they ran out of school space, she had half days everyday. Not because teachers need to do some long meeting like they do now, but because they had another class of kids to teach. And go even further back to my granddad, he worked though high school, and if it wasn't at a real job it was helping his dad on the farm. He got up at 5 or 6 to milk the cows before he got ready for school and ate breakfast. So I think most of my generation needs to stop complaining because we have so many resources at our disposal to be the most successful generation, but we are too busy complaining about stuff we are too lazy to do.
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As you will hear from me and as well as many other students, the hardest thing about being a student today is the pressure. My parents and I both acknowledge that we will never know what each other’s school experience was like, because going to school today is monumentally different than a few decades ago.
Honors teachers who call us “honors babies” always reiterate the same thing: "A is above average, B is average, and C is below average. It is okay to get a B. It means that you are on par with the curriculum." However the frustrating thing is that in today’s school environment, the reality is that the competitive nature of it makes students think that they can’t feel satisfied unless they get an A and can’t be proud unless a teacher writes a 100% in red pen on the top of their paper. 100% means perfect. And no one is perfect so why are we all holding ourselves to that standard?
I am certainly guilty of this-and it is nothing that any of today’s students can help. The Stanford Duck Syndrome is the idea that all students are desperately “paddling” and “barely staying above surface” in terms of their academic life however they have mastered their calm and collected personas they exude to other people.
This is precisely the problem: students see their fellow peers appear as if they can manage anything and they feel like the only one struggling and are afraid to ask to help. That is the thing I think people who haven’t gone to school for some time will find surprising.
What it's like to be a student in 2018 is somewhat neutral on most student's. In my opinion being a student is quite difficult especially as a freshman. The reason being a student as a freshman is difficult is because you have to maintain a certain standard to represent your parents, a certain GPA to impress people that your actually smart enough to handle the work but still even after you hand in the work you find out your grade is barley passing for that test you missed because you had a emergency to deal with but no they wont take any late test its already due then when your parent go to the school to check out your grades and behavior they find out your close to failing and you know that your trying your best but they still want better from you not 100% they want 110% because they want the best for you. That was only work now the behavior. School is like a jungle you can only hang out with your own kind and you always have one type of predator. High school is full of drama even if you say one thing it spread like the flu during winter even when it's something good you say student's switch it up to make it seem like your talking about someone's mother. Now the other student is angry at you and try to mess up every single day of your freshman year. Even when you tell a teacher,counselor,principal that will make the situation even more worse because they didn't want to get in trouble but now they threaten a fight usually after school or a sneak attack during lunch.
Teachers try to invest in us we are the leaders of tomorrow. Time is very valuable to a student and everyone else. We have to figure out how to form ideas and use them when it's needed. The future is us. There are to many students for teachers to educate. I see teachers giving up on students, the students become failers and their lifes go down hill. School forms us as we go into our years. To many students give up with wasted potential. Everyone has something valuable to offer this world. Being a student is working our butts off just to get to parts of our goals in life. We use new technology and we are the guinea pigs of this time. We are treated like babies but told to grow up and act mature. Being a student in 2018 means finding out who you are in this crazy world and who you are going to be in the future along with millions of others. Being a 2018 student means trying to fix global issues people before us ignored in order to preserve the Earth. Being a student in this time is about experimenting and taking risks. It's about making mistakes and correcting them. It's about pushing forward to make hopes and dreams come true. Being a student is about being selfless and respectful. A student has so much pressure they carry the world on their back including social media and constant criticism. Being a 2018 student is about fighting to not give up and facing all the challenges thrown at us. Each student is different. No one can understand what it's like being us except for us.
well im 13 don't judge the grammer but, you know it hard being in 2018 so many more way to get judge about who u are. an the pressure is on u many things u go through you probably cant even talk about it with ur parents because they wouldn't understand. because ur parents were in a totally different . because of so many improvements that have happen since 1970 to now or before. so as many thing that happened in the past have improved or failed.an another big pressure is inventions that have been created are a big pressure like social media but that what I say
I believe being a student in 2018 is quite difficult because you have to learn to have standards in have to make up a lot of work as you go if you miss anything also you have to learn how to study for your test exams and all the class words that you learn the reason that we have to do all this work is because we need to get a good grade to pass the class and as a freshman student in high school I believe that this is the hardest year out of everything because the colleges look at your freshman transcript first out of everything to see how you did
During almost every conversation I have with an adult, they ask me something along the lines of 'Where would you like to go college?' Before even asking IF I would like to go to college, or IF I can go to college; I can't even answer those questions so how would I answer the ones I'm being asked?
Most of us are pressured to submit to the expectations of society, by getting good grades, going to a good college, and getting a steady paid job. The expectations remain the same for students in 2018 as they have almost always been, the thing that is growing is the amount of pressure we face. From parents, teachers, students, and society.
There are the bad, the worse, and the worst things, but there are also many great things about being a student in this time. I often find myself complaining about my many upcoming tests or the uncomfortable plastic chairs we are forced to sit in. I never take my time to be grateful for any of it. Many of us focus so much on negatives, but don't realize how lucky to be where we are when we are.
Every day, students are defying those many expectations. Students are given more opportunities and voice than ever before. The most difficult part we face is what we'll do with them.
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Being a student in 2018 is a full time job. Our payment is our education of course. What I wish more people knew about being a student is that it isn't easy. We are constantly told we are too young to know what "real" stress is. But what adults don't understand is that we are only exposed to but so much and so this is the highest level of stress we know. Of course we will experience more, but for now this is it and eats us alive. As for teachers, I wish they understood that life isn't perfect at home. Students can't always manage personal issues and stress at school. There is a lot that goes unnoticed by teachers. Sometimes we need extra time, extra credit, or even extra help. All teachers seem to care about is meeting their deadlines. Not whether or not they determine a child's future with the power of their hands. I just want everyone to understand that school is a place where we should be encouraged to learn material and skill, not just learn how to meet deadlines
i wish people would understand that as years go on, education evolves. Similar to the way tends and research evolves or advances, the education system is changing in both content and execution. With the introduction of Advanced Placement (AP) classes nationwide and the expansion of programs beyond the academic curriculum, students are being exposed to more challenging and advanced opportunities to excel, which is obviously a more positive aspect of being a student. The work and difficulty that comes with it, however, forms part of the struggles we face. As a student currently enrolled in multiple AP courses in the core subjects, I can attest to the personal struggles and difficulty associated with having higher expectations. The expectations are inevitably higher and harder to meet, the workload is truly overwhelming, and the overall ante has risen. Late nights, further research, and constant difficulty is not only possible, but is now the status quo. As the future comes closer, we are also expected to make choices that will unequivocally change our lives - our majors, our colleges, and our future is supposed to be set out and charted years in advance. While there are significant opportunities for students to grow in 2018, the expectations that are placed on us are substantial, and the overwhelming feelings are simply now part of the life of a student in 2018. It has never been both the best and the worst time to be a student.
I have always felt the pressure to be a straight A student, be involved in clubs and be the best version of myself at school. There are a lot of pressures that come with being a teenage student. We are looking for colleges, applying for jobs or working, participating in clubs and sports. All while keeping a high GPA. It can be very overwhelming. I do feel like at times my parents don’t understand the numerous amount of pressure being placed on students today. The time when our parents went to school was so much different from our school life now, with all the pressures to apply to these colleges, go to that party, hang out with these people and make good grades. The competition to get into the best college is so much higher, in order to be taken seriously in the work world someday. The amount of technology that has been introduced to the world since then has changed us drastically, and the way that we do things. Social media especially has definitely affected the way that teens go about their day. I think that the way that we learn and what we got to school for is the same but, On the other hand though we have have quite a few more pressures overall than our parents did because of technology, college competition, social media and so much more. I do believe that our parents have an idea of what it is like to be a teenager but not one in today’s world.
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New challenges and stresses arise in schools daily. Students today are held to very high standards and are constantly climbing an educational ladder. Every class assignment, essay and test either raise you up a step or push you down three. Students today are constantly encouraged to focus on a number. Your grade, your rank and your GPA seem to be the three most important things in your high school career. From Freshman year of high school students are taught to study hard, get good grades and have a high GPA, so that senior year when students are filling out never ending college applications and scholarships they may be lucky enough to receive at least one. Today students are pulled from every angle imaginable: a job, school, homework, and a social life are a few of the many stresses.
What’s hard about being a student in 2018? Living in a state that values money over education. That values everything over education. It’s hard to live in a state where more and more emergency certified teachers are hired each year, and AP classes are being cut. What’s hard is being unable to feel like your education is valued, and actually means something. It’s hard to learn in a state where teachers are forced to do something drastic for the betterment of their students, and it’s hard to miss class for an indefinite amount of time while the legislature intentionally messes around with thousands of students’ futures, all while saying teachers are being selfish and just want more money. What’s hard is hearing people across the state say that teachers don’t love their students because they are walking out, and what’s hard is knowing that those people have no idea & are part of the problem. But what’s good? What’s good are the teachers who care. The teachers who spend more time at school than their contract requires. The teachers who send AP prep material for their students while they are walking out. The teachers who are committed to making sure that each child’s basic needs are met - clothes, food, and even shelter. What’s good are the districts who support their teachers and other educators. Who support their special ed programs and bus drivers, their after school programs and more. What’s good? There’s hope and a future for Oklahoma students. And I can’t wait for that day.
what it's like to be a student in 2018 is good and bad because its a new year for us and also we have to work on what we are supposed to do and we have to worry on our safety because of things that are happening all around us and also we have to pass all our exams,tests,quizzes,projects in order to pass the class and stuff. In my perspective of being a student its kinda hard for me because i had to do stuff that i haven't learned in the past and also new things to adjust on like new friends,new people, in school. Also Being a student in 2018 means that u have to find out who u gonna be and what are u gonna be doing in the future basically deciding what u want to be in the future.
There's the pressure of the future, what do you want to be and where do you want to be. We go through endless cycles of filling up our brain with facts, then dumping it on the test or exam, and then hoping to never see it again. However, those two things are dealt with by almost any generation. To keep it nice and simple we now, we see more than what adults what may think we see and we know more than what adults may think we know. We have access to one of the greatest and scariest things, the internet. We see what goes on the news and we try to stand up. We have a voice but sometimes hesitant on the response. We also have social hierarchies at school, where there's only room for the best of the best and everyone else is just ignored. Except many don't want to be ignored, so competition has skyrocketed and not only from the academic standpoint. We see the expectations, the trends, the media. The main question for us is how do we keep up and how does our wallet keep up.
very true
l would like to share my two cents about school life in 2018. Many students can agree that their middle/high school experience has taught them that almost everything everyone does is purely based on peer pressure and the want to "be cool". Where I live not doing schoolwork and cracking jokes all day is what makes you socially accepted. Everyday when I go to school I have to change myself and I feel as though a lot of people also change themselves as well.
Then there are those ever so high expectations from your parents. Oh "Why don't you ever study, like the other kids?" and "You need to get on the ball because you need a college education!" or how about "Once you're 18 you're out!" Then there's "When I was growing up, we didn't have new technology!" It seems like to be socially accepted you need to do one thing, but to be accepted by your parents you need to do something completely different. And its really hard to balance the two.
Although, parents and other adults think doing schoolwork is easier now that we have access to phones and Laptops, doing schoolwork can be just as hard. Today, I jumped on my laptop to find a good article for a weekly project called "Current Event" where students have to find important news and write a summary about what they read. But here I am distracted, writing a comment for a random article when I haven't even started my work yet.
I can't really speak for others because I'm not in their shoes, but I hope I can help people who're like me.
There are a myriad of different things that I wish more people could understand about what being a student in 2018 is like, but the sad truth is I don’t know if people who haven’t lived it will truly understand. From what my parents have told me about when they were in high school I can say that it is completely different from now, not only by what we know but how school is treated and how students act and are treated. School now is more like trying to climb a ladder but if you don’t climb it fast enough or skillfully enough then the ladder becomes an escalator headed in the wrong direction and it becomes even more of an uphill battle.
But if you mess up not only do you lose your chance at succeeding, you also add to the never ending pile of stress. A pile that is so gargantuan in size that not only can it decimate your body but it can destroy the spark inside your soul. This stress comes from a long list of things such as the pressure to succeed by anyone at home that cares. Or from teachers who expect perfection and believe that you have all the time in the world to do work for their class when you have at the least 3 other classes with just as much or more work to do. Lastly from the pressure you put on yourself because if there is anything that you actually learn in school it’s that you need to not only to conform with everyone else but that you need to beat them out of the park with perfection, or you will fail.
*This is part 1, I didn't have enough room.
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*This is the second and final part, which picks up straight after part 1.
At long last we reach the best part!(he says as he smiles and lies through his teeth) This part of course is the caffeine fueled fever dreams, also known as all-nighters. This is when you have to stay up until 3 a.m. to complete that mountain of homework, projects, and essays you accrue throughout the school day. All nighter if you can’t tell, are extremely bad for you, not only from stressing to finish on time but the fact that teenagers are supposed to get nine and a quarter hours of sleep a night, which we most definitely do not get. Thanks US education system for creating zombies who can regurgitate the answers to a test that has absolutely no flaws, but also zombies who even can’t do their taxes or buy a house.(There he goes again with that lying through his teeth thing)
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The difference in high schools between now and in the past is monumental. For the most part, modern day schools are far more helpful in helping students attain a better education. Thanks to the new chromebooks, which are issued to everyone in my school, all students now have an opportunity to extend their education beyond school. On the other hand, the larger amount of technology available does mean more work outside of school for students due to its accessibility. However, there are also worse parts of school, including a larger amount of stress than ever before that is placed on students. This is ultimately resulting from the excessive amount of homework and the severe difficulties of tests given out to students. Complicating this matter further more are few of the teachers that do not understand the problem when a student is unable to comprehend a particular topic. Instead of trying to clarify it, they rather continue on their planned course without trying to help the student on a one-on-one situation. Despite all of that, I do tend to think that the students that attend school in 2018 are far more fortunate for receiving the many opportunities they do everyday. They have far more options in their career paths, allowing them to focus on their own passion. It is not the school's fault that some students are just incapable of caring for their education, therefore, ultimately leading them to waste their opportunities at having a chance for a successful life.
Being a student in 2018 poses unique challenges and opportunities faced by no generation before. Technology has welcomed in an unprecedented era of knowledge and discovery. However, this new age of discovery is not without its flaws. Focus in schools has become numbers based, lacking emphasis on genuine intellectual abilities. Sadly, students often compete for higher grades and test scores instead of actually desiring to learn. Many educators, unfortunately, seek to merely teach standards and memorization rather than critical analysis. Students, in turn, begin to view numbers and grades as the defining standard for success. As they begin to advance in the education system, grades and test scores begin to consume them. Each day at school, rather than being an opportunity to grow in knowledge, becomes a struggle to merely outperform others. Don't get me wrong, competition is vital to a successful society; work ethic, intelligence, and critical thinking are imperative to creating productive citizens. However, grades and test scores should never be a defining issue in one's life.Academic pressures cause students to stress unnecessarily, negatively impacting many facets of their lives. If we could start teaching students how to cope with stress and create a system that rewards more than just numerical performance, maybe we'd see a decline in anxiety.By changing focus to actually teaching students to think for themselves, we'd create a future brighter than anything we've ever seen.
In today’s society it has not only become hard but dangerous to be a high school student in 2018. There have been multiple school shootings in just the past few years. School is suppose to be a place where you should feel safe and not have anything to worry about but it has become quite the opposite. As a high school senior, beginning to fill out scholarships and applying for colleges has become somewhat of a struggle because if you’re not at the top of your class or a good standardized test taker, the chances of getting a lot of scholarships are slim. That is something parents don’t comprehend. Colleges want the best of the best and parents don’t understand how much effort each students puts in. Twenty years ago many things were different. There was never once a police officer in schools much less even the thought of having multiple. College was not as hard to get into nor were there many standardized tests that needed to be taken. However, there is a positive side to high school. There are a variety of ways to get involved with sports and outside clubs. Going to basketball games with your friends and or volunteering to help out in afterschool programs is a great example of what makes high school better. One thing parents and teachers should always keep in mind, is to never compare themselves to their child or students. Like when referring to a time when they were back in school because times have changed and new things are evolving everyday.
As a sophomore in high school, I still have only experienced half of what the world can throw at me in my teenage years. However, in these times I believe that just like everyone else in the world, my experiences in life are different from everyone else. One thing that I wish every teenager's parents knew was how difficult it can be to stay levelheaded every day when you wake up at 5:30 AM and get home later than 6:00 PM like me as a student involved in musical arts and sports. And just to add on to that, I also take all honors and AP classes that give constant homework. This only teaches students that they’re expected to get less than 6 hours of sleep and only function "properly" by ingesting caffeine so that they may memorize equations and vocabulary terms that will be forgotten two weeks later. These are NOT reasonable standards to live by in ANY society. Our teachers love their jobs and are very important influences in our lives but are majorly underpaid. Our school has guidance counselors but rather than meeting with students to help with their personal problems, they are only tasked with registering students for future courses. This and the usage of social media leads to increased rates in teen pregnancy, depression, and suicide. With everything being publicized on the internet everyone can now be influenced by anything. With the future comes improvement though. With the future comes improvement. "The best way to predict the future is to create it." --Abraham Lincoln.
The hardest part about being a student today is the anxieties that are met by education. At least one fourth of children between the ages of thirteen to eighteen have experienced anxiety, and many students agree that they have had multiple instances where they have felt large amounts of stress. With expectations in the educational system increasing, a student’s stress increases. Teachers tend to be more focused on fitting all of the learning criteria they need to teach their students by giving large amounts of homework, and can sometimes lose focus on maintaining the well being of their students. Students can spend seven hours at school, participate in extracurricular activities, and then spend hours working on school assignments due the next day. Although, it is true that many students do not have the same stress about school, and instead enjoy the challenge; and many teachers insure their students are able to handle both their school work and outside lives. As a high schooler, I face the stresses of attending school for the day, having a career to pay for my college, playing sports, participating in extracurricular activities, studying for the SAT and ACT, and working to obtain the best grades to my ability. Students across America are facing that same stress, and many do not have the ability to cope with it.
Being a student in 2018 compared to previous years is different. The current generation of students are living in a technological world. We are allowed access to a variety of resources and if we don’t understand it then we can just google it. We are allowed to choose from a variety of classes, ranging from college prep classes to advanced placement classes to even dual-enrollment classes. Of course the higher the class difficulty the more stressful school can be. For example, I’m a senior in high school currently taking four AP classes this year. It can be stressful at times since work can become stacked but I chose it to be this way. Things can become stressful whenever you have a specific college in mind. Some requirements are heftier than others in terms of GPA or standardized test scores. Students also want to get scholarships so that they can be in less debt in the future. There’s definitely competition within each class at my high school and that can make things fun and interesting as long as it’s healthy. I’m still maturing and learning new concepts on a day to day basis. People can become irritated by the new generation but they have to understand that we are still developing like they did when they were in high school. The trends and standards might have changed but the development is similar throughout the high school experience. School isn’t just about learning academics. It’s also about learning who you want to be and having fun before you enter a world of debt.
There are basic struggles all high school students have faced for several decades. Figuring out how to balance school work, studying for tests, after school activities, club meetings, getting enough sleep, and having a social life. These are all things that the majority of teenagers in 2018 face as well. Except there is much more. I would prefer dealing with large amounts of stress than having to continue living in fear every time I step into my school. Instead of walking into school worrying about the test I have that day, I worry about how at any moment any one can take my peers and my life. Buying my lunch, taking a quiz, talking with my friends in the hall are all regular things I do every day, as well as observing everyone around me, paranoid, constantly being cautious of my surroundings. The place I would laugh with my friends, learn new things, discover my passions and interests, has now become a place I fear.Yet, the best aspect of being a student in 2018 is that there is possibility for change. We are the youth, with the capability to change our future, we can speak up about issues around us and transform the world into a place we would like to live in. There are so many great things that contribute to being a student in 2018, we are blessed to have the technology, freedom of speech, and power to make a difference. It is now up to the youth to inspire the rest of the country and world to make 2018 a year worth living for.
Being a student in the twenty-first century is similar, yet dissimilar to being a student in the twentieth century. In my parents' generation, students then knew the value of a college education as they do now and drama still persists. However, as technology has been implemented in society over time, these changes have drastically altered the school environment in which students of the twenty-first century have been accustomed. Speaking gladly on behalf of my school district, I can see the benefits of technology integration. Communication and access to relevant information has become obtainable to the majority of our district's students. Technology, however, has also become an infestation in the classroom. For students today, the world (wide web) is at their fingertips. With this vast knowledge, students have become slack in retaining information and work ethic. Although students may not need to know everything they learn in high school, why should educators not want to foster a generation of dedicated and driven students who will one day be leaders, artists, and teachers? Moreover, teachers constantly have to remind students to pay attention to lessons; students, however, would rather be playing games on Cool Math-- hey, at least it is math, right? Technology also is the sole platform for cyberbullying and fishing attacks; however, it is also a platform of positive connections! Also, although technology has its faults, I am glad to see that it opens the doors to the future.
In 2018, there are many good and bad aspects of being a student. Many people only recognize the bad aspects but the good matters just as importantly. In 2018, we have free education in public schools which which promote competition. We have an overpowering drive to succeed that is gaining power over the need to be social and outgoing. We have contests to be admitted by the top rated schools. We have the rising of peculiar students who find it easy to get through education. We are stressed by piling up work upon ourselves in order to be ahead of others. We have closer to equal opportunities in education as the upper class. We have the growth of technology which has established itself as a permanent part of our lifestyle. We have shootings in schools that makes others apprehensive. But most of all, and perhaps most importantly, we have a chance to make it big time that previous generations did not possess.
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In 2018, we are taught to live on caffeine, pull all-nighters, and memorize equations and phrases that serve to be useless but hey, the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell! School has become less of a place of exploration and more of a factory that churns out cookie-cutter humans. We are beaten down with stress and unrealistic expectations which often lead to anxiety and depression. In a study done by The American Psychological Association, from 2010-13, 7% more students were considering attempting suicide. Being a student in 2018 also means we have to advocate for the safety of our lives and equality. The fact that students fear for their lives when walking into school is absurd. We students also have the burden of worrying about immigration laws that rip families apart and fight for the right to use a bathroom and the right to have faith in who or what they want. The amount of societal issues that students are burdened with is ridiculous. Being a student in 2018 means we must fight for the rights that our government will not give us. Instead of focusing on our next test, we are focusing on how to make our voice heard- how to make our adults listen to the inequality that they have created. The inequality that divides us instead of uniting us Why should students have to fear for their lives? Why should students be the ones who are organizing protests and making speeches, demanding for change?
The high school experience is amorphous and ever-changing, and it has undergone an irrevocable change since the high school years of our teachers and parents many decades ago. The increased competition in regards to college admissions has aggrandized the drive of students to succeed, causing them to fill their course loads with difficult AP classes with nearly inscrutable test content and seek opportunities for on-the-job experience. This has created an aura of intense rivalry among the top students in perspective classes. There are pros and cons to this change in the high school experience. I believe that this new competitive environment carries the risk of giving some students an insular experience, encouraging them to only care about achieving good grades instead of gaining valuable knowledge. Additionally, this environment could cause students to adopt sleazy and even contraband methods of achieving these grades. However, there are positive aspects of the change that cannot be repudiated. The increased competition can breed erudite students with a propensity for success. Students have the opportunity to be more prepared for future success than any generation before them. The high school environment of 2018 allows for the archetype student with particularly sedulous study habits to thrive in the face of competition and leave high school with a depth of knowledge and preparedness that is the farthest thing from gossamer.
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Being a high school student in 2018 is terrifying. Walking through the doors of Greenwich High School every day I have an overwhelming feeling that today could be the day there is a school shooting. As I walk down the crowded halls I think to myself any one of these students could decide to open fire at any moment. The terror intensifies as I enter the student center that has three large balconies looming over the open space which is an ideal spot for a student to target a large group of students. No one should have to experience the fear and anxiety of going to school which is provoked by the fear of being shot. This anxiety is a sad reality for the 3,000 students that attend Greenwich High School.
In the spring of 2017 we had a major school lockdown that lasted for four hours. There was a threat written on a bathroom stall that stated “in fourth period lunch everyone will DIE”. The Greenwich police swat team stormed the school and I witnessed everything unfold. Every chair and table in the student center was turned upside down and the noise and vision of the police boots on the ground has never left my mind. This past February the Parkland School shooting brought back the stress that this could happen at my school. It's hard to grasp that out of 3,000 kids there must be a few who are troubled and have malicious thoughts. A school shooting could happen at any school and the terror that this causes is the reality of being a US high school student in 2018.
The largest differences between generations are with technology. It is a testament to human ingenuity that we can carry out classes for any subject from one point to any other point in the world, but also a reality of society’s fear of change that we still teach these classes using the same methods that we have used for centuries. Meaning that we, as students, can find out the answers to any question except for why we still have standardized tests, why schools are losing funding, or why more teens are ruining their health from school stress.
It's a fact that more is expected of students as they are thought to be more capable of completing their assignments with help from modern technology. If a parent today were to revisit school they would likely not be able to cope with the scale of work that students are put through, but would recognize the work, as well as the style it was taught. One example, the SAT, was first used in 1944, yet it was only updated once in its existence. It is very important for parents to understand their child’s education, so they can avoid creating additional stress for their child.
Schools can still change, my school has created a new program called Innovation Lab, focusing on students who want to learn a subject rather than how to pass a test. If more schools were to convert to different methods of teaching, inspired by other programs around the world, we would make a change that would result in long lasting and meaningful education for students.
High school in 2018 is odd. You are a dish in a dishwasher, being cleaned and prepared before being used in the real world. We, as students, are slightly prepared to face the challenges of the world. And through this, we are exposed to high amounts of stress which parents sometimes do not understand. Combined with the ever-growing use of cell phones and social media, the drama aspect of high schools has grown tremendously over the years - in turn, increasing the bullying rate. My generation is full of self-obsessed faces, due to the constant flow of social media where they can say whatever they want, even if it harms another person's self-esteem.
The selfish attitude of this generation hurts the magnitude of impact we can make on the world going forward.
Yes, there are upsides as well, like learning new and innovative things, and making lasting memories with friends. But, overwhelmingly, there is the bad. We, as a generation, can be innovators. We can be reformers. We can be the generation that stands up for what promotes good in the world by stopping the spread of hate throughout social media. We can be role models for what is right. And, quite honestly, high school has not provided enough to students to show what is right and what is wrong, which needs to be changed in the near future for the sake of the generations to come.
In my parents generation they had typewriters for keyboarding class, whereas now we use computers and other electronics as early as preschool. Needless to say being a student in 2018 presents us with a unique challenge. Technology has been placed at our fingertips and because of that our possibilities are limitless. However, we are also being that technology can, in fact, take away jobs from us. Isn't that our purpose for investing so much time into our education? To get a job? This is challenging for students because not only do we have to be smarter and more prepared than our peers, we also have to be smarter than the latest machine. However, despite the competitive nature and rigor that High School, it also offers us an opportunity to learn, grow, and serve before we become, what society calls, adults. Throughout my high school career I have enjoyed growing as a learner, but most of all as a person. I will always cherish the memories and lessons I have learned over the course of my 4 years here.
As a student in the tenth grade, I feel that school is a subject that everyone does understand to a certain extent. Adults aren't completely ignorant to the struggles high school students have. They were there not too long ago. I think our generation is facing less challenges than previous generations have. We now focus more on extracurricular activities or sports instead of academics, because for some reason we don't put the same urgency on getting an education or a good job as people have in the past. It is though of more as something that just will happen in the future rather than something we have to work for now. On the other hand, there are also students who, since their parents and other relatives have been successful, feel more pressure to succeed along with the other activities they may participate in inside or outside of the school. From experience, I can say that balancing AP classes, three sports, church, and other family activities or appointments can be very difficult and stressful. Overall, I think the increased access to higher education today is a big improvement on what it has been in the past, but people who haven't been in school in years need to realize that it does increase competition in schools. Education is very important, but high school students also need to have time to get out and enjoy themselves before they have to take responsibility for themselves and their families when they graduate.
There's a cacophony of noises surrounding me each weekday. Loud voices fill the hall, some are stressed others are filled with laughter. I am not sure in which category I fall into. As a current high school student at Walhalla, I am constantly floating in between. However, this year I am more stressed than I have ever been. I am overloaded with homework on most nights, mostly due to a schedule change at my school. All AP classes were cut short and we are expected to learn everything in a short amount of time. I also participate in extracurricular activities as well, and I do not get home till after 6 P.M. I have little time to complete all of my assignments. However, high school requires hard work and determination. I have seen my time management improve throughout the years, but I still feel the pressures from school.
Being a student in 2018 can be quite easy. Students no longer rely on information in their heads, rather than information that can be found on their devices. As a student, my parents comprehend that I take my time to do homework, and sometimes they complain on how little time I get to spend with them due to how much time I spend on doing my homework while also trying to juggle a social life. Most teachers aren’t too hard on kids with assignments, they understand that students have friends, jobs, and sports to also worry about. The best part about being a student today is having the technology to learn more. Rather than using my technology on video games, I like to use the technology to help me progress in my classes. I am able to complete more types of assignments on my laptop, and I do process most of the information I study while on my devices. Other generations didn’t have technology to search things on the web. They also had to stick with long division while students today can solve a problem with a few clicks on a calculator. It is important for adults to understand that just because we have our faces in devices, it doesn’t mean we are always on social media. We can be working on an english report, or using our quizlet app to study science terms. I use my cell phone to keep track of my grades, assignments and test/quiz dates. All generations have different quirks, and ours happens to be using the internet.
Students today have to deal with things that students in the past would've never imagined we would be dealing with. Access to the internet opens up a world of opportunity and the constant pressure to choose from parents and teachers pushes students into situations they may not have wanted for themselves. The opportunity today is endless. We can truly be whatever we want. The sheer amount of opportunity handed to us is something we don't understand or appreciate. I wish that people understand that, with the vast options we have today choosing between career paths, majors, or classes, choosing what to do with your life is an increasingly difficult question to answer. My high school is constantly adding new classes and creating new opportunities without realizing the stress of having to choose. The opportunity we have is something adults didn't have when they were our age and we definitely take for granted but adults also don't realize the stress involved. Also new classes that open doors to new possibilities might close doors to other courses that might actually matter. Students who may not be as intelligent as others are given many opportunities through work based learning and industrial jobs that people can make a decent life doing.
There are many topics that have become more prevalent within the past 10 years, for example, gender identity. I feel students today, under peer pressure, are forced to accept things that they do not personally believe like the gender identity issue. Some people believe that there are only two genders, other people feel that you can be anything you want to be, if I feel like a dog today that is my gender.
Technology used in the classrooms can be a beneficial or cancer. Students can become more distracted from the teaching of the teacher with their technology, but it also promotes a better learning opportunity. There are more options for teachers to communicate with students online now to. For example, if students had a snow day the teacher could e-mail the students to look online for the work they would like the students to do. Most students have a school e-mail and the teachers can create online classrooms so students can submit their papers online instead of wasting paper by handing it in on paper.
Colleges are looking more at a particular students rigor of course curriculum rather than standardized tests scores. More colleges are becoming test optional because they are shifting to looking at the whole student than just the grades. Schools are allowing students to try different things to figure out what they would like to pursue in the future.
Most of all, being a student in 2018 is overwhelming. Constantly focusing on the next paper due or the next project.
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I wish people knew school is not easy. I wish people knew that school is so much more than just getting an education. I wish people would listen to us instead of telling us what to do. School today is so much more than just trying to pass classes and get into college; it is a fighting arena. Students try to claw and pry their way to the top crushing other students during their ascent to the top. This arena is a mental war zone and statics can speak for that. Studies show students today have the highest rate ever of anxiety. However, all students hear is how school is not the real world and the worst is yet to come. If the worst is yet to come than what do the generation of the future have to look forward to?
What is hard about being a student and for attending high school, is that now we are learning some of the worst truths of our entire existence. With some of the freedoms that we gain, being either places to go or knowledge, you gain an infinitely more burdening amount of responsibilities. While some may complain that this talk is frivolous, soon it gets to be too much, because now more then ever the game is really being played. People are extorting every single available ounce of energy if they destine themselves for an academic career, and sadly that is all they can do. Unless they are geniuses who look at answers and instantly solve them, you are left to waste hours on information they may never use again. Some waste entire years with unnecessary classes that only add a problem to the already strenuous life they will have. And now that it is harder than ever to pay for colleges and keep impending debt down for more drivel, people are running themselves dry to finish scholarships and essays just to scrape by. There is no time for a life. and whatever time you try to use for yourself you just want to relax with dumb entertainment because you want something reassuring in a world where politicians scream about building walls and everyone wants to kill everyone over brainless thoughts. When doing that though, they waste time and fail, getting left behind. Our problem is that schools don't teach life, they teach irrelevant topics in a world we can't even wrap our heads around.
As I read through these responses I realized many of them are negative. I feel that most people are only pointing out the negative aspects of being a student in 2018, and not the positive things. Being a student at Walhalla High School in 2018 is a very rewarding experience. I have learned a lot more about technology and have grown in many different ways. Walhalla High School has taught me a lot, whether it be related to the state standards or skills that will benefit me later in life. Being a student today I have had the opportunity to learn a lot about different types of technology and I have learned how to use them. I agree that school today is more fast paced and difficult than it used to be, but I believe that it is not a negative experience. I feel that being a student today has made me adopt a strong work ethic, it has taught me to be open-minded, and it has taught me how to be self reliant. Being a student in 2018 has given me many different opportunities. Teachers today are dedicated to helping me succeed and help me learn the topics they teach. When I graduate in 2019 and move on with my education I will look back at my high school experience. I will miss my friends, my teachers, the building, sporting events, and everything else that goes along with school. I will miss all of the aspects of being a high school student. But, once I graduate I know I will be prepared because of all of the things I learned and the experiences I had.
Unfortunately its impossible to exactly know every aspect since with the modern movement of social media and the widespread spectrum of perspectives to chose from. Although being a student has gotten statistically harder due to the need for a higher education therefor more schooling is required but alternatively the seemingly almost infinite resources available. And also due to the internet the expansions of widespread knowledge, what used to be considered select knowledge such as what a student would have to do an extracurricular class to learn, can be considered general knowledge. And as a result of that social change, this would reinforce the need for a higher schooling. This creates the stress of still needing at least 4 years of schooling after high school which then calls for more money that some families just don't have. So the solution is federal or university given scholarships. But unfortunately there isn't enough money to go to everybody. So the next step would be student loans, but extra schooling is considerably expensive ranging from 100,000 to almost 300,000 to attend a college for 4 year. Try telling an eighth grader than he needs to get perfect A's for the next 8 years to afford a stable way of living.
My head hurts, my eyes barely stay open, and I usually end up wearing leggings and a sweatshirt to school. Where did the time go? How did I go from forcing myself to color in the lines to forcing myself to write three 1000 word essays in one night. Teachers act like they get it, like they know how stressful our lives are. Guess what? They don’t. They don’t attend AP class after AP class and then an hour and a half sports practice after school. They don’t spend entire classes completing worksheets and then having to complete more when they arrive home. We have to shower, we have to eat, we have to relax, but those things get cut short due to school.
School has caused me to feel guilty whenever I go out with friends or attend a doctors appointment because I know I am falling behind on work due soon. It has caused me to lie to my best friends about what’s on the next test so I get a better grade than them. I should be able to have fun and take care of myself. I should be able to help my friends do their best. I shouldn’t have to be confined in school walls allowing the curriculum to alter my values.
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Part 1:
There are countless things I wish people understood about what it's like to be a student in 2018, and let me tell you, it's not the same as it once was. Every year the curriculum is changing, becoming more challenging and confusing as the years pass, and we, as students, get the added stress and pressure to take college level courses in high school. That wasn't even possible at one point and time, but now it's the norm to take multiple AP courses a semester. Sports have amped up the number of practices they hold a week and coaches aren’t always forgiving when you miss practice for another sport’s game.
I'm a full-time athlete and student. I play volleyball 6 times a week, and oftentimes I have back-to-back practices after school. Trust me- it's not easy. While the normal family eats dinner around 7, my family eats at 10 pm every night. This is partly because of my siblings' and my crammed schedule. Wake-up, go to school, go to beach volleyball practice, go straight to indoor practice from there, go home, eat dinner, homework, sleep. This constant cycle is the story of my life. This semester I'm taking 6 classes. They're all AP and honors and give plenty of homework. Sleep is an unknown concept in my world. On average, I get about 4-5 hours of sleep a night when apparently I’m supposed to get 8.
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It's true that I don't have to raise children, but it's still really hard being a student in this day and age. It's difficult walking out of the house when I'm constantly terrified of being killed. The teachers always tell me not to stress, but it's tough not to stress. The teachers are the reason that I have all the stress. Still, there's no way to guarantee that I won't die as soon as I get to school. I know that it's not quite reasonable to feel that way, but after hearing a lot of things about other school shootings, who's to say that it's not going to happen here? There's no way of knowing what going to happen. But there are also good things about going to school in 2018. I'm allowed to ride a bus, and I'm allowed to speak my mind. I can go out, and I can help people that I know who need help. That might be not an option for me at other times or other places.
“You just wait, it only gets harder from here,” my dad says to me as I am complaining about all the school work I have in front of me on the kitchen table. It’s true, I don’t have bills to pay or children to raise, but what I do have is stress about tests, homework, GPA, class rank… Being a student in this day and age is all about the resume. I joke with my peers all of the time about, “Do our teachers even know we have other classes? Because they give us work like their class is the only one we have.” My English teacher always tells us, “Live your eulogy, not your resume.” This really sticks with me through everything I do, and although I try my best to be living my eulogy, it is hard to be a student in 2018 and not be constantly worried about your resume. Technology is both a blessing and a curse. In ways such as looking up information online instead of in a textbook. In other ways it’s terrible. Most teachers do not allow their students to have their phones out during class, and some will take the phones away if they see them. Technology has led to an increase in students cheating, as well. They won’t do their homework because they know they can just ask their group chat to send the work. I try with each and everyday to live my eulogy, even though the world is telling me to live my resume.
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Being a student in 2018 is completely different than in years past. We have all grown up in this generation of technology which is constantly changing. The education system is always trying to keep up with this technology that is coming out every day. Students are also held to this high standard of reaching perfection. The stresses of the only way that you can really achieve in your life is to take all honors and AP classes and get into the best colleges. There is this stigma that everyone in your class is competition. Schools are basically saying that if you are not in the top 20 in your class then you are not going to achieve. It just sucks that we are being put up against our friends. But there are also a lot of benefits. We are in this amazing day in age with all this technology that we are getting to use to find all this information that we couldn't find and have access to in years past. We are continuing to grow and we need to keep moving until we get to a good place.
I’m seventeen and a junior. For me, the hardest part about high school is that it does not feel calibrated to best inspire creativity or foster learning for students. The very structure of the day - starting early in the morning, long class periods, short lunch breaks - is exhausting and monotonous. I’m not sure I could think of a single one of my friends who didn’t complain about being tired and bored recently. AP exams and standardized testing, too, are proven to last far too long and to be ineffectual measurements of students’ learning and intelligence and yet they persist as the accepted number one indicator for future success. The pressure to couple that with massive amounts of extracurriculars, AP classes, work, etc., leaves very little time for a social life or down time, much less sleep. I would say the number one feeling students generally associate with high school is exhaustion. The trouble here is that this is not a new development. I know that my parents didn’t face the same level of pressure when it comes to AP classes but over all, the main structure of high school has remained the same. That’s an issue. It’s time for a change. I’m not saying I have the answers, I just know that we need to rework our understanding of what public school is in order to foster learning, not just memorization. We need to set it up so students aren’t falling asleep in their classes. There’s a lot of good and benefit from the education system, but it’s time for an update.
Balancing school and work or after school activities is a feat that not many can master. At 16, I am a junior in high school, the notoriously difficult year that colleges define us by. Colleges judge us by not just our grades for this year, but your attitude, character, and community service hours. Though I still have hope to achieve my goals, and passion for learning and my classes, those feelings are dwindling as my homework load increases. I have less drive and excitement to learn than last year, and less then than the year before that. I have at the least 3 hours of homework every night for my Advanced Placement classes, and it is hard to keep up. I come home every day from school at nine o-clock, eat dinner, and start my homework. The one passion in my life that hasn't fallen away is ballet, something I'm planning on spending my life doing. I am constantly in a struggle to gain time for either one, like Sisyphus pushing two boulders up the hill, sometimes getting heavier with more homework load or longer ballet rehearsals, sometimes both getting heavier at once, pulling me back down towards gravity. I am constantly in fear of judgement and not succeeding. I have a supportive group of family and friends who I no longer find time for because I am too worried about getting my homework done. I often feel defeated, and sometimes don't do my homework because I am too sleep deprived. I wish that I could say that I was more hopeful.
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As a Junior in high school in this day and age, challenges arise frequently with how adults view high school. Times have changed so drastically from when my parents or my grandparents were in high school that make the experiences very distinct. My parents will say things like "well if you just apply yourself you can get an A" or when there is some sort of conflict they expect an easy resolution when it is really not that simple. Starting around sophomore year, depending on when a student enrolls in challenging classes, an environment is fostered that has such a high level of competition and stress that can have a huge impact on a student's mental health. This is simply not comparable to the competition of 20 or 30 years ago. A large problem that makes individuality difficult in high school and into college, is standardized testing. It is difficult to maintain a sense of individualism when put into an arena of students all competing for the higher end of a couple hundred points. School has become such an intense and competitive environment that is very different and hard to imagine for the past generations.
Being a student in 2018 is extremely exhausting and challenging. Through 4 years of high school, you are told to try your best and that's all you can need to do that's not the reality. If you don't get an A in that AP or Honors, then your GPA will go decrease and your class rank will fall. The reason this matters is because colleges only look at your grades and class rank and sometimes extracurricular activities. Kids understand this and feel that they need to take these AP or Honors classes but sometimes these classes aren't there strengths in school and feel they have to cheat to get good grades in the class. It makes kids stress out about school and feel school is all that's left. This leads to kids quitting any exercise which can cause more stress because they aren't releasing that stress.
Education today settles like rain on a new and growing generation. Everything is greener for it, education is a pivotal foundation for success and we are so grateful for it, that it is difficult to explain the stress of modern day schooling without feeling guilty. School is some instances is incredible. The extent and variety of jobs is wild and encouragement to follow different career directions exists within many high schools. Yet school has taken on a competitive nature and a tendency to function for the purpose of standardized testing until learning becomes more systematic than passion driven. The high expectations imposed by colleges pull students from following specialized interests and the amounts of school work disallow from real world experience. The high expectations imposed upon students are not all bad, but the extent to which they exist forces students to focus all time on high level classes and not actual interests - taking classes for the GPA not for the education.
I am 18 years old, and I am about to graduate high school. I think one of the defining elements of my generation is uncertainty. In our world there are no more comfortable formulas for success. The scope of technology is expanding so rapidly that it's possible for a college degree or technical skill to be obsolete in a few years. Public policy changes so quickly that students with uncertain legal status or economic vulnerability are subject to the opaque machinations of politicians who don't seem to care about our success or our safety. The ambiguity surrounding our futures creates fear, anxiety, self-doubt - instead of working towards long-term goals, it feels like we're constantly waiting for a new rug to pull out from under us.
Students in 2018 are faced with harder challenges than the generations before them. The difference in the classes and technology I am exposed to versus what past students were exposed to is dramatically different. Often because of all the improvements in our education opportunities and technology, we are expected to do better and strive for greatness more than any students before us. I am a junior, I take AP classes and get all A's, but that is because I choose to do those things. I choose to do that, because I want to go to college, and I want to lighten my load of work now so I'll have less classes to take once I get there. The thing is, in order to be fully prepared for the major you want in college, students have to know exactly what they want to do, and I, including thousands of other students in the same boat, have never had a solid idea of the career they want to pursue. The scariest thing for me as a student is not being successful in my future and being surrounded by mountains of debt that piled up while I was switching around my majors too much. That idea of 'you must be successful' gets to us, and makes us forget to enjoy our years of school. I choose to take classes not to enjoy the learning opportunities, but to get the grade and move on so I can focus on the 'more important things' in my future in college. Learning in high school has become so college focused, that students put so much pressure on themselves, they often forget to stop and actually learn.
Beginning my academic career in 2005 I've found throughout elementary, middle, and highschool a common goal of preparing students for the next academic step. Meaning being drilled on middle school expectations as young as third grade, then high school expectations in sixth grade, and college prep as early as eighth. Not to say preparing and challenging students to work towards future academic goals isn't important. However, the issue comes when our education system is so saturated with preparation for the future it begins to lack in the now. My generation is constantly being criticized for immaturity issues. I think a lot of this comes from a lack of understanding the importance of childhood in our schools. Students feel pressure to seriously consider their adult lives at way too young an age, and compete academically with their peers when they should be building their first healthy social relationships. I assume the intention behind things like common core and standardized testing, beginning at 8 years old by the way, is to create a stronger generation that will be competitive in our countries workforce and internationally. Unfortunately, the popularization of this competitive nature in schools fosters an environment that is extremely stressful, and hinders students from enjoying parts of their childhoods, leading to social and immaturity issues in the future.
I am eighteen and a high school senior in Asheville, NC. The toughest thing about being a student in 2018 is lack of institutional support for students. It is very easy to fall behind in school and feel inferior due to an enviornment of extreme competitiveness. Students are not engaged with their own learning. This is a byproduct of an education system that uses a "one-size-fits-all" education model that does not help students explore their true passions. However, this generation of students is still remarkably brilliant and resiliant. Even though students are not engaged by their schools, they are very engaged in the world and are ready to create a future they want.
School today is all about time management and thriving off of no energy or sleep. On a typical night, I have 2-4 hours of homework along with sports and other extracurriculars. Students in my classes live off of 6 hours of sleep (on a good night). Our teachers understand this yet they have to assign loads of work to ensure we learn everything before our exam. Technology opens many doors for students to learn more, however, it is used as a tool to cheat in order to get an A. Our schools are filled with cheating because of the competitive nature of class rank and getting into a good college. Students put incredible pressure on themselves to perform and feel that they must cheat to get a grade. However, being a student in 2018 is not all stress. Students today are very civic minded and are able to have conversations in classrooms about today's issues. Overall, students, today are constantly stressed and push themselves to be ready for the "next step".
I'm seventeen years old, graduating in June of this year. One of the largest challenges that students in 2018 face is the mounting pressure to be successful and get a high paying job. From the minute you start middle school, your education turns into a competition. You're pitted against your peers and forced into boxes that label your entire being. Every person who is in the top of the class is labeled the "smart kids" and they are immediately expected to perform at a high level through the rest of their time in school. If they struggle with comprehension or need extra support, they are ostracized by their teachers and peers and are usually forced to continue on without help anyway. Kids start to label self worth off of a number, and think that the only way they can make themselves and others proud is to be the smartest kid in their school. The lower performing students who are labeled "dumb kids" are forced into classes with worst resources and teachers who could care less. Since no attention is being put on these kids, they stop trying. They stop caring about learning, or challenging themselves because no matter how hard they try, they still aren't up to par with the smarter kids. School stops being fun. It's stops being about learning and exploring and growing as an individual and it turns into a battle with yourself and your peers. The pressure to do well and to go to college and to move away from home is overwhelming and becomes the ONLY defining factor of success.
High School in 2018 is different than ever before. We are expected to navigate an increasingly complex world vastly different than theirs, while also maintaining good grades and learning to prepare ourselves for whatever lies after our Senior year. The pressure to "do well" in High School is always there, but in recent years, it has been amplified. Students have to be able to keep up with regular workloads while remaining active in sports and extracurricular activities. This has always been true for High School students but nowadays the increased pressure is met with a fear of failing at anything, leading students to resort to dishonest ways of "succeeding." Students put so much pressure on themselves and then receive it from their parents and teachers that they are often times distressed about getting a B. AP classes become competitions for GPA points rather than a way to experience College level work and curriculum. Students have lost sight of the goals of school, which is to learn and be able to apply that knowledge to the real world, they see High School as a way to get accolades or honors that will do nothing other than "look good for College." I feel like my parents never had to feel that way at school. This isn't to complain, I enjoy school for the most part, and feel as if I will be relatively prepared for College and a career. However I think the culture of High School has shifted so much that it is harder than previous generations can comprehend.
What most people don't understand about being in school is the price of the food. For breakfast, the food is pretty good and the prices are okay for the most part, but for lunch, the portions are extremely small for the prices, so I am not able to get a full meal at lunch. I both wrestle and play rugby every day, so one sandwich and even sometimes two does not fill me or give me enough nutrition. I have to go home quickly after school to get more food before I go to sports practice.
In 2018, being a student is stressful. From elementary school to college, we're told to 'Be Prepared'. Be prepared for the next set of classes you'll take; Be prepared for how your teachers will want you to act next year; Be prepared for the life you're going to live after you escape. High schools today are more like prison than learning environments. Don't break the dress code or you'll be punished, follow the rules and go where you're supposed to when the bell rings, eat the food you're given without complaint. The teachers are underpaid and underappreciated, being put under unrealistic expectations to teach according to a book they're given. Students enter classrooms wondering if they'll have the same instructor as they did yesterday. I had 6 substitutes in the space of 9 weeks when my teacher quit due to depression and stress. There are good things, of course; Chromebooks have increased the ease of learning, with information right at our fingertips; cell-phones allow for for easy communication; even the tests have study guides posted online by teachers without the waste of 130 paper copies for 4 classes a day. This good doesn't change the fact that half of my friend group has been stressed to the point of trying to commit suicide, or that most conversations at the lunch table these days consist of sharing things our therapists taught us to relieve anxiety. Good and bad, if a 17 year old has tried to commit suicide 4 times in the last year, something needs to change.
Schools in 2018 carry many of the same problems they have for decades, and students are still faced with experiencing them today. Systematic segregation, bullying (especially for LGBT+ students), standardized testing and the competition that comes with, as well as a lack of discussion about mental health, are still prevalent in school systems. The need to enter the workforce with a college degree causes students to over-work themselves with AP classes they may not even be interested in. This only further damages students mental health, but there are very few resources for them and few teachers that will take poor mental health as a legitimate excuse. Despite these issues that make schooling stressful and unsafe, I'm lucky to be going to school now, as it provides access to a large base of politically minded students that are coming together now more than ever. In my school, it's been students who have planned marches, walkouts, and information sessions on topics that are often silenced.
As a current senior in high school in 2018, comes stress and great opportunity. Of course, every high school teenager is going to experience long nights doing homework, stress eating, and typical high school drama. But that is expected of growing up. Life will be stressful, but it is about learning how to manage the stress and make it the best experience you can. We live in a consistently growing society that causes this, but with that comes so much opportunity. The advancements of technology has allowed several great opportunities for students to become better not only as a student, but also as a person. Such opportunities, were not given to previous generations which gives more advantages to this generation. Being apart of this generation, pushes me to strive for my dreams because I have realized how much opportunity I have that my grandparents, or even parents did not have. Although more stress comes with these advancements, I am proud to be apart of this generation, and I am thankful for the opportunities that are given to me.
My name is Peyton Terry and I'm sixteen years old. Being a student in 2018 poses some unique challenges and advantages that other generations before us didn't have. The first thing that comes to mind is technology. Everyone in my school uses a laptop to do work; more than half of our homework is online. That's something completely unique to this generation of students. This is an advantage because we can find information and learn more by the click of a button. In addition, we are also faced with many challenges. As college becomes the norm, it becomes harder and harder to get into the colleges you want and the pressure to do well and outsmart your fellow classmates makes the school feel like a hostile, unsafe environment. Everything you do and every grade you get, you compare to your friends and other students, and even if you got a really good grade if someone got higher than you, you feel inferior. In addition, recently, there has been a rise in school shootings and gun violence. In general, this makes school, what used to be a safe space for learning, a scary space with cops roaming the campus and feeling scared every time there's a lockdown drill. We are given limited freedom in schools to protect us and we are constantly wondering if something is going to go wrong. I think that we learn far more than anyone else has before us, but we are also faced with issues that nobody had to deal with before now.
Pressure. It is constant. Self-doubt and angst. It is rampant. Self esteem has long been thrown to the wolves. Cheating. A norm looked gracefully upon. Fighting and bullying and hurt. Yet still there is learning. Resilience. The young mind keeps in motion. Difficult, yes. Cogs in a machine, yes. Bubbles needing to be filled but our emotional wells have already been tapped. But. It is okay. It goes on. Just awhile longer, until... being at the bottom of the food chain again. Cyclical. It's how it goes. That's all.
Being a student in this day and age carries with it a host of unique characteristics not present in the past. On the one hand, students are facing more pressures and difficulties than ever. The stigma that one must attend college if they wish to have any hope of a moderately comfortable middle class life puts immense strain on the student and provides a bleak outlook for those who don't have that in their future. Technology has improved, providing a host of distractions and challenges that can divert a students attention from their education. But student life is not all gloom and doom. Pressure to attend college pushes students to do their best and strive for greatness that they, we, may not have otherwise dreamed of achieving. Technology provides distractions but also exciting new ways to learn and develop that past generations never imagined! The selection of classes available in schools have become more diverse, presenting more challenging and interesting courses that give students chances to expose themselves to a wide range of opportunities. This new era of education can be tough, but all in all, its a pretty decent time to be a student.
Being a student, not just in 2018, but in the 21st century, is certainly one of the most arduous tasks ever undertaken. For starters, the same lackadaisical, care-free attitude that so many of our parents experienced when they were in school does not exist today; rather, it is the exact opposite. Our parents were left unburdened by many of the social dilemmas and personal epidemics that we face today, ranging from teen pregnancy to constant ridicule on social media. And while many people will say that this generation of teenagers has much more diversity and opportunity, largely due to the technological advancements that have been made, this argument is also a double-edged sword. All of these new apps and websites are opening the door to even more harassment and embarrassment, much more than what our parents experienced 30 years ago. One of the most popular issues that teenagers face in today's day and age is the increase in availability of pornographic material. Giving teenagers with raging hormones and developing chemical reactions access to porn is like trying to douse an inferno with kerosene. And when the media and writers of this day put such an emphasis on the unimportance of pre-marital sex, as well as the numerous fail-safes that are designed to prevent pregnancy, the door is flung wide open for teenagers to experiment and put themselves in danger of potentially detriment their lives forever. Support for young teens facing these problems is needed, now more than ever.
Being a student in 2018 requires rigor, determination, and time-management. The requirements of the educational system in place today request that a student spends more time doing homework than anything else. The amount of pressure put on students to succeed forces them to neglect other aspects of their life. Generally, a full-time student spends seven hours a day at school and then is asked to complete on average 2 hours a day on homework. Most students who have sports practice do not get home until 6pm then they must do the two hours of homework, prepare for the next day, and have time to relax from the pressure of school. At this rate, many students go to bed late and begin the same cycle again the next day often causing them to neglect other aspects of their life. Schools push for academic achievement in their students. But sometimes this achievement comes at a price. Many students are so focused on the letter grade in the class and not the knowledge. Schools reward academic success and punish laziness. In many classes, you either keep up or get left behind so students are sacrificing valuable knowledge in order to get an "A". Being a student in 2018 requires you to adapt to the changing educational system. A student must prioritize, sacrifice, and work hard. In order to achieve greatness within the school system, a student must handle the pressure and channel it into their motivation.
Being a student in 2018 is different than in years past. Not only do we have more resources, like student issued laptops and tablets, but there are also newer concerns with school safety, and more competition for class position. Being an 11th grade student I have had many years of in-school experience. 2018 marks a new beginning for my school, all students were issued a Dell Chromebook, and now that I have one to use I can't imagine life without it. Two of my textbooks are online, I take tests, work on assignments, and use it to study. My grades this year have increased compared to last year, and I think the access to technology has allowed that to happen. However, 2018 has also seen tragedy in schools. During the week after the Parkland shooting, every school in my county (3) received a threat. My school received 3 (two in one day). I would be lying if I said I wasn't scared, but the school staff addressed the situation directly and eventually arrested three students and suspended several others. I'm happy as a student, I have good teachers and good friends with good grades. When I graduate in 2019, my class will be the first class to go all four years through our new school building, and as a result of the new school building, the class sizes are growing. Next year the freshman class will consist of 331 students, while my class contains 250 students. competition in classes is good because it encourages students to work harder for their grades. The future is looking bright.
6
People should understand that high school is difficult. Yes there may be a few classes that you can easily breeze through, but overall it's a challenge. It's supposed to be that way though. You shouldn't be able to easily go through all your classes because learning new things is not always an easy task. It's how you grow as a person and figure out what to do with your life. The homework can sometimes get ridiculous, but it's to help you usually. We have so many opportunities that we just take advantage of and we don't even realize that all the generations before us had extremely less. High school gives students so many opportunities to figure out what they want to do with their lives. Getting good grades shouldn't be to please others but it should be for yourself. It only sets you up to succeed even more. School is hard but that's the way it should be because you have to work hard to get what you want in life.
Being a student in 2018 comes with many difficulties, but can also create many life lessons and opportunities for the students in our generation. With all the new technologies available and new opportunities in AP classes and dual enrollment courses, high school can now more effectively prepare students for college. Not only that, but the many different opportunities and experiences that many high schools provide allow for students to be qualified and help them in better deciding career paths and preparing them for the future. As students today, we do fall under a lot of stress of grades, sports, and maintaining our social life with the addition of social media, but most of that stress is put on by our own selves. Many students today do not know how to deal with this stress which is why so many complain and crack under pressure. Dealing with stress and learning how to conduct yourself under pressure is part of being a student today and unless we learn this lesson, we will never succeed. Students today have the greatest opportunity to succeed. We have programs at our schools for help, many teachers who care about our well being, and a community pushing for the future generations to advance our society into the great civilization it could be.
I'm sixteen years old. As a high school student who has always taken honors and AP classes, it gets harder each year. I always try to make an "A" on everything. But as the years progress, the technology works its way up on the ladder in education. I wish teachers could understand that yeah, it's cool that we have our own Chromebooks, but some kids don't have internet at home so we are restricted. We have to worry about the internet going down in the middle of an important test or an assignment failing to be submitted correctly. We have to worry about shootings. It's hard going to school fearful. Teachers expect us to do things perfectly; they don't realize that our other classes are as time-consuming as theirs. When we are dozing off in school, it's because we were studying for classes. Teachers and parents need to realize that we dedicate so much time to school. The hardest thing about being a student is getting distracted by our phones. It's so easy to be consumed by these screens. But I enjoy the online opportunities offered to me. I can virtually tour places. There's the ability to contact teachers after school when we have questions. We have AP classes when schools didn't have that before. Now we are able to take dual enrollment classes to get ahead in college. The world needs to realize that as a student, it may not be as easy as it looks. We go through so much just to be able to stand proudly at graduation with chords and pins embellishing our graduation robes.
Being a student is 2018 is like being stuck in a factory training session. Students every day come into class and memorize vocab terms, then regurgitate them on test day, only to forget them 20 minutes afterwards. Teachers give unnecessary amounts of homework along with teaching every boring lesson in the same boring way. There is nothing that inspires creativity in students and nothing to make students excited to come into class, pencil in hand, ready to copy the days vocab. There is an extreme lack of time to do things, I play soccer after school, which takes an additional 3 hours after school every single day. I leave for school before its light outside, and head home after dark every day of the week. Once i'm home i get to start homework that is extremely hard to learn since, rather than being taught it through a fun lesson or game, was given through a bland PowerPoint. 4-6 hours has become expected for sleep, and keeping my GPA high keeps me from getting any more. Extra circulars take up the rest of my time, all just to have a decent shot at a good future. Teachers should take all this into account the next time they want to assign some busy work just to put another grade in the gradebook.
As a student in 2018, there are many expectations set upon you to succeed rapidly. In reaction to the technological era in which we are raised, older generations expect us to make unprecedented discoveries with the new resources available at a quicker pace than anyone before our time. Our minds cannot be forced to develop faster than generations before us because of the technology around us. Also, while our elders blame iPhones and Macbooks for our wrongdoings, they refuse to observe the positive opportunities with which they provide us. Because of the advances made constantly around us, stress is put upon our generation to continue to make progress while also being criticized for abandoning tradition. Older generations do not understand the criticism constantly received from elders regarding our technology based lifestyle. Growing up in 2018, I am provided more opportunities to succeed than any other generation before me. Therefore, my elders should not pressure me, as a high schooler, to automatically rise above other generations before I have the chance to experience my childhood. With more achievements required to be accepted to college, there is already expectations put onto my generation at a young age. In order for us to succeed, there needs to be supportive generations ahead of us.
Coming home from school and describing my workload to my parents, it is clear to me that I get much more work than my parents ever did during their years of schooling. On average, I believe I get about 2 hours of school work a day. Of course this fluctuates, however, my mom recalls never having to take more than 1 hour out of her day to complete her homework. My mom also said that she got mainly C’s, however schools weren't as competitive back then, so I’ve heard. Now, it seems as though the only way to get into college is by getting all B’s at minimum, which is insanely stressful. Not only this, but everyone truding though our educational system is being taught to become this heard of white sheep.
The benefits of our generation, however, are that women are taken much more seriously in the educational community, meaning that teachers know their female students aren’t just going through school to marry a man and have kids. In fact, we are “wiping the floor with men” as my teachers say.
being a Senior now, and remembering all things that I had to go through, makes my anxiety high as can be. I remember being in middle school where the teachers would be either so strict about homework or anything that has to do with the classroom, then their were teachers who were so chill about things. parents always think that kids are over the top with what is happening in school and that they were just complaining, when I was in middle school I use to go to my parents about being stressed out about things, their response was " you're in middle school you don't have stress!" I wasnt the kid who was over the top either I had times where i slacked off but I would jump back up and get back on track. another thing was I hid in my room as a kid because id rather not be judged by my parents or not been taken seriously about being bullied, I ended up in such a slump in middle school because I was the girl they followed from the gym all the way to the third floor being talked about and mocked because I was different then other people or anything so small that they could talk about. ive gotten suspended several times in middle school for being the victim of bullying but I was always in the wrong. when I got to high school the teachers expected as much as possible out of the kids. their was a couple teachers who were " You do You, good luck" I started getting really bad anxiety because all these kids were on top of things, i felt like I had to hurry up with everything I did.
Being a student today is more difficult than it was maybe fifty years ago. Our generation is faced with many challenges, stresses, newer technology, not to mention, since our generation is the one growing with these new advancements, people consider us to be the new set of minds to excel in the future. This is a lot of pressure. I've been an “A” student for a majority of my time in school. But it feels like what teachers and parents have a difficult time understanding is that we try our best to succeed and please them and others around us with our grades, our intellect, and the friends we make that influence us to do better not only with school, but our choices as well. I'm in 8th grade, and I have to say middle school is probably the toughest years I’ve come across in my life, but motivation, dedication, and determination, give myself higher chances of being happier with myself and the work I have accomplished. I also believe that society is one of our biggest critics. Society holds us to high standards academically and characteristically. We're put in this mindset that if we can't please society and the world around us then we're doing something wrong, and that shouldn’t be how we’re viewed. The only person we should worry about pleasing is ourselves because at the end of the day we’re the ones that choose our paths for our lives.
Well being a student is hard, everyone says that. Anyone who is taking hard classes will say that, anyone who doesn’t work hard will say that. Any student that works hard will say the teachers doesn’t understand that they work there butt off in class and outside of class just to get a good grade, but as I said to just get a good grade. School isn’t about learning anymore, its about passing the class. That shows that school is hard, way TOO hard. Yes, there are easy classes that even a monkey can take but do teachers realize to stress that comes from doing this work? Of course, there will be stress from all types of work, but some people put in 5 hours of work outside of school just because every teacher they have has given them homework. What do teachers think that does to students? Makes us willing to learn?? Makes us happy to come to class the next day??? NO. It doesn’t. it makes us tired, makes school feel like an unwanted job that sucks. I understand the purpose of school, but why can’t school be fun anymore.
I cry because of school, call me dramatic but it’s true. I cry because I feel like no matter what I do I will always get a bad grade. I hate certain class because I know the teacher gives too much work to the point where I hate myself for not being able to do it. Makes me feel dumb… and I’m certain other kids feels this way too…
1
With the pressure of school, I've concluded to just scraping by. Granted I'm a smart kid who enjoys learning and I have a pretty average GPA. I also participate in my school's knowledge bowl, I am a leader of my school's World Culture club and I feel like its all for nothing. The club I run with my sister gets no funding, my school next year is gonna put 40 kids in a room to 'Save money for other important school things' as if that's gonna help with that. Our textbooks are falling apart, our technology is gonna be and now parking is gonna be 175 a semester. To even make matters worse the activities is now gonna be increased. How can normal people afford this and I LIVE IN A WHITE SUBURB. How would a non-white inner city compare?
There was a gun threat at my school, it was unfounded tho, but so many kids didn't show up. I wouldn't be surprised if it actually happened. I even knew one of the kids, they were one of my sister's friend but my sister would talk about how they were on the edge. it was the same day while we were protesting, the school walk out now less. And cops were around us to 'protect us'.
I don't even wanna think about the debt and the over time my mom got so me and my sister could have an opportunity to college. I honestly want to just help people but every day I feel it get harder to be empathic and care when nothing seems to get done, that we all just keep falling. I just hope we can catch ourselves.
Being a student in 2018 is hard (understatement of the century). There is so much pressure put on us, students, to not just do well, but to do excellent in all classes, as well as out of school activities. It is nerve racking to know that the choices you make when you are a teenager can make or break your whole life. Teachers don’t understand that we have three or more classes other than theirs to do homework for and that we have to eat, and sleep, and have a social life, and do extracurriculars, and spend time with our families, and exercise. It's all too much! We are pushed to take all honors and AP classes and get straight A’s in them all. We must get great scores on our SAT and ACT, we must be the best in our class. It is not fair that we have to go to school for 7 hours and then come home and do homework for another 7 hours.
Being teenagers we are constantly changing, our hormones are all out of whack as is. Add stress and lack of sleep to the equation and you end up with stress related acne, weight gain, weight loss, hair loss, anxiety, depression, anorexia, bulimia and more. These things add to the social stress of school. The stress that you will get made fun of because of the way you look or dress. We are stuck in this never ending cycle of stress and depression that all stems from school.
1
Administrators are always trying to take away our 1st Amendment rights. They limit how we can express ourselves. The Supreme Court ruled in Tinker v. Des Moines that students still had the right to free speech as long as they weren’t interfering with the education of others. My school held a “walkout” on March 14th to protest gun violence. The administration turned what was supposed to a 17 minute walkout into a pep rally style program held in our gymnasium. We were all dismissed from class. We were all angered by this so we spread the word that we were going to have our own walkout. As soon as the administrators caught wind of our walkout to protest gun violence they shut it down. Everytime the students try to organize a protest the administration shuts it down. Imagine how discouraged we feel when everytime we try to express our opinions we get shut down. I think a lot of us believe that our voices don’t matter. Schools need to stop making students feel like that. We are the generation that’s going to fight for gun control and that finally pressures lawmakers to do something because we are tired of watching the news and thinking that our school could next. Students should be allowed to freely express their opinions without the interference of the administration because we are the generation that’s finally going to make a change.
In short, being a student in 2018 is 24 hours a day being nowhere close to enough. Oftentimes I'm told that I should enjoy my high schools years and that I have no reason to be stressed but at the same time, I find myself involuntarily investing 30 hours a week just to attend school. I stay after at least 3 days a week for an hour and a half for extra help, making it 34.5 hours. At least four hours of homework every single day, including weekends; that's 62.5 hours a week invested in school--and I'm not even a straight-A student so you could only imagine what other students put in. Now, what if you play a sport? That's at least another 3 hours (probably more like 5-6), 6 days a week. Many argue that playing a sport is the students choice but yet you will not be accepted into any good colleges without extracurriculars. If you're a Junior, you have to make time for SAT's while also having somewhat of a social life. With such little time, and parents who oftentimes both work, there isn't much time to eat healthly or eat at all. Our bodies have adapted to function with 4 hours of sleep (and once in a while, with no sleep at all) and god forbid we get any more than that, our bodies feel fatigued, tired, and like an absolute mess. I feel that students in 2018 deserve more credit for all the work we put in, we have certainly earned it.
What I wish more people understood about being a student in 2018 is that our education system has evolved so heavily around technology that it's now basically impossible to survive without it. My parents and many people their age may see Google as nothing but a shortcut; when they were students they had to find any information they may need scouring books. What they may not realize is that the way we learn has been fundamentally changed by the relative ease with which we can find information. If I tried to finish the semester using a library rather than my laptop, I doubt I'd last a week before dropping out. Not only because I've relied on Google for a decade, but because teachers expect me to do so, and grade/assign work accordingly. My dad sometimes takes my phone when I have work or studying to do, as he believes it's nothing but a distraction, when in reality, I'm (usually) using it to communicate with my peers and find information. He's of the belief that "one day we'll find out all these screens have been melting our brains," and while only time will tell, it's a risk I have to take.
I am only 13 years old, nonetheless, I am not new to the pressures and stresses of school. Some of the major struggles that come with being a student are striving to get satisfactory grades, dealing with time management, and persevering through hard times with peers. I just wish adults realized the daily demands they place on us.
One of the unique strains we face is cyber bullying. Each generation has faced challenges, however, I feel that cyber bullying is extremely dangerous because it can lower a person’s self esteem, influencing actions in a negative or dangerous way. Being a student in 2018 also has a positive side. You get to discover who you are and what you want to do in your future. This might sound intimidating to some but it is actually a relief. We are given the right and ability to make our own decisions about our future.
Teachers need to understand how school can be overwhelming and full of stress. That isn’t always a bad thing but sometimes all we need is a quick break from our immediate stresses. We could have this relief by taking a bathroom or water fountain break. This could be beneficial because it causes us to relieve some of the pressure from the overwhelming work our brain is doing. I think that taking short pauses will make school better and more efficient because when students are given loads of work, they can’t always handle the burden at once. Taking a break and getting fresh air can be crucial to a student’s mentality and work ethic.
PART ONE:
Being a student in 2018 is a larger struggle than many people understand. To be a successful student you must be motivated to do well 24/7, receive an A+ on every assessment, never forget to do a homework assignment, alter your sleep schedule to get the piles of work you receive done, and basically be perfect. While these standards seem crazy, they are what students are held up to on a daily basis.
From a young age, students are pressured by their parents, peers, and teachers to do well in school. No one ever mentioned though, that perfection was part of the job description. With such high standards to meet, stress is a constant side effect.I can recall countless nights crying over my chemistry homework just trying to maintain an A in the class. In fact, I can't even remember a school night I have went to sleep before midnight this year. The constant stress on students to be perfect is very overwhelming and I believe teachers should understand this constant struggle.
1
I want people to know what it is like 2 be bullied for how u look and nobody doing a thing about it I want people to stop kid on kid violence to help everyone in school.
What isn't hard about being a student in 2018? Schools have this depiction of us , how they want us to be perfect by having a perfect GPA, amazing standardized tests scores, going and getting into the best colleges, and meanwhile all that having a social life, participating in after school activities, and having proper physical and mental health. In reality, it's just not true, so many teens in high schools and middle schools feel social anxiety, and feel unaccepted for who they are, bringing up the point of the LGBTQ+ community. In today's world, 1 in 5 kids identify with the LGBTQ+ community, however so many of them are ridiculed for who they are. For example, 4 in 5 LGBTQ students don’t see positive LGBTQ representation in their curriculum and 9 in 10 experience verbal harassment, and almost a third miss school for feeling unsafe or uncomfortable. When does it stop? People of this community just want to feel normal and want to be treated like everyone else, and saying derogatory terms or terrible names will not help the matter. Some people apart of this community feel neglected, would like to be acknowledged, and because of their neglect they have to deal with social anxiety, and pain resulting not going to school or in extreme cases suicide. Some ways to help, are to educate people outside of this community is to get educated, and do some research; For example, there are some clubs in schools involving the LGBTQ+ community and education on it, and ways that we can unite
1
Being so stressed by parents, teachers, life in general and not having enough support since people think "you're too young to be so stressed" when, most likely, our school life is about 10 times more stressful than your '9 to 5'. Then the old saying 'children should be seen not heard' comes up when we're more likely to be shot to death than someone in the army. people don't care until it's too late. If you need help you're told you're encouraged to ask then when you actually do ask your either reluctantly helped or pushed off and told you're a nuisance. Grades aren't a test of someone's ability, rather how long they can go without having an emotional moment or breakdown. Say a relative dies, the school system punishes you for mourning. or maybe you have intense depression and feel that way all the time. then you get punished for something out of your control. too bad. I guess your supposed to be an emotionless robot with endless free time to do the never-ending amount of 'homework' (which is, at the best of times, just busywork) and, at this time, also bulletproof. since the system is so terrible that I've heard people hoping that their school gets shot so they can have a break! When students believe that the only way for them to have any type of pause to the madness is a tragedy, then you know you're doing something wrong.
TL;DR: You know something's bad when even the leaders of it agree that they would hate to go into it.
Although the main purpose of school remains education, technology has radically changed student life in the past 20 years. We as a generation have access to technology and resources many dreamed impossible years ago. Maintaining a prolific social life via social media has become an integral part of the high school experience and distracted many students, including myself, from our education. Our many social connections have caused an inner conflict among students across the globe who now struggle to choose between their education and social advancement. It is easy for adults and teachers to dismiss distracted students as delinquents, rather than to level with them and discuss a solution. Although our cell phones have distracted many students from their classes, they have also allowed us to stay connected beyond the doors of our school.
1
When you think about being a student what comes to mind? Sitting in class, listening to teachers drone on, or the homework? But everyone always forgets about the stress that comes along with it. There is always the stress about that big circled number or letter on top of your page. The constant pressure about getting that grade that will please you, your parents, and your teacher starts in seep into your thoughts. So then students are left being awake past midnight because they are studying or doing homework. Now-a-days students are receiving more homework than ever;and while homework comes hand and hand with school most students have other activities. There are sports, clubs, and jobs that teachers don't take into account. On top of all this there is the constant need to fit in. In 2018, yes everyone is about accepting you and other but that doesn't stop you from needing to please others. There is the impounding feeling that if you don't fit in with the right people you will have no friends. The generation today is currently faced with intense work loads and the constant need to fit in. So in my opinion, 2018 students are faced with a much more difficult school environment than any other generation.
In 2018, in school everyone is pressured. Pressured by friends, family, and teachers, it can get very stressful. All a kid wants to do in school is get good grades so he can please his parents, but is that student pleasing him or herself. The answer is most likely no becasue nowadays students don't want to get yelled at for getting a bad grade or getting in trouble for one bad test. There is knowledge that if you don't get good grades you won't go to a good college, and if you don't get into a good college you won't get a well paid job, and if you dont have a well paid job you won't have a family,and the list goes on and on. Obviously your parents want you to succed in life but they pressure you and when you try your best, it isn't the best effort in their eyes. How should they know how smart you are when they don't have your brain and your classes. So when you say you want to do something when your older, like be a mechanic and your parents say you won't make any money and you shouldn't do that and they ask what other things have you been thinking about and you say accountant becasue it is job that makes good money and then they say do you actually want to do that, becasue if you don't you are going to be miserable. Then you are thinking, you just said i shouldn't do a job that i would like and you also said i shouldn't do a job I would be miserable at so what should I do. A student in 2018 is hard, very hard.
I vaguely remember the night I fell asleep while eating my dinner at 2am; waking up a few minutes later because I was suffocating on my mashed potato's. I had school until 3:30 that day, then I came home, got about an hours worth of homework done, then went straight to dance until 9pm. I had to skip tutoring that day solely because I needed a few minutes to breathe. I had about an hour to myself that day which was a first in weeks. Of course I spent it napping because hey- I work off of six hours of sleep each night. (if I'm lucky) Between extra curricular activities, family time, time spent with friends, and the unimaginable amount of homework given, I rarely have time to enjoy being a teenager. They say high school will be the time of your life, but when I begin to stress over the decision to study for my two tests I have tomorrow or to celebrate my dads birthday, (whom I rarely see, even though he lives in the same house as me) I start to question that statement. My mom and grandma often tell me that in their days, they rarely had an hours worth of homework then they would go meet up with friends. These days, I meet people on social media. (and i'm basically friends with them because I like their picture-right?) I want to live my life to the fullest and experience new things, meet new faces, and just feel human again. I feel like an energizer bunny who runs on caffeine but no sleep. This is not physically healthy nor is it emotionally. I wish teachers understood this.
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I'm gonna keep it short and simple, no fancy figures of speech. I have consulted my family, my friends, and even teachers and counselors, and we all agree school will be the hardest thing a person can go through in their life whether you are "smart" or not, or if you conform or rebel, or even if you don't go. It isn't the classes, the people, or the teachers, it's the concept, pressure of society to be perfect and the fact that you must be what school shapes you to be. Do what you want to, whether it requires school or not.
Here's what I quote:
"We’d like to be painters, we’d like to be poets. We’d like to be writers, but as everybody knows—we can’t earn any money that way. What do you want to do? When we finally got down to something which the individual says he really wants to do, I will say to him you do that—and uhm—forget the money. If you say that getting the money is the most important thing, you will spend your life completely wasting your time... You’ll be doing things you don’t like doing in order to go on living, that is to go on doing things you don’t like doing, which is stupid! It is absolutely stupid! Better to have a short life that is full of what you like doing than a long life spent in a miserable way. And after all, if you do really like what you’re doing, it doesn’t matter what it is—somebody is interested in everything—anything you can be interested in, you will find others who are..." -Alan Watts
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I have been on both ends of the spectrum. The spectrum is a failing and uninvolved to curious and involved. Neither actually created happiness. I found that my participation in school rarely affects my self-worth. The only people that this matters to is the parents and teachers. I wish teachers understood that 90% of my participation is involuntary. 90% of the interest I have in your class is just so I can be perceived as a good student. When I become indifferent it isn't because your class bores me, I have lost the energy to pretend it engages me. We associate ourselves so much with our grades, our classes, and our teachers we begin to fuse it with our own identity. I spent my last year in The Netherlands attending school rarely and trying to find another path. It took me 5 months to figure out who I was without school. It was a bit frightening to find out that without school I was shallow, my curiosity that had impressed my advisors faded without their approval. I understood school as a competition rather than a place where one goes to foster skills. This is what is wrong with schools. With the current way schools are being run, Better students and worse students. Driven and passive. we are afraid to chase our anything that goes against the grain. Does it fit into our plan for a 4.0? To be a student is hard; to turn away from those we please. Currently, I have been turned away from 2 colleges because of my exchange to The Netherlands. This is what our generation faces.
Our generation has been given the gift of social media. This has change everything from communication to entertainment. How does this affect students. It allows students to have way more distractions and not be focused on what they have to do but only on what they want to do. while student don't have as much homework as generations before us did. There is still a great burden on kids social life today. For example its a school day and after school lots of friends are going somewhere to watch a sports game. You won't be allowed to go because you have lots of school work and won't have the time. So when all of your friends are out having fun you get to sit and watch what they post on social media.
I wish that teachers understood when they assign lots of homework they are taking away a part of our childhood. They are taking away the time we could spend meeting new people and making memories with friends.
As technology is not always good nor reliable. It is a great resource for students to learn and grow. While with past generations having to search through big heavy textbooks to find answers. We just google it and millions of answers pop up. Things to tell people that have not been in school forever are that we are an emotional group. I feel more now than ever because social media makes us have way more communication with others. The generation today has different struggles than in the past but i wont say ours is any harder. We just have different problems.
Students today are met with expectations and massive amounts of school work on top of a social life, sleep,and after school activities. If it gets to be too much, it can push an A+ student into bad grades and habits. It doesn't help that a lot of the older generations have a bias that the younger generations are lazy and ignorant. We do have an advantage in education that our parents and grandparents never had. We have the internet. In an instant we can find nearly anything we want to know, we just need to use it responsibly. what we can tell older generations is that the world is obviously a lot different and their view on things might be skewed. We work with what we have and we try, but it can get to be too much sometimes. But also stop babying children or they will be dependent on other people and not independent.
I think one of the hardest parts of being a student today is all the distractions that technology has to offer. I know I struggle to focus on school work when I am roaming around on the internet. I think the internet also offers a lot of opportunity for learning and education. The internet and technology has a lot of pros but it also has a lot of cons. This is one of the unique problems facing our generation as we go through our school adventures.
What isn't hard about being a student in 2018? Sure we have more resources and newer technology than others had in the past. But with these advancements comes huge physical, and psychological problems as well. Teachers, and former students have no idea what it is like being a student these days. At this point, school isn't just about getting an education. Now school is about fitting in, worrying about what everyone else is saying, the gossip, and only a tiny bit about learning and receiving an education. School is much different than what everyone on the outside think. Some students dread going to school, and it isn't just because they don't want to sit through another boring day. Now students dread going to school because they are worried about being judged, and what others think about them. School isn't just a place to learn anymore, much more goes into school than anyone outside would think.
I think being a student in school is a mix of feeling. It can be fun, positive, and very educational. However it still can be very negative. I think in some schools it's still hard for student of colour to succeed in life do to the limitations within the education taught to coloured students. I think it's unfair that some student that are part of the LGBT community are not treated as equal as straight cisgender students. I also think because some schools aren't taught the full spectrum of sexuality, gender, and race and how it impacted this country, people therefore are more liable to harass a certain community. I think change within our education system will relieve the stress and anxiety for all students.
I live in a world where a student’s worth is assumed based on the numbers slapped next to their name, not their true intelligence. Who I am as a person means nothing to colleges, guidance counselors, and even some teachers; I am only remembered for my GPA, my score on the SAT, and my grade on AP tests. Almost every single other student I know loathes this system, and the pressure it creates to not just be “good,” but to be even better than everyone else you’re competing against.
I have no choice but to succumb to the flawed education system in order to do well in my current classes, get into an Ivy League school, graduate top of my class, and find a meaningless job that leaves me miserable. All of us have been trained to think that this is normal, and that we must follow this path in order to be even remotely successful. The last fifteen years of my life have been spent pushing me towards a certain future, and now I have lost the ability to see any other route.
The worst part of this situation, even more painful than the stress and anxiety that wracks my generation, is that adults have the audacity to blame this on us. Certain teachers and parents say that we ruin the art of learning with our obsession over grades, but fail to acknowledge that this obsession stems from the priorities of a jaded system made by adults, not students. People today need to understand that students cannot be blamed for their attitude towards the rat race they never asked to enter.
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I wish my parents understood that this generation is different from theirs. When they were in school, the curriculum was not as challenging as it is today. If my parents could be in my shoes for just one day, they would realize that being a highschool student in 2018 is not as easy as it seems. I’m not saying that they did not have to work hard when they were in school, but I’m saying that the level of education is higher now than it was during theirs years. For example, highschool students can take college classes here at St. Cloud in the duel enrollment program. Educators and parents want us to be involved and be active in classes but let’s be honest, we don’t have an interest in what’s being taught to us. Maybe we could improve our education if we got to choose our classes based on what we want our major to be in college or which career path we take to choose. With that, students would be more willing to learn, more willing to be educated, and more willing to succeed. Not all the parts of school are negative though. School provides a space to learn the social skills needed to be able to talk to others in both professional and casual settings. School in this generation and in other generations have very distinct differences, yet we somehow go through all the same struggles.
Through the years, a high school diploma is no longer enough to have a very successful career in the workforce. The standard is no longer to graduate high school, but to graduate college. Thirty years ago the number of people that attended college was lower than it is today. This makes the application process to college even more competitive. This forces students to center their experiences as students around being perfect and getting the highest grade possible. This takes the fun out of high school. No one wants to stress every night of the week about homework and quizzes and tests; they want to have fun and spend time with friends. Adults talk about how much fun they had in high school and all the things they did and that it was the best time of their lives, but they spent high school going sporting events, playing games, and relaxing. Students today spend their nights at home slaving away over hours of studying and homework. Even though school today has a different focus and different rigor than it has in the past, this increased workload is preparing the students of today to become people who will change the world. We may complain right now, but our biology teacher that pounds the knowledge of DNA and tumor suppressor genes into our brains and gives a quiz everyday may be the reason a student is able to come up with a cure cancer.
Students are the Future! Our voices will and are being heard! It is hard to take the risk to go out and post or stand for what you believe in because people are always trying to tell students that they should sit down and don't know what we are talking about.
What do you think may make school and learning better for you than it was for other generations?
I think that we need to replace suspension for non violent infractions with meditation and mental health evaluations. I think that by placing mental health experts in schools we can intervene earlier when students show signs of mental illness. I think that replacing suspensions with other consequences that can create positive changes for students. When we suspended kids, especially from a young age are more likely to be fed into the school to prison pipeline and show lower graduation rates.
Education today is very different than it was decades ago, and that is what people really need to understand. Students are expected to take advanced classes, participate in after school activities, have a job, and do all of this perfectly. If we don't get good grades and do everything right we get punished either by our families, peers, or further levels of education. The work alone is hard let alone all of the events going on in the world today such as the shootings and protests fighting for gun control so it can be hard to focus.
Being a student in 2018 is hard in a way because their can be loads of studying and homework and also trying to balance out you're work if you having a job in the school year as well. but something positive about being a student in 2018 school can get you ready for you're next chapter in life whatever you may consider yourself doing high school can help you with that next step. Also you can meet new friends because of us being a student In 2018 you can find friends easily because in the world today we have so much technology. Thats what I wish more people understood being a student in 2018.
Something positive about being a student is that you grow up with so much diversity. You make friends that will last you a life time. Learning in school is so much better know because we have advanced technology. We use technology in school to watch videos, make power points, type essays etc. There are negatives too. Being a student today you have so much pressure on you. You must pass all of your test and get good grades. Finishing homework is hard when all of your teachers give you work and it is due the next day. I wish parents understood that school is so much harder then when they went to school. Our generation is an advanced generation; we take classes in high school that you took in college. Even though taking college classes in high school is a great advantage it is very stressful.
Today’s students are far more stressed than those of previous decades. Children and young adults today have added stressors in addition to the loads of schoolwork and studying.
Students have always had to deal with school stresses: homework, important tests, as well as issues with friends inside school. Now, technology encapsulates today’s teenagers in their social and educational issues.
Teenagers of past decades could go home from school to their safe haven to escape their problems at school. Now, students are constantly surrounded by their issues because of their computers and phones.
Every time a teenager’s phone goes off while they’re occupied with other activities like studying, their stress level raises. They feel like they need to open it right away. This creates more stress in student’s everyday lives.
Students today have added stressors because of modern technologies. They are no longer able to escape from their issues at school.
Being a student in the day and age of 2018 is very hard for some of us. We have sports practices to deal with plus we also have many things of homework. Whenever you could be in a teenagers shoes you will see how life is in the school and out of it. There are also many positive things about being a student today because there is so much technology that the work could be viewed as easy. Many students in this day choose a friend group and just stay there but when they feel uncomfortable they do not try to branch out because the way people treat each other today is wrong.
I have a job, and I've never needed to know anything about 'The Great Gatsby', when the Soviets blockaded Berlin from neighboring nations; and have never cared how anything in English has an affect on my life whatsoever. There are important classes: Culinary - how to cook for yourself, Foreign Language, being bilingual is a very good skill to have, Comp. Science - coding is the future for kids. Classes that kids don't care about are a bore. We're forced to care and be enthusiastic about things we don't care about. If we don't want to learn something but forced to, do you think we're going to like it? I don't like English, I don't connecting and analyzing poems, I don't like having to read things that I'm not interested in, but forced to and expected to love. This is the problem. You can't make a program for the masses, that's Communism. It doesn't work. Not everyone hates English, some students live for it. I personally enjoy history, but that's me - many people hate it. That's the point - a program for the masses doesn't work.
There are a lot of hard things being a student today or in 2018. Some things in schools in 2018 that is hard is that people think it’s a good idea to make fun of someone. Everyone bullies each other and sometimes it might affect them so bad that people start self-harming. Self-harming, Bullying, Depression and Suicide is common is schools by how people treat each other. Two and three million people exhibit some type of self-abusive behavior due to people. Drugs in schools are another main impact of being a student in 2018. Being pressured to do drugs because others are making you do. Some unique stresses and challenges for our generation is technology. Our phones are taking over our lives. Sometimes things happen in people’s lives that causes them to have challenges and stress over work in school. Challenges are friends, friends distract you from doing work and paying attention. Also, Girls could be a challenge for guys because of their beauty and when they talk to you. Sometimes, they make you give them the answers to the work. People bullying people for how they look or their personality. Someone older would say that it was easier because back then they didn’t have technology. I would tell people that there are challenges in school, but you can get through it. There are resources and people that can help you get through hard times in life. Just follow your own road through life, don’t follow people. You pick who to become in life you can follow them or you can be yourself.
We are standing up for change in this world. Our voices can and will be heard. Just because we are children in the eyes of those older than us, doesn't mean we are inferior. We may actually be better than our previous generation, but nobody wants to realize that. A great example of this is the recent shootings. Before, if there was a shooting, the voices of those involved would only be heard briefly. But today, after Parkland, students are actually standing up for our rights and making our voices heard
Nowadays, my generation is often blamed for anything wrong in life by the older generation. They shame us for our technological way of life and then say that our minds are corrupt. Unfortunately, it is the few of this generation that truly represent that and who make the rest of us look just as bad, if not worse. What is challenging about being a student today is that because we have so many new opportunities for advancement in education at an early age, it is expected that we take it, but then the moment we go to share this new found information, we are told that we are wrong. You want us to go to school, learn all that we may, but if we don't, we are idiotic, but if we do, we are incorrect in our thinking. New information and inventions come into light everyday and we students are provided with this, but we are the ones who 'don't know anything'. The thing that most people of the older generation have a problem with is how we have all of this technology that allows us to have infinite knowledge right at our fingertips. Due to this, our generation hears a lot of 'Back in my day' stories because they didn't have all of the opportunities that we have now. However, the fact that it is their generation creating them says more about them than it does us. I, for one, am glad to have these abilities and be gifted with being born in a time where our knowledge is leading us to bigger and better advances everyday. If we are to succeed, we must keep moving forward.
Nothing Is hard about being a student in 2018. We have everything handed to us. Compared to previous generations, our education system is more lenient and less rigorous than it was for our predecessors. Our teachers coddle us, and it is the same way with our parents. This relaxed manor is inhibiting our ability to deal with stress because they try to protect us from adversity from a young age. A key problem with being a student in 2018 is having to deal with other students who do not want to be in school but can’t leave or the administration staff will not let them leave. This causes students who want to be in school and learn to be at a disadvantage, because of the students who don’t want to be there causing a ruckus or interfering with the teacher’s lesson. One, if not the only benefit, of being a student in 2018 is our access to technology. Our generation has the ability to access almost all of the world’s information by simply tapping some keys or thumbing our phones; this access to knowledge and tech has allowed students in 2018 to complete previously complex and difficult research assignments in the matter of hours instead of days.
As a high school junior, I'm in AP classes, multiple extracurriculars, I have a 4.6 GPA, a leadership position in my clubs, and a job.
I'm still not good enough.
Due to the advantages we have as students in 2018, more is expected out of us. We have technology, so we’re expected to know information before we learn it; we have buses and cars, so we should be at school early and study everywhere. We have diverse classes, so we should enroll in them.
No. Enough is enough, I am tired of feeling that my accomplishments are not accomplishments, that my life isn’t my life. The thing about history is that it repeats itself, we are just as stressed as past generations of students, we are just as important.
We live in the age of technology- Google, Yahoo Answers, Wikipedia- we have information at our fingertips, which is great. But we’re expected to be Google, we’re expected to know it all, be the best. The truth is, we’re not the best, we don’t know it all; we may act like it, but we’re not grown yet, we don’t have the essential life experience that comes with adulthood. We’re ahead of generations before us, but we’re not there yet.
I do believe that I have an advantage over previous generations, and I feel that every new generation will have new advantages. We are the knowledge of the people before us, and we can have all that knowledge within minutes, but our advantages, the advantages we have because of the people who say we are spoiled, they don’t define us, and they shouldn’t.
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Sitting at your desk knowing all of the homework you have as well as the three tests and project due the same day. Feeling like you're not going to make it and want to through in the towel... What is hard about being a student is feeling discouraged. Classes keep growing and developing and students tend to give up. Parents feel that we want to give up but if we were pushed in a positive way we would be much closer to success. We make mistakes just like past generations as well as future. One thing that they have developed positively is the safety and structure schools have. Keeping kids safe is the ultimate goal and having that keeps a balance of authority and trust between administration and students. In some schools as well they are very invested in students having good grades in order to have have privileges which requires us to push and work harder for our futures and enjoyment as well. School is not perfect but there will be changes and continue to be through your life.
Today, students are under significantly more stress than students in the past. This stress ranges anywhere from expectations to get into college to having good grades to keeping a social life. We have heavy stress placed on testing and passing those tests that students often stay up late and sometimes have sleepless nights so that they have a chance of passing the test. Most students in my grade have our graduation requirements but we can’t graduate early because in order to do so, we have to constantly speak to our counselors about it and just have to hope we get anywhere by doing so. On top of testing, we are given hours of homework, our parents often force us to work hard even if we are sick or don’t understand what we are doing, and students have begun to prioritize school to their mental health. Today, many high school students have either anxiety, depression, or any other disability that they struggle with.
While there are negatives to being a student in 2018, there are also positives, one of which is the advancement of technology. We have technology that allows for us to easily access information we need in order to complete the assignments we are given. Without these technological advancements, we would be up even later while doing homework and studying for tests.
Overall, there are negatives and positives to being a student in 2018. While there are many negatives, there are also many positives that make being a student good or bad, a personal opinion.
Technology is the number one reason why school today is so much more difficult, ironically it is also the reason why it is a lot easier.
Technology distracts students all day long and causes them to not focus as much on their school work. While It also allows us to advance and increase our learning everyday, this means we are quickly moving on in our subjects to new topics and are pushed to go above and beyond. Due to this many students already have completely all their graduation requirements as underclassmen, yet they still have to wait the full four years to graduate. I wish parents and teachers understood that, while yes we have the advantage of technology, it does not mean we should have three times the amount of work previous. We are being taught new material that our parents don’t even understand how to do because they never had to go that far. Schools today are pushing students to their limits. Yes technology helps us complete the work faster, I mean we literally have google in the palm of our hands. It can be very helpful in preparing us for the world we live in today as well with technology being all over, but it can be counter-effective at times. Unique stresses and challenges that we go through today in schools is an increase in school violence as well as school shootings and cyberbullying. We are in more and more danger everyday it seems. Today schools are no walk in the park.
Today's I see I still very hard to be a student because of Thebes's increased pressure on tests and grading rubrics getting harder every year. Our elders don't understand what it's like since most of them have been out of school for years. Not to mention they assume that school is easy because we as minors have not experienced the "real world" since most of us do not pay for purview living situations or work for a living. So school seems easier in comparison. But we do have some advantages that our parents didn't such as the internet, which has every bit of information you'll ever need.
Being a student in 2018 is pretty good for the most part. The problem arises when you’re forced to make a career path for yourself when you don’t even know yourself. If people can just take it easy with the questions and stop constantly bombarding us with the “what do you want to be when you grow up?” Everyone, including teachers, parents, friends, and family, need to understand that going to college is a big deal and it’s hard for teens to make such decisions at this point in their lives. I’m only a freshman in high school and I have been asked the question numerous times. Fun fact for adults, repeatedly asking a question to people until they’re annoyed will most likely not get you a good answer. Adults treat us like little kids until that time comes and then they expect teens to somehow know what to do in “the real world.” Of course there are some adults that know how to properly handle certain situations, but there will always be exceptions. That is what I want people to understand about students this year.
School is okay except most of the kids here are annoying and think they're funny when they're really not.
High school is one of the best, and worst times, of your life. As a freshman, I am very happy with school right now, but there are also components that stress me out everyday. You have to worry about your safety, your grades, and your social life all at the same time. Juggling all of these things at once is a struggle that teens have to go through everyday. I am constantly worrying about my grades while also participating in after school activities. I wish adults understood the struggles of juggling all these things. Although we have technology inside and outside school to “help” us, there are many disadvantages to it. While adults and teachers tell us to “use our resources,” they also tell us that “not every website is reliable so don’t trust anything unless it sources their facts.” They completely contradict themselves and continue to confuse us and pile up the workload by making us research extra. It feels impossible to manage all of this work, activity, and 7 hours of school at one time, but somehow we do it. We’re deemed as lazy and selfish because we want 5 minutes to ourselves before we overwhelm ourselves with homework that is going to be old news in a couple of years, or even months. Teachers need to realize that our lives don’t revolve around school, so the extensive homework is causing us to do worse in school by getting less sleep. Society in general needs to realize that we are stressed out enough and can barely handle everything at the same time.
As I sit here alongside piles of stacked papers and textbooks that are helping me to determine the path for the rest of my life, I think it’s safe to say that this is definitely a loaded question. As a junior in a suburban Boston high school, there’s plenty of perceived pressure - from my parents, teachers, and friends. However, I think this pressure is actually caused by our own sense of insecurity. We want to succeed and persevere but, most of all, we want to impress. So the people who we think apply the pressure, don't really apply it at all. This pressure is coming from within - and we're our own worst critic.
Also, the need to impress is influenced by social competition as well as academic competition. The classmate who you always have lunch with, the person you dance with on the high school squad, the overachiever in your class - they are your competition. And even more challenging is the constant reminder of this often overwhelming climate through social media. While parents may have had similar experiences in their high school lives, they could never begin to understand what it’s like to see your life, your decisions, and your relationships played out via social media.
On a more positive note, we’ve been presented with more possibilities than ever in which we can make ourselves heard.
We are the innovators striving to succeed. We have to prove ourselves, to not only the colleges of our choice and other important figures, but most importantly to ourselves.
High school Musical did a terrible job of preparing me for high school. Of course I knew it wouldn’t be dance flash mobs every other day, but I expected it to be “the best time of my life!” because that’s what everyone says, well everyone who is not currently in high school.
School isn’t supposed to be a walk in the park, I understand that, but the way we are pitted against our peers to be the best until we mentally cannot handle it anymore isn’t what our education should be about. Everyone in my classes, myself included, are all too concerned about getting straight A’s and their GPA and what our class rankings are that we don’t have a minute to enjoy content that we are learning. As students we put so much pressure on ourselves to be the perfect, well-rounded students that we’ve been told our whole lives we need to be if we want to become something great one day. We push ourselves to all hours of the night, of course a lot of this is due to our own procrastination, to make projects and study for the tests that will keep our grades A’s and our GPA high. I wish that we, as students of today’s society, could change the competitiveness of school today and replace it with learning about topics we actually care about and pursuing matters we zealously believe in and just making school a place we want to come to each day and not a place of dread and stress.
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As depicted in Hollywood movies, high school is full of fun, laughter, wild parties, and excitement. In reality, it is quite the opposite. High school does not live up to the expectations that Hollywood portrays.
I want people to understand the truth about high school. Just because guidance counselors have gotten better and bullying is being cracked down on DOES NOT mean that it’s eliminated. Actually, students at school are so mean and cruel. No one can keep secrets. It’s impossible to go a single day without hearing, “Did you hear what…” or any form of gossip. No one can keep each others names out of their mouths. Some days, school is enjoyable with my true friends, but some form of lies always end up ruining my day. People need to understand that being bullied in school is unavoidable.
People see me as the kid who doesn’t care; that one who goofs off in class just to get a few giggles. I wish everyone could see how I am on the inside. I care for everything more than anyone would EVER think. I would never put someone down in spite of something they’ve done to me, said about me, or anything else. I use humor to get people's attention, and hopefully they like me then, because I don’t feel like being myself is enough. I’d like to be in a school where I can be how I am, feel how I really feel, and portray what lives inside me. So I guess you can say this is what I wish more people understood about what it’s like to be a student in 2018.
As depicted in Hollywood movies, high school is full of fun, laughter, wild parties, and excitement. In reality, it is quite the opposite. High school does not live up to the expectations that Hollywood portrays. It divides the cinema’s view of school compared to the reality, which is made into a fantasy.
I want people to understand the truth about high school. Just because guidance counselors have gotten better and bullying is being cracked down on DOES NOT mean that it’s eliminated. Actually, students at school are so mean and cruel. No one can keep secrets. It’s impossible to go a single day without hearing, “Did you hear what…” or any form of gossip. No one can keep each others names out of their mouths. Some days, school is enjoyable with my true friends, but some form of lies always end up ruining my day. People need to understand that being bullied in school is unavoidable.
People see me as the kid who doesn’t care; that one who goofs off in class just to get a few giggles. I wish everyone could see how I am on the inside. I care for everything more than anyone would EVER think. I use humor to get people's attention, and hopefully they like me then, because I don’t feel like being myself is enough. I’d like to be in a school where I can be how I am, feel how I really feel, and portray what lives inside me. THIS is what I wish more people understood about what it’s like to be a student in 2018.
Every morning, I open my eyes to pure darkness. The only thing I’m aware of then is the repetitive tone blaring out of my phone I hear to my side. My warm bed begs me to stay where I am, rather than getting ready for a long day at school. I groggily debate hitting the snooze button as I check the time on my phone. The brightness of the screen causes my eyes to squint instantly. It’s 5:35 in the morning; the sun isn’t even out yet. My whole house, along with the rest of the world, is still asleep. Why aren’t I? This shouldn’t be an average weekday morning experience for me or any other student. I don’t know what a normal school schedule was like for people that went to high school before I did, but my bus comes at 6:40 in the morning every day. Even after I’m picked up, the sun won’t even be over the horizon until thirty minutes later. And when I arrive to school 45 minutes after my bus ride, it’s even harder to focus on what’s going on in class; I’m still exhausted ever since I left that warm, cozy bed. I’m not mentioning the agonies of being a freshman in high school just to strictly demand school administrators to have school start later, even though I completely wouldn’t mind that. My point is simply that I wish people would understand that I’d rather wake at the same, normal time as everyone else, and with at least a sliver of sunlight peeking through my window as I open my eyes.
I’m a freshman in high school, and I love school, but students still face problems that can be attributed to education. School can be great, but it can also be a frustrating cycle of taking notes, tests, and writing papers. It feels as if you’re walking through a tunnel of overwhelming facts, and the only way out is to continue walking. The biggest challenge is stress. Many teachers are understanding, and try to alleviate any pressure placed on their students. But it’s not enough. We always hear about the importance of good grades so we can get into a good college. It feels like college is the reason we do everything. As if college is sitting on top of a massive cliff, and students are scaling the cliff, hoping they reach the top successfully. Hoping they don’t get stuck along the way, or worse, fall off entirely.
Luckily, some teachers understand that school can feel like an ocean beating down on you. Wave after wave, assignment after assignment. They do their best to help by moving a test because we already have a full day of assessments or occasionally giving us an extra day to prepare for a presentation. Teachers try to be accepting and aware of student’s differences and needs. These measures can’t rid our lives of stress, but they’re greatly appreciated. At the end of the day, us students are trying to fit everything that needs to be done for school and at home into a day. All I can ask is that those near me try to understand how daunting that pile of work can be.
As a current sophmore in highschool, my stress has been with me throughout all my years of schooling. The expectation is and always was set at a high bar in my school system. As students we are told the way to success is getting straight A’s, participating in more than one sport,joining multiple clubs, and after highschool, picking a college.Why are we being told what to do when it is our future and our life? It seems unfair to me that we have so much pressure on our backs, when the are ones who are putting that pressure on us, never had it. Past generations don't understand what we go through in school now. We have so much expected of us that it is hard to keep up. My day is hectic from the start,I wake up at 7 am and go to bed around 12 am. My day consists of tests, notes, labs, practice, homework, and studying and by the end of the week I am exhausted. Not only am I exhausted,but I feel another week went past my life without me knowing. As a student, I feel I am making no impact. I am learning and bettering myself but, as I think back to last week,I can't remember anything that stood out. I have trouble dealing with the fact that I feel like I am wasting my time. I’m learning but, how much of this am I going to need? I want to make an impact with the time I have, I worry that all these hours learning and studying won’t do as much good as I think. I hope to one day see a change in this. For the pressure to disappear, and be able to learn without a grade next to your name.
Being a high school student (I’m a sophomore) in 2018 goes far beyond even the school itself. In older, more primitive generations, it was only about learning and understanding English, math, science, and history so that you could find decent work as a factory worker or an engineer or a scientist or even a historian. But, a plethora of things have evolved immensely since then, right? Technology, medicine, society, high school…? Yeah, not so much – as ironic as that is. Well sure, the interests of the students certainly have but in terms of fulfilling those interests, tough luck because those four primitive subjects continue to rein high over what precious time we have left in our adolescence. Being a high school student in 2018 isn’t exploring your talents and the things you’re passionate about; it’s moping around wishing you had the time to do so. It’s scolding yourself because you spent too much time perfecting that one doodle you started during a lecture in your math class and not enough on completing that 4-page English essay that’s due tomorrow. It’s feeling tremendously tired while taking a test in your history class after staying up ‘til three in the morning studying because you couldn’t find any other time to. It’s fearing what fiery hell awaits you when your mother finds out your lifelong record of straight A’s has been broken with your very first “B” – or witnessing the coming of the apocalypse with your first “C.”
But there’s a beauty to be found in it as well.
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(Continuation of previous comment.)
Being a high school student in 2018 is also befriending those who share the same passions, interests, and personalistic ideals as you; you may not know it yet, but they’ll hang with you for a lifetime. It’s finding that one perfect gal (or guy) that’s truly the love of your life and that you’ll say, “I do,” to years later – hopefully. It’s delving deep into our ideals and personalities, retiring from the age of “This is Who I Think I Am” and starting anew in the realm of “This is Who I Know I Am.” Being a high school student in 2018 asks a lot of us teens: perseverance, will, intelligence, devotion. But it gives back in many ways. And if you really think about it, it might even be through Procrastination, this god – or what many dub “false idol” – of education, that we have the audacity to explore what passions we have and seek new ones that await us on the horizon.
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High school is a time of intense emotion, high stress, and new experiences. Will I get an A in science? What college will I go to? Can we make it to the State Championship? Does Sydney want to go to the dance with me? These experiences adults can relate too. However, our generation has experienced a massive shift in how we socialize due to social media. The internet has created the opportunity for our generation to be bonded over commonplaces, such as memes, vines, and anything that can be streamed. We are all united through an internet culture that transcends geography. I have traveled to completely different regions within the U.S, only to find kids cracking the same jokes as I do with my friends. This large social identity is also useful for starting political movements as demonstrated by the Parkland students. I believe we have a great potential to affect political change. Our collective conscious may hurt us too. Technology is often associated with the current rise in mental health issues and social anxiety in teens. Sharing an idealized life on social media can cause people to feel excluded and alienated, that their lives may not be as socially fulfilling as others. Funny enough, internet culture has a name for this phenomenon called FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out). Often teens will warn against FOMO when they see a friend longingly watching a SnapChat story of a house party. Most importantly parents, let your kids take part in the internet, and warn against FOMO.
The troubles and hardships that tag-along like an unwelcomed friend that come with being a student in this day are numerous. Being a student is one of two things, in my mind - either, you're a widely-known, very intelligent, cream-of-the-crop kid, who's expected to ace everything, or, you're a normal, "lower-class" student, who's expected to get meager average grades. Usually, the latter is the more prominent of the two. When you're the first type, you're held at such a high-standard, that if you mess up one grade or one assignment, you feel as if you've let everyone down, in some way. If you're the second type, and you get a high mark or an achievement recognized, you still feel a bit inferior, as, everyone treats it as a special occasion, or something that isn't common for you - because you're expected to be average.
I wish that parents and teachers understood that children are people, and we have lives outside of our schoolwork, too. No, we may not have 9-5 jobs, but, we do have extracurriculars, and sometimes, we just need some time to unwind and relax, without the thought of schoolwork pestering our minds like a persistent fruit-fly.
Our generation is pushed to the max - we're to get perfect 4.0 GPAs, despite our abilities, and we MUST all have the balanced outside-of-school activities. If not, you won't get into college, states the near-propaganda type messaging.
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Adults always say that high school is the best time of your life, but clearly, they don't know what its like to be a student today. They don't know what its like to force themselves out of bed at ungodly hours every day, after getting six hours of sleep at most. They don't know what its like to stay up until the early morning every night finishing work or studying, dreading the morning because they know they'll have to start this whole cycle over again. They don't know what its like to come home every day feeling completely drained of energy and lacking in motivation to finish the hours of homework you have.
People like to call our generation lazy when really we're going to school for 6 hours 5 days a week, completing homework that takes up 3 hours, doing extracurricular activities or clubs most days of the week, trying to find the time to get enough sleep, balancing friendships and mental and physical health all while trying to maintain an acceptable GPA.
College is more expensive than ever, schools aren't safe, adults have wrecked the economy and everyone keeps telling us we're just kids.
So, yeah, that's what I wish more people understood about being a student in 2018.
As a high school student, I have taken upon challenging courses, with the hopes that they will prepare me in the best way possible, to succeed in college. What seems like everyday, I am assigned homework that seems impossible at the time, but once I complete it I feel accomplished and my stress is relieved. In the past, the expectations during school were not as high as they are today because it was not as competitive. This century has produced millennium that take the initiative to strive for perfection and to please their parents and teachers by earning their way into a prestigious college. I too, have succumb to these expectations, but I have realized that I am the one who has put the stress upon myself. The stress of competition with other students, the stress of worrying about my GPA, the stress about worrying that I am not good enough. I don't think parents nor teachers understand the stress we put on ourselves, and this is partly due to the fact that most students blame it upon the teachers giving too much homework. Sometimes it is easier to find someone to blame rather than taking the responsibility. I have learned during my school years to be the best version of myself and to try my very best, but not to lose sight of myself along the way. Some students become stress ridden and are so focused on the future that they can't settle for today. I wish teachers and parents understood the constant battle we put upon ourselves.
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School has continuously evolved over time, yet even in the 21st century it is still such a flawed system. Its purpose is to be a place where young minds can learn about the world and prosper. It lays out different subjects and exposes students to different things. However, I feel that at a certain point in a young person’s life, that exposure can be too much. Students nowadays are expected to excel in every subject, not to mention extracurricular activities and other interests one may have. I personally feel that somebody should be able to be outstanding in one or two subjects, and be happy doing them, rather than being somewhat average in all subjects while gradually losing all interest and will to do them.
Since a young age, I remember society promoting and advocating being unique, but as I’ve grown I’ve seen society is also the one that trains the youth to be just the opposite. If the world’s future generations grow up with their minds sculpted to fit the same mold, there will be no individuality or innovation. And those who do choose to hone in on one single skill are dismissed as lazy or unfit for the adult world.
You could essentially be judging a fish for its ability to fly, and then go and compare it to a bird. Grades do not, and should not, measure one’s intelligence, but that’s one of the first things people look at. Grades leave out character and one’s individual ability to do things other than memorize textbooks. School should not be a one size fits all.
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I am a sophomore in high school who, has many activities. I wish people could understand that we get 8 hours (sometimes less) of sleep Monday through Friday. Wake up and go to school for 6 hours and after that we have sports, homework, have to study, eat, and enjoy a hobby. After a long day of school and sports. I come home with around 4 hours left in my day. I usually go to bed at 10:00 but my devices can extend that later. I have to get up at 6:00 to get ready for school. With the 4 hours I have left I usually eat , do my homework, study, and with whatever time I have left I use for myself. That is usually around 2 hours. Imagine now repeating this for 10 years. I barley have time to have fun or do something I actually want to do.
I am also a sophomore in high school who struggles keeping up with all my work and activities. Most days I have to prepare for hockey and balance that with homework and projects. Daily practices, games, and gym sessions have me trying to find leisure time. Time to kick back with my friends, watch TV, or just get more sleep. I understand you struggles with managing time.
Being a sophomore in high school is challenging for the most part. Many teachers expect a lot more from students then what they can present. Students in my generation go through stress because of school work. Most parents think that it's still easy as it was before but things have changed a ton throughout the years. Parents really don't understand the difficult challenges that are put upon the students at school. Only the students really understand how stressful school can be any other individuals who went to school years back wouldn't understand how much the schools curriculum has changed. I don't see how anyone could compare the life as a student from maybe 10 - 15 years ago to how it is today.
School is a boring and useless time for me. Everything is based on memory not knowledge. When are we going to learn how to start up your own business, be your own boss, have people work for you, become financially independent, pay bills, write a check or buy a house. I don't wanna learn about what the angel in a triangle is because the job that I want will never need me to know that
First of all, school is not that bad unless you make it bad. Secondly, school and education is not useless. Education plays a vital role in your future and success. If you would like to be your own boss and set up your own business, you need proper schooling. Things of the sort are not something you go into blind. CLEARLY you are not getting the proper education if you cannot differentiate between "angle" and "angel." Lastly, if you expect to successfully write checks and pay bills, you're going to need skills such as mathematics and writing. (P.s. there's a lot more components to education and success than just memory.)
they dont realize how simple life was like back then compared to ours. it is important because they need to understand what the world could come to if they dont do something about it.
Reading though these comments I feel incredibly lucky to be who I am and to have the life that I do. Ever since I was young my parents have pushed and motivated me to do the best that I can. But their high hopes for me have never made me feel stressed or anxious, like a handful of my classmates.
I am a very strong believer that you are in charge of your own happiness. You could look at school and see all the piles of work that is stacking up, you could complain about a bad test grade, or see school as a waste of time. But personally, I think focusing on the negative is going to make your high school experience much worse. Put everything in perspective. School should be an opportunity for you to become a smarter person, both book smart and street smart.
I honestly can’t say I quite understand why students get so stressed because I have never fully experienced that life even though I am in high level classes and play sports all year. Of course I get stressed once in awhile, but it is pretty rare. I realized from a young age that everyone has their strengths and weaknesses in school and that's perfectly normal, you shouldn’t be a master at everything you do. You need to attempt to improve yourself and be okay with not getting A’s on every assignment. It sounds cheesy but all you can do is put your best foot forward with a smile on your face.
Try your best to find the positive light in every situation.. even when school gets tough.
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I am a sophomore in high school who, similar to others my age, have and still do experience stress due to school, but that is all because of me. I am fortunate enough to have parents who are a lot less strict about school work than I am. When not done so by myself, my parents are the ones to tell me to take a break from studying and homework. With this, my parents do realize how school is the factor of my stress level. But as a teenager, school takes up the majority of my life so far, therefore impacting my outlook on, practically, my second home.
I am a student who puts in 110% of my effort in tests and projects, but with the good grades that I do get, stress is a definite factor. Don’t get me wrong, I am an extremely happy student who hangs out with friends every weekend and participates in sports, but when thinking about the important work I have to do for school, stress is prominent in the thought. With all this in mind, I think it’s the teachers that need to hear what their students have to say . There will be times where I have four tests in one day in which studying for all of them gets overwhelming, but I make sure it always gets done. Although I do this to myself, it’s like stress is my motivator. If I want to do well on a test, I know I have to put the hard work into it, but with that comes stress. I think the bigger question is, when will teachers realize that all the homework and tests that they give are sometimes just too much?
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I am a sophomore in high school and I am in all honors classes, a sport and I have 2 extracurricular activities. From the moment I wake up to the moment I fall asleep there is an underlying stress in everything I do. Every week I'm stressed about tests, homework and if I will have enough time to fit do it all in the couple of free hours that I have. School used to be all about learning the material, now school is just getting good grades. We are all led to believe that school is the only thing that matters in life, our high school grades determine what college we get into which determines the rest of our life. Good grades is all that kids today strive for, you could get a perfect score on a test and then forget all the information because you don't need to know it anymore, or you could learn the information, remember it and get something out of all the time you are spending other than good grades. Most kids participate in extracurriculars because it also looks good on an application, sports, clubs, volunteering, etc. Kids lives are now just jobs to get jobs rather than school. When my parents and family members ask me what the stress of high school today is I tell them it is work, because that is what it feels like. It doesn't feel like I'm learning just to learn, it feels like I'm learning because I have to to get a good grade on the test.
Even though school is just work today it has prepared me for the real world when I have a job and I need to work hard everyday.
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As a student, I feel as if the only other people who understand what I'm going through are other students, and we all agree. However, when we try to voice our opinion to adults, they just don't understand what it's like for students now. While some adults agree that school is harder now or just dismiss it, I have even heard some say their school was harder then. However, I have to disagree. Nowadays, students are under constant pressure: get good grades, participate in clubs, have a social life, get into a good college. While it is important to do your best and focus on your education students are stuck in the mindset that what they do in high school determines their entire future, while that's usually not the case. When people get a bad grade on a test or even a quiz, I always hear people say phrases like "Now I'll never get into college", or "I'll never get into my dream school". Students should be learning from their failures, but not just learning how to get a better grade on the next test. Pressure from school so immense that it causes high amounts of stress or anxiety. Students should be able to get a quality education without always having to think about their grades. Being in demanding courses, on a school team, and in a few clubs leaves me only some time to enjoy myself, and most of that time is spent thinking about the slew of things I have to do. While many adults can say they understand what it’s like, I think the only people who can truly understand it is us.
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The hardest part about being a student nowadays is the fact that for the majority, everyone around our age is just about the same in terms of academic skills, and amount of extracurricular activities. And I am only an average 15-year-old. It’s what makes getting to a decent college hard, which seems to be the only goal in life I have now. All the things I work hard on is somehow related to bulking up my college application so that I seem like the perfect candidate for colleges.
I have been told several times by my peers and family that I am a smart, talented kid. My parents took me to various lessons so that I wouldn’t be behind all my other smart and gifted friends. And I was still grateful that I got the opportunity to learn new instruments, and deepen my knowledge on subjects. The problem was that I did not enjoy it after a certain point. Society has taught me that a mere hobby cannot count towards anything and that I have to win awards for a single line on my resume.
However, I am grateful to have incredible teachers stimulating debates and discussions rather than just teaching a lesson every day. It gives me an opportunity to speak my mind and really think where I stand on important current issues. The nationwide walkout that we just conducted today by students really united our school together to honor the victims of school shootings.
I feel that schools should help us more in discovering what our true aspirations are rather than giving us limited career options.
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I am currently a sophomore in high school, and for the most part I enjoy going to school. I enjoy most of my classes and I like all the clubs and sports that I participate in. That being said, I believe that school does not do a great job of preparing students for the real world, and school also does not promote finding your passion in life. Instead of knowing how a mortgage works, or how to do taxes, students spend most of their time learning trivial facts about each president or how to use the quadratic formula. There is only one class that talks covers managing finances. Most of the material taught in schools has no real-world application. I also notice that many students are stressed about classwork or test. This is a problem because they spend countless hours studying information that they will most likely never need again - or at least until the final exam.
Schools also do a poor job of helping and encouraging students to find a profession that they are passionate about. Of course we would all love to be Grammy-winning musicians or professional athletes, but we can't all be those things. At our school, we can only take an elective a year, which means four electives throughout a high school career. That gives a student four chances to find a realistic career that we might enjoy. Schools should give students more opportunities to discover a profession that they find genuinely interesting. If schools could make these changes, then it would benefit students greatly.
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As a sophomore, I can say from experience that being a highschool student in this generation is difficult. Almost all of my friends are stressed about something school related every second of the day. I take 1 AP and 3 honors classes, so my workload is intense, all while participating in a school sport every season (cross country, winter track, and spring track) and student council. I feel so much pressure to succeed in all of my classes and make straight A’s, and I wish my parents and teachers understood how much stress they are putting on their children or students. However, I take pride in my ability to manage time and stay stress free. It is important for me to have a balance between my social life and my school life, which some of my classmates do not understand.
I go on social media and see posts almost every day about mental breakdowns my friends are having. Over what? School. While I completely agree that it is important to maintain great grades, I am able to do this without boatloads of stress. Yes, there are times when I have 3 projects due in one week when I am under tons of stress, but I try my best to handle it. My parents don’t seem to understand just how hard school is today. I know school was hard for them, but I feel like they don’t get the issue with students’ mental health occuring today. Why is our happiness not the most important thing in our lives and when did we begin valuing grades over our health?
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If I could share everything I was thinking about the difficulties of being a student today, many of my worries would seem insignificant to those adults reading. But if you put those little those little things that stress me out into the perspective of a sophomore from New Jersey, they are bigger than they seem. Even though teachers always say "don't worry about the grade" they don’t understand that even though logically they are right and every little grade doesn’t matter, our stress does not have to be logical to stress us out. I know that every little test won’t define my future, but from the point of view from a student all those little tests add up. If I get overwhelmed studying or doing homework I’ll just take a break and listen to music or watch a show.
The fact that we have so many options in school to find what we actually like to do is something I love about being a student today. The amount of classes and extracurricular activities make it really easy to sort out the things you enjoy from the things you don’t. Although, I wish my parents understood that some things, I don't necessarily care to be the best at. In my life thats sports; even though I love to play them, I will always know people are better than me and that doesn't bother me. Sports are a form of a stress relief for me, so the last thing I want is the pressure of a sport transforming it into just another thing that stresses me out.
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(10th grade) School is all about pressure and competition,yet I honestly don’t know how we can truly measure how different it is from the life of a student from 10 to 20 or 30 years ago. Sure we can go on to say that it is much harder, there is much more pressure, it is like being treated 10 years older than you actually are, but who is saying that so much has changed? All I’m trying to say is, unless you have miraculously lived the life of a student from 2 different generations, I don’t see how we can compare them so literally. That doesn’t mean I completely agree with everything schools do, nor am I saying that school has stayed the same over the last 40 years. It hasn’t, but there are outside factors that make our lives different now, and therefore contribute our school lives being different on the surface.
These surface aspects include worldwide competition for a spot at your dream school. Students from all over the world are now looking at colleges from all over, making competition so much more than it ever was. The internet is playing a major role in the lives of students today.However, this cannot be argued against the lives of previous students, for the internet simply wasn’t available to them. Under the surface, I stand by the fact that much of high school is the same; trying to be the best, the idea of college daunting in your mind, the need for a social life, and the want to discover yourself have all been here for years and are not going anywhere anytime soon.
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I am currently a sophomore in New Jersey. I play football for my school and am currently in three honor classes and in an accelerated math class. Being a student has its ups and downs. For me only the only times I feel stress is when I think about my future and the work ahead. During the football season I usually get home around 7-8 (Depending if I am walking home or not), and have no time to waste as I need to finish all my homework, hopefully eat, study for the upcoming tests, worry about my grades, worry about my sleep which I desperately need for the next day of learning and tiring hours of practice. Even when the football season is over I still need to worry about staying in shape during the offseason to better myself and improve my GPA. I have family in distant places who are hoping I succeed because I am a student living in America. They believe that this is the land of opportunity and I will have a better life here. My parents have given up so much to try to give me a better life. They have endured obstacles that baffle me. They had to leave their family, their money, and the only thing they brought to America was a suitcase with some clothes and $200. Just in order for me to have a better life. Which is why sometimes I do get stressed I need to get into a good college, I need to get a good job, I need to get a good life otherwise my family's sacrifices would have been for nothing. I also have my ups with hanging with my friends, game day, and relaxing with my family.
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Being a student in 2018 is immensely different than my grandparents being students, and even my parents. In 2018, when I forget to say “I love you” to my parents and siblings when I leave the house, I strongly regret it. This is because of the overwhelming fear I have that I will not make it home from school. In 2018, I’m used to the monthly lockdown drills we have, and the constant fear that my life could be in danger at any time, in any class. In 2018, I have grown accustomed to the comments from teachers and adults that we don’t have a voice, and that our opinions are not important. We are not paranoid. We are not self centered. We are not childish or immature. We are strong teenagers who have found a voice by coming together.
My 15 years have consisted of intense anxiety and mental health isssues, and I have found safety through my peers at school. Students in our generation, including me, have been used to putting on faces of perfection and relaxation. But little do they know, we are stressed, anxious, and, most importantly, strong. Our opinions should not be messed with, and we need to be heard. Don’t underestimate 2018 students.
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school is boring so why do we have to be here
So many students only care about their grades. They choose to live a stressful, unhappy life so that a number is higher. They push themselves to their breaking point, but don’t allow themselves to break. We live in a society where so many students are running on empty and its come to the point where if you’re not stressed about grades, there’s something wrong with you. As a sophomore student in 2018, a person’s worth is based on grades, not personality.
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Technology isn’t only making education easier, it’s making it harder. Yeah, it’s easier than ever for today’s students to have all the answers to their homework simply by texting their friend and asking for a picture of them, but having to do half of my work for a class on the computer can be difficult. The school system itself uses technology to its advantage with applications such as virtual classes and the “Bring Your Own Device” program. By using technology for educational purposes, teachers and administrators not only take pressure off of themselves, but they can easier appeal to their students as well. But, technology isn’t always so easy. Some students (myself included) aren’t necessarily “tech-savvy.” So, the issue isn’t that we don’t understand the content of our online assignment, we don’t understand how to transfer a PDF file from Office365 to Microsoft Onenote and back again. And last I checked, the syllabus talked about an academic subject and how i need to bring in a spiral notebook, not how to use a computer. All in all, technology has its way of connecting students and allowing us to work together towards a less stressful educational experience, but it can also be the cause of such stress.
Being in school today is so much more than going, getting an education, and going on about the rest of your day. We have become a generation of social media, gun violence, gay awareness, and so many other things we have had to overcome and move forward with. A lot of the generations above us are the ones who can be the most non accepting and struggle to see the world changing. We are stressed trying to reach perfectionism and to fit in socially. I believe times have changed dramatically and its harder today to live with our insecurities and need for acceptance along with some of our parents pressure and different viewpoints. Being a student today can be difficult and scary sometimes but I think one day we could make a change.
Being a gifted student in today’s education system has grown increasingly difficult. Teachers don’t seem to understand that sometimes the curriculum isn’t challenging enough, or that they don’t keep their students engaged, especially with all of the distractions present in today’s society. Going into math class everyday with the same boring routine day in and day out does not do anything to help me learn. Teachers and parents alike assume that by being gifted, I am “smart enough to figure it out on my own.” This could not be further from the truth. Being gifted is like seeing things upside down while everyone else sees it right side up. However, this can be fixed today with the wide variety of advanced placement and gifted classes offered today. In these classes, I can converse with people who think like me which helps for me to stay interested and involved in my education. Overall, people need to understand that being a student today is unlike and other generation of students before.
A student? Is that what I am? To me it feels more like I am an adult. Being someone in school right now feels like I am always moving at hyper speed, I never have time for a break. There is pressure to keep a 4.0 GPA, also have a part time job, also keep up in your clubs, but also volunteer for Bright Futures hours. There are so many extra things our parents expect us to do because the second you lie down you are “lazy and don’t ever do anything”.
On the other hand, we have so many benefits, especially the internet. You don’t understand what your teacher is saying? Google it. Have 50 key points to due? Google it. Can’t understand your Spanish teacher? Google it. We have the answers to any question we desire right in our pockets.
I am a sophomore in New Jersey. So far, in my first few years I have not really endured that much stress. I am a two sport athlete and am in two honors classes and though that may seem like a lot, but I have figured out how to manage my time. I never have really been stressed out for more than a day, and I am grateful for that. So many of my friends seem like they are overloaded with stress and don’t much sleep. I can’t even begin to know what they are going through. It’s amazing that in my bubble of a town some people, like me, are so fortunate to have no stress but then there are teens getting 4 hours of sleep. That’s why it is so bewildering that kids that go to the same school, that live in the same bubble can go through two different worlds when they come to school.
One thing that I can relate to with many of my classmates is why are we “learning” what we are? I seriously don’t get the curriculum. Why does the school make students take three different math and sciences courses, but only offers on financial literacy course? Why do we learn about the mitochondria being the powerhouse of the cell for three years, but when I want to learn how to create and maintain a budget we only get one course? I do get that by giving students the opportunity to learn such a broad variety of topics that it can open up your sense of knowledge, but half of this stuff I don’t need to know. I don’t need to learn about the Ideal Gas Law when in 15 years I’m going to be a carpenter.
1
In the past, a student’s everyday struggle would be to avoid the everyday bully who would steal your five dollars and give you that daily wedgie that leaves your rear steaming with smoke. Now, we huddle in dark corners, hiding from any windows, afraid that a troubled soul, a masked bully, has entered our school, threatening to endanger our lives. Yet, in the past, being intelligent was not the social norm. Now, students are being recognized and awarded for their diligence, effort, and achievements in education.
My entire childhood has been based on a single principle: make straight A’s in school, go to college, be successful. This has been my life for 16 grueling years. It’s a life I never chose.
When teachers or parents tell me, “I understand you’re stressed,” I shake my head at them. They don’t understand. There is an unmeasurable pressure, the weight of a million Earths on my shoulders, to be a perfect, conditioned robot that can spit out chemical equations but doesn’t know how to have fun. The expectations forced upon me in school are a burden that I don’t want to carry anymore. There hasn’t been a day when I wasn’t stressed or anxious about SOMETHING school related.
However, school has given me two gifts: an accepting LGBTQ+ environment contrary to unaccepting parents, and the ability to pursue my passion for music. If I had it my way, I would study music in college. I would push through and make myself successful while staying true to what I love. But I have been told, “No, don’t do that. You won’t make enough money.” My aspirations to really be happy with my career have been squashed by my parents and others. I feel trapped and unsure of what I will do with my life, which is why school and the “college of my dreams” feel so pointless.
Moral of the story, school has become a place in which students bend over backwards for college. And after, everything is amazing. But what’s the point? If I can’t pursue what I love, what is the point of being unhappy? I don’t know.
3
I feel we live in a society where our education suddenly matters more than our mental health. Where doing well and trying your hardest to get a high paying job is sought after even if it doesnt fall in line with your personal goals. I am a sophomore in high school who loves would you rather questions. So i ask my fellow students, “ Would you rather be a billionaire doing something you absolutely despise and being rather unhappy, or would you choose to get paid minimum wage, completely content with your job and being happy, whatever that means.” Every single student I asked chose the unhappiness, every single student claimed being successful and rich was more important than finding yourself, living your life to the fullest, and pursuing happiness at all cost. If this amazes you, I am glad I could show you how crazy things have become and are; but if this seems relatively normal to you, and you are thinking this kid has no idea what the hell he is talking about, I advise you to really just ask yourself, what are you doing? Why are you forcing yourself into long hours at work, rarely seeing your family, becoming unhealthy due to the stress and terrible sleep patterns, all for that promotion and high paying job!
3
I am a sophomore in New Jersey and school today is way different than it was compared to school in the past. I know from my parents, that school wasn’t that stressful to them. But today, it seems that every high school student is a walking stress ball. I think what it comes down to is the people that try their best and the people that do not care about school. From looking at my high school, I know there are countless students that are not stressed out about school. But I know that there are just as many students that will try their hardest to be successful in school. Many students in our school, participate in a number of extracurricular activities and a number of the highest level AP courses just so they could get into their dream college. The stress that the students go through to do their best in school is unsurmountable. For some unknown reason, students can push themselves far enough to where school affects their physical health and mental health. I know some students who stay up for many hours in the night studying for tests and coming back to school running on only a few hours of sleep. For me, I do not understand why I push myself. For some, I recognized that their parents have a strong impact on whether or not to try in school. However, there has to be a point where you draw the line so school does not create such a toll on your mental or physical health.
1
These days, the students of America have rates of stress and depression that are far too high and completely unacceptable. There is too much pressure on most of the students who are in higher levels of classes. I would recommend folks to stop taking a high level course of something that they simply don’t care about, to drop out of a club they’re not interested in and are only in for their resume, as their participation in actions like this are among the driving forces behind their issues. I have noticed these phenomena to be widespread across my peers. My fellow students would be wise to stop focusing on achieving the best possible in irrelevant classes and rather to hone in on what they enjoy and what they truly want to involve themselves in. But honestly speaking, our student society has evolved in such a way that it’s unlikely anyone will heed my advice.
Being a student today is both a blessing and a curse. With new technology and means of education we can learn so much in a shorter amount of time then years before us and that is amazing, but along with this blessing comes many challenges. With an increase in technology also comes and increase in demand on us, as students. Teachers can now assign anything at anytime which puts an enormous amount of stress on students. Years ago, when our parents went to school, they needed not worry about technology or if a teacher posted something for them to complete. I have talked to my parents and they even agree that there is more homework and projects assigned now then there were years ago. As well as this, participating in after school activities like a sports team or a club just adds more stress to the students. I, myself, play soccer during the fall, winter track and indoor soccer during the winter, and track and soccer during the spring all of which take an extreme amount of effort as well as time. All of us students in 2018 have stress and there is no escaping it. To be a student today means you must balance your time as well as know that you will always have stress and there is no escaping it. Between midterms, finals, SAT’s, and ACT’s there is no time to relax because you will know that there was something you could have done during that split second you relaxed. Being a student in 2018 is both a blessing and curse, but adults must understand the pressure we endure everyday.
1
Being a student today isn't all that hard. You have to do. your homework, make sure it's done correctly, and turn it all in on time, which, in reality, isn't all that hard at all. Being a student isn't hard. Being accepted, liked, nice, to have friends, to be popular and to fit in, that is what makes being a student so hard. Everyone wants a sense of acceptance, whether that means belonging to a group that smokes and skips school, belonging to the smart kids who always do their work, or somewhere in-between.
Being a student isn't the hard part, the hard part is being accepted. Everyone has a longing to be accepted, sometimes due to inadequate love from home or insecurities. What parents don't understand, is how a teenager has to put all of these together, so that they won't disappoint anyone. For instance, their parents expect good grades and good friends that help you study, so the stress of school is added onto the teenager's expectation of being able to be in a 'cool' group of friends, but you can only serve one master. To have good grades and friends like your parents want you to have, or to be accepted by the popular kids at school, the two seem like they could go together so easily, yet it is always one or the other. which will you choose?
1
Being a high school student in this day and age is extremely misunderstood by the generations that include our parents. They expect everything from straight A's to high end test scores, and they don't consider how much of a struggle it is to achieve these high standards in the competitive academic world we are thrown into. There is a lot more to life than academics, especially in high school. It is just as important to strengthen social skills as it is math skills, and just as important to work with others as is it to attain high standardized test scores. However, that is overlooked by our elders in most cases. I strongly believe that students of our generation would be better off if less pressure was put on us academically. It creates unwarranted stress, and emphasizes skills that aren't going to serve us for a majority of our lives.
same.
Hello my name is Mike. I feel school is easy sometimes but sometimes hard. So I just suck it up and just wait for the weekend. But some days are longer than others. I play football and lacrosse. The easy days are when school is easy and you don't get home late. Harder days are like today. Today I had to wake up at 7:30 and get to school by 8. Then I have to go through a long day at school then to a concussion test. Then I get a little down time then I have to go to practice at 5:00 and its about 30 minutes away. It's usually about 2 hours then i have to go home and it would probably like 8. So then I have to shower then go to sleep that's like everyday minus the concussion test. I just look forward to the weekend because that when you have the best times. Yes you have fun in school but on the weekends you get so hyped.
I’m a sophomore in New Jersey and before going to high school I was told it was a wonderful place. Well now that I’m here my feelings on this place are a little different. For the most part I just want to get out of this place. My grades are not where they should be and for the most part high school is really hard. During school or sometimes at home I just am very upset because how my life is going so far. I’ve let my family down with sports not making any teams after my parents spend countless money on making me better at the sport. My grades are terrible when my family constantly tell me that I need to get into a good college. I wish I could start my life all over again.
it's like we're all spiraling in the eye of a tornado, and we're not really falling down, but we're not really going up, and we can't get out of the tornado, we're all just spiraling in circles getting no where in life at all.
In today’s day and age, there are many stresses school lays on us. Whilst balancing school work, and projects, there is also social life, sports or extracurricular activities. Friends and relationships create drama and unnecessary problems. I wish my parents understood more of how we are at this transition in our life. We are experiencing changes. Peer pressures and influences affect our attitudes and outlook on life. There is a high expectation to keep straight A’s or always be happy. Also, at this time of change, there are bullies. I for one was bullied my entire seventh-grade year. The bullying took a massive toll on me and made me feel worthless.
We experience many differences compared to our parents’ experiences when they were in school. We have social media, texting, and many more ways to communicate. The ability to comment something on someone's post using a fake account or text someone hiding behind a fake name creates a sense of anonymity which makes us feel as if we can say anything. Our parents do not know how we feel and need to learn how to help us. As adults, they cannot forget what challenges they faced when they were younger. Sometimes, adults need to put themselves back in their old shoes and see our problems through those eyes.
I am a sophomore in high school student from New Jersey and cannot even start to express my struggles. I know that my school is better than most but does that take away the fact that people are still struggling? When I express my struggles all I get is a simple answer from simple minded people. “What do you have to worry about?” “When I was your age?” But the fact is that you are not my age anymore and as an older person you cannot even understand the world that students in 2018 are facing. Because to be completely honest when parents and teachers were our age they had completely different problems. Between the entire social media factor and then the fear of not knowing what is going to happen when you walk out of the door.
And the sad thing is that I have seen the outcast and I have been the outcast, but yet now that I am not in that position I still don’t do anything to help them because of the fear of going back to that venerable state. Yes, people put on the act of the “perfect high school student” who has no problems. But it is just that, an act. Because as much as we like to pretend to be this picture of perfect. Everyone has their own problems deep down. I know personally if you looked at me you would think that everything is fine, but I am only showing you one part of my personality and you haven’t even scratched the surface of what is happening on the inside.
School in today’s society is very different from when our parents used to go to school. When our parents used to go to school, they did not have to worry about the world around them, wondering if they would be safe at school that day. In present day, some kids have to go to school wondering if they will even be alive when they leave. This is heartbreaking to think about because this is what our country has come to. We have the most powerful country in the world, yet we are fighting each other. In addition to the worries of safety during school, kids have the constant pressure and stress from their classes. Something has to be done in the school system in order for these conflicts facing us today to end. According to CNN, there have been 14 school shootings in 2018. I can assure you that these kids had no idea that one of there fellow peers would be dead before they left school that day. This statistic shows us that we have to stay alert and we need to always be prepared because we will might not know what is at stake in the future.
I am a 14 year old still in 8th grade, and I already see many of the highs and lows in school. With stress and pressure mixing in with being able to have amazing opportunities, school is a very interesting place with the blending of these positives and negatives. To start with what is hard, we manly have the stress. Stress is brought in by so many different things, it is hard to count. There is stress from friends, where they might pressure us into being someone we aren’t, or the changing relationships bringing jealousy or self doubt. Stress from parents and teachers is another problem, as they try to make us who they want us to be, and push us for that.
My one thing to say to everyone is to let us be who we are. If we don’t go how you saw us going, it’s fine. We are trying to find ourselves in this time, and we need to do it without influence, so we can find out who we want to be. Although there are these negatives that make school seem horrible now, there are many positives. I have the best people in my life because of school, with the friends and teachers. Along with this, there are limitless opportunities, so we can branch out and discover who we want to be so much easier. Life in school is amazing, but if we can make everything less stressful and truly be able to be who we want to without judging, bias, or sources for jealousy, then school would be a place where everyone will want to be, and the hardship of school would be made a whole lot easier.
Being a 13-year-old student at a middle school is very stressful for multiple reasons Teachers expect more for you which means more, and harder, work. Secondly, teachers and parents are always challenging you to receive straight A’s and take the highest classes offered at your school. I wish that teachers and parents would understand that I have a life outside of school. I want to have fun and be the person I want to be. I also want teachers to understand that we have four other classes and we have loads of homework for them too. I spend most of my day doing homework and studying, hoping I have enough time. I think that teachers should try harder to understand how hard school is in 2018. While this all may sound negative, there are also many positive aspects of school. School is where your future is determined. Do well in school and try hard, then you will get an amazing job and a good salary. School is where you make new friends and school is where you learn basic skills that will make you a successful person. For instance, at school, you learn how to work in a group and communicate with your peers. I also understand that school in 2018 is better than past years. For example, we don't get beat with a ruler everytime we do something wrong and know schools offer higher level classes to those students who are capable of handling them. In conclusion, being a student in 2018 is more difficult than before, but there are many more opportunities available now and for the future.
In today’s society, students are looked down upon if they do not have the “perfect grades” or if they do not hold themselves to the highest standard possible. Those are only two challenges that we, students, face every day. In 2018, our society has come so far and developed so much more than most of our teachers or parents had when they were in school. I think that our parents do not understand the challenges that come along with living in a society full of technological developments. We, as teenagers, are held to such a high standard to become more than those before us. This standard leaves a mountain of stress on our generation and has made us more cutthroat than ever to “be the best.” However, the stress that comes along with our generation being so far developed is also a great thing for us. Being a student in a generation that is so far developed means great things for our education. We are able to have an almost fully technological based education than there has been in years. Other generations did not have all of the resources that we have today. If we think about it, what would our lives be like without Google to answer our questions and The New York Times to keep us updated on the news and big events? In conclusion, it is crucial for people who have not been to school in years to understand that to be a teen in 2018, is both stressful and amazing.
I am in 8th grade and I go to MMS and it's like every other school. I struggle to balance grades with sports and practicing my instrument. The social pressures are hard as well. I also have to deal with the fact that with all the shootings going on around the country that they could happen here anytime. With all of that, I have to think about what to do after school and the rest of my life. The struggles that I and many other students face can prove to be too much. being a student now is a whole lot different than being one 20, 30, years ago. If the workload was made smaller and then the students would be more motivated and eager to learn and improve their knowledge and then we would be more successful and happy with our lives.
As a junior in high school it makes me very stressed, because of sports and ap classes. It makes my live extremely hard, because all the expectations are too high for my little self.
In 2018 it's about the grades, not learning the content. With the amount of school work, sports practice, and social life, and homework, its hard to be able to all the things I want to do. It feels like I'm constantly doing schoolwork. To try to make time for the things I want to do, I don't focus on my homework. I just get it completed , whether the answer is right or not. As long as I get the homework completed, I'll get an A. I'm more focused on my grade in the class rather than knowing the content.
I am currently a junior in high school, and I wish more people would understand the stress that plagues students in 2018. Most days, there is a plethora of assignments handed out on top of anything in my personal life. It is a hard balance to master. Everyday, I am under siege with stress from all directions. I have to do this, and I have to do that. I sometimes wonder if I will even have the time to get it all done. With the addition of sports, that struggle is only amplified- every day of every week turns into a race against time. I often wish for a small break so I can catch up on everything and live life. The assignments in school are handed out one after another without the notion that teachers understand the total workload by the end of the day. It is completely stressful. Every part of it. It is frustrating to see how much personal time gets taken over by the school work- I often wish that both sides of my life wouldn't venture into one another. Frankly, I believe that some school work outside of school should be optional- students should be more responsible for themselves. If they want to learn, then they would do the work, and it saves time for those who understand the school work. The school work on top of clubs, sports, friends, and family puts a strain on me, and I wish that people would understand the amount of stress that is being placed on students in 2018.
Catie Procyk
Freshmen - 16 years old
Burning eyes, your head heavy from a long day of school, extracurricular activities, and now this pile of homework to keep your up half the night. This issue is brought up by students and recycled in opinions about school, but little has gone into changing it.
According to National Children's Hospital, teenagers should be getting about 9 ½ hours of sleep. Schools will only promote time management, which is a skill students need time to learn. While teachers and schools may want to teach students the “hard” way to get better at time management, they are directly taking a toll on their students health.
Colleges are looking for students who aren’t solely devoted on the school work but also participate and dedicate themselves to other activities. With the amount of homework given, this hurts both students grades or their ability to participate in these outside of school activities.
Health science professor Adam Knowlden says that students “can struggle to find the balance between juggling classes, finances, social lives, athletics, volunteer work, parental expectations and employment.”
Being a teenager is pretty new to me. I'm 14 years old. I'm a freshman in high school. But, I know I'm not alone when I say that being my age can be very stressful. Loads of homework, keeping up grades to keep parents happy, after school activities, bullying, cyberbullying, the political issues facing society, technology, self esteem issues, and figuring out your future. That last one may be the most stressful. As a teen, you are trying to find yourself. Find out what you're good at, and what you're not so good at. You need to find out what YOU are most comfortable with and the things you need to do to keep yourself healthy. I wish adults could understand the amount of pressure and stress kids are under in 2018. Teachers, I wish you would lighten the workload. Us teens understand you want the best for us and we appreciate it, but a change in workload would definitely induce less stress. Parents, i wish you could understand that teens need to find things out for themselves and don't try to make us something we are not. It might be weird or scary, but we're all different and it's ok. Protecting us may seem like the best way to help us, but letting us figure things out let's us understand our mistakes. To adults in general, i wish you could understand that we are the future. We are responsible for everything soon and that's terrifying for us. So, adults I wish you would recognize the amount of pressure we are under and maybe instead of just acknowledging it, please do something.
Brooke,
I totally get you because I have been under so much pressure. I am 15 years old and I still feel the same way! Just know that you are great at heart because you care about others!
-Hannah
High school is honestly one of the best things that has ever happened to me. I go to a vocational school in my county, which I won’t disclose for personal reasons, and the day I got accepted was one of the greatest days of my life.
It had been a normal day of 8th grade when I got in my mom’s car after to school and she handed me a letter. Confused, I opened the envelope and am overwhelmed with joy because I was accepted to the school I attend today. This school, between the community and staff, has been a wonderful journey.
All of my teachers are incredibly kind and understanding. One of my greatest fears going into high school was that I would get sick a lot and get overloaded by the amount of make-up work, but luckily my fears were unfounded. Sure, I still stress over make-up work, but my teachers understand I was sick and are usually flexible in working out a schedule.
My high school is very small, having a population of only about 320 kids, so it makes the community much closer. The school holds numerous dances throughout the year, and also does fun events like an annual bonfire. I could never have that anywhere else.
My high school is one of the best things in my life right now, second only to my family. I can finally be myself without fear of bullying. Best of all, when I wake up in the morning to go to school, I’m happy to go to school. That’s because the school I’m attending now is like a second home.
Being a student in 2018 is very different from what it was like to be a student decades ago. We have added stress, relationship problems, and pressure. Adults may say that they understand what this is like because they have been a teenager too. But I can promise, they really do not understand.
Technology is a huge reason of our stress. It is partially our fault for letting it get to us, but nevertheless it is still a factor. Technology is supposed to help us. We have the ability to easily find out more information. We also can type essays without hand writing it. We do not have to face the struggles of searching through books, going to libraries, etc. As much as it is a blessing, it is a curse.
Technology also distracts us. When looking online for research, we may see an add for clothes we want or a movie that was just released. Our attention is easily taken away from what is important.
Parents and adults do not understand what it’s like. If they were born in our generation, they would understand how tempting it is. We have so much pressure on us to be better. Because we have the technology, we are expected to have the advantage. We should have the resources to be better than the generations before us. That is not always true. Just because we have more opportunities, does not mean that the person we are, is automatically better.
All the stress due to being better and technology, gets to be a lot on us. That is something that parents do not understand.
Being a student in 2018 puts much stress on my back. When i heard about the issue that happened at Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, that changed the eyes of me walking into school everyday it is not normal for me anymore it gets me afraid to come to school sometimes because you never know what will happen. Sometimes I wish that people will understand that people have anxiety and other issues that they cannot help. Teachers and other students need to be there for each other and we all need to come together as one and take away Gun Violence and end the silence of all of the American People and keep lives and just be grateful for what we have and don't hurt people. Get help when you need it don't be afraid to tell people what you are feeling. Education is the most important thing for our lives because what if you want to go to college and peruse your dreams, with all the silence that is hear now it is a change to life. End the Silence and Gun Violence needs to go!
As a freshman at Communications High School, I deal with many stresses in my school environment. My parents are very strict regarding my grades are are disappointed with grades that aren't an A+, and it is very stressful holding this high of a standard. Additionally, my school adds to this stress by giving us boatloads of homework night after night, which is difficult without me balancing my personal life and my hobbies. I believe that homework and the stress caused by it is unnecessary, and having minimal homework will help high school students be happier and be able to live their lives. I also think it will help us prepare for college, as it takes away the cushion of homework in grades, and puts more weight on tests, which is what college is like. With that being said, there are positive aspects to being in today's generation. I feel I can be and stay true to myself in school, and I feel less self conscious. However, I do know that that this is not the case for all people. Most importantly, other people, as well as myself, feel highly unsafe in their own school due to the current gun violence swarming around our country. Safer measures must be called on this issue, as I know for me school has always been a place I have felt safe. And with the stress teenagers have as it is, we should be able to at least feel safe in our own schools.
I totally get you! You have an anazing story :)
A typical school day consists of a series of things: wake up early, eat breakfast, do work, take tests, go to extra curricular activities, then come home, and do more work.
It is a constant cycle of tests, grades, and homework. What the teachers don’t understand is that kids don’t learn this way. We are constantly dealing with social pressures, expectations from our parents, and the stress of conforming to the stereotypes this generation created. The last thing we need is to be tested on information day after day.
Society has created these standards that make people feel obligated to always receive that perfect score or maintain that 4.0 GPA, but it has reached the point where these standards create a negative impact.
Personally, I rarely ever retain the information I study for a test or quiz, and I have began to understand why.
Teachers today don’t teach us to analyze the information presented; they don’t teach us to expand on the ideas beyond the curriculum; and most importantly, they don’t teach us to learn. They teach us how to pass a test.
However, the teachers are not the problem. They are only conforming to the standards that society expects of them. The true problem is much bigger than we can image. Everything is connected. School. Grades. College. Careers. Success.
So, unless everyone can decide it’s time to change, the educational system will continue to go downhill.
At high school, I go by many names: freshman, newbie, frosh, and, my personal favorite, fresh meat. I probably would prefer to get called 'Erin' every once in a while, but I'm not picky. Being who I am (a freshman) where I am (at high school) is an absolute minefield. If I take one wrong step, I'm officially shunned by the upperclassmen for being the kid who 'didn't know her place.' However, I can take solace in the fact that these menacing seniors were once me. The problem I find with high school is, there's not just one problem. I find the social pressures of high school spreading me so thin that I need to go into recluse for a weekend, sometimes more. But the girl sitting next to me, her extracurriculars on top of her homework barely give her time to sleep, let alone enjoy herself. The guy to my left? He feels the pressure of both himself and his parents to maintain the A+ average that he so easily achieved in junior high. No student will tell you that their school is stress-free, even if the circumstances change from time to time. And although it's terrible, the stress we endure might be necessary too. You must ask yourself what you're willing to endure for your education. The stress may be a huge downside, but as the storm resides and whatever light is still there shines through, you are stronger, knowing that if you can survive high school, you can survive just about anything.
As a freshman in high school, I am conflicted with how much expectations, assignments, and stress I have on my back, as well as attempting to have a life a teenager should have; while dealing with the stereotype that my generation is obsessed with technology and procrastination. Education has evolved greatly through early generations, and I don't believe many people see that. I wish teachers understood that students do not have all the time in the world. I wish that teachers assigned work for the benefit of learning, instead of assigning work to make their class seem more advanced or complex. Most students are involved in activities, sports, drama,etc; any way to get involved in school and make them happy. On top of stress and our lives constantly being circled around education, students deal with stress from their personal lives. This could be related to issues with self-confidence, bullying, family, etc. Schools do not put this into perspective when treating a student or teaching. Students are expected to balance personal lives, school, and other dedications in almost impossible-to-balance proportion. I feel as though in order to be a honors student, I have to dedicated my life towards my school.
A benefit of learning in 2018 is endless access to technology. We have multiple resources at our fingertips which incredibly helps us when we need it. Technology improves our learning, makes it more convenient, and does not deserve the criticism it gets.
You know, school is funny. It’s that love-hate relationship that you can’t seem to breakup with because you are always fed up with it, but need to do as best as possible in order to pursue your dreams. Which in every relationship, then comes the self-conflict; in this case being either pain or pride. You find joy in an A, but self loathe in an F. Happiness in friends and hate in gossip. Comfort in an acknowledgement and agony in rejection. It’s a never ending list in a rollercoaster of emotions. For every rollercoaster, there are those who grin ear to ear before the start, and those who can’t keep one eye open, but either way, they all need to face it. It’s all fun and games until you hit that first drop - and I’m telling you, it’s KingDaKa big. It’s that expectation to do as best as possible and never stop striving until we become the best of the best. The coaster will go ever so high, only fall short of the clouds. But after that fall, the next big hill comes, and oh boy does that hill bring an a bubbly excitement to your stomach. Then you get to the very top, only to once again drop. It’s a cycle and a hard one to escape. Eventually, we will face the big “we need to talk” in the relationship and have to come to terms with moving on. Although some will be thrilled and some will have tears, each and every one of us will look back on the times we had in school and how much we have grown.
You know, school is funny. It’s that love-hate relationship that you can’t seem to breakup with because you are always fed up with it, but need to do as best as possible in order to pursue your dreams. Which in every relationship, then comes the self-conflict; in this case being either pain or pride. You find joy in an A, but self loathe in an F. Happiness in friends and hate in gossip. Comfort in an acknowledgement and agony in rejection. It’s a never ending list in a rollercoaster of emotions. And for every rollercoaster, there are those who grin ear to ear before the start, and those who can’t keep one eye open, but either way, they all need to face it. It’s all fun and games until you hit that first drop - and I’m telling you, it’s KingDaKa big. It’s that expectation to do as best as possible and never stop striving until we become the best of the best. And the coaster will go ever so high, only fall short of the clouds. But after that fall, the next big hill comes, and oh boy does that hill bring an a bubbly excitement to your stomach. And then you get to the very top, to once again drop. It’s a cycle and a hard one to escape. Eventually, we will face the big “we need to talk” in the relationship and have to come to terms with moving on. Although some will be thrilled and some will have tears, each and every one of us will look back on the times we had and how much we have grown.
You ever feel like as you grow up, life only gets harder and harder, that you are given more and more responsibility and it just crushes you slowly and slowly? Have you ever been told over and over again by someone that all this hard work will "pay off in the future" and they not realize that you can't see past what is due next week? That's what it feels like to be a student. I can't see what I want to become when I grow up. I don't know. I haven't had time to think and figure our what I want to do. I don't have a place for that. I've got so much work piled in front of me I have to finish for a grade that says I can or can't do something.
Nothing in school has taught me what to be passionate about. There are classes I enjoy being in, but it's nothing that I want to go to college for, nonetheless work in for the rest of my life. What am I left to do? What is anyone left to do? With a learning institution that values memorization and curriculum rather than actual knowledge and experience of what I enjoy doing? Being a student today has taught me to put up with what people tell you to do, and I don't like to be bossed around. "Find the deeper meaning... find the so what question" one of my teachers tells me. Here is the deeper meaning; I don't care about what voice tools the author used in this paragraph, I don't care about that guy died two thousand years ago, I don't care about logarithms, and I don't care that cells divide. So what should I care? That's the question.
Can passion be taught or does a person have to find it? Mark Twain wrote: I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.
And I totally agree that the deeper meaning can't be found in Voice Tools.
School is something that completely takes over my life. I get really good grades but i always stress over getting them. I play sports and participate in school plays. Sometimes the work is way to much, and there is no time for fun in my schedule
I wish that parents and teachers could understand this. Keeping a 4.0 GPA is a hard thing to do between balancing a social life, sports and activities, and keeping your stress levels down. I know personally when my grades aren't up to par I am not allowed to see my friends and have my phone taken. This is not helping my grades!! I would see more improvements from a flexible turn in period from giving out zeros. It feels like at times teachers don't understand the different comprehension levels of students or working pace. I often have 2 pages of notes and work load worth due at the end of a class period. This is impossible to complete! Along with the mass amounts of homework, this causes stress and anxiety for many students. Tests are often extremely difficult compared to practice and homework problems we are given, how are we supposed to do well on a test when the questions are 10 times harder than what we've practiced. Being a student is harsh and not enjoyable, we are still kids after all why can't we have more balance in our lives because it seems everything has to be about school.
Being a sophomore in New Jersey, I believe that one of the biggest problems in school, as for the students, is the need for more. This goes for especially students that feel the need to be in every AP class or always receive an A+ on every assignment. Some students set the bar so high that there is never room for error. My whole life I have been taught that we learn from our mistakes, although they may seem disastrous in the moment, we will be able to look back at them with much less urgency. I too have been guilty of trying to exceed my expectations that I have already made impossible to achieve. It ultimately just ends up stressing me out and making me feel like I’m not good enough of a student. It seems that whatever point that we are at, we need to jump to the next one before we get left behind. It’s of great value for a lot of students to feel like they are always involved in the next big thing. I know many peers and students that got to high school and were already ready for college which I am also guilty of. I think that this generation has no time to waste;we trudge through whatever we have to, knowing that there is something bigger and better for us to latch on to. Sure, the future may be way better than the present time that you are in, but you need every single milestone in your life to get you to your later destination.
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I believe that being a high school student in this generation has altered tremendously since my parents generation. There is more stress and presser about grades and getting into a prestigious college in order to excel in life. I constantly am worried about how I can improve my grade and improve my college application to separate myself from the millions of other students who are just like me. I believe we have strayed away from schools as a place to learn and grow and have made our focus to much on grades. There is an immense pressure on this front and also on the social aspect of high school. Fitting in and making sure you hang around the right crowd is instrumental in life at school. However, I also believe due to technology we have an easier time actually being able to learn within school than past generations. Lastly, I would like to state that school is what you make it. Work hard and have fun. Just be you.
Life in the public school system can be rough, stressful and especially tiring. I usually go to bed late at nights from repetitive studying and wake up early for school. School engulfs the lives of most students, start school at 8:30 and then ends seven hours later, then you go home to start your homework. The school life is also very competitive, in which you are competing with your fellow friends for the high class ranking and college spots. Even though school has its cons, it also has a lot of pros. In school, students are able to select the level of difficulty and what types of classes they want, so each student has some freedom with their classes. The students of today also have some benefits in school compared to the past generations. Students today have quick access to help on the internet, in which someone could watch a short YouTube video to answer any questions. I also know that school is preparing me for a higher level of education at college so I will be well prepared in the future. School allows opportunities for students to gain knowledge and an understanding of our world, and society in which I am very grateful to have the opportunity to learn.
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Being a student in 2018 is in my opinion more stressful than the past. I have 2 AP classes and all the rest are honors, and every class assigns their own homework. Every night I pretty much have an assignment in almost every class, a reading in my AP history class, and sometimes a reading for english along with other assignments related to the reading, and that's just homework assignments, there's also studying I have to do for tests, and I have at least 1 test every friday. Not to mention, it’s becoming a lot more difficult to be accepted into colleges, there's a lot criteria you need to meet to even be considered. Not only is there a lot more competition, you also have to participate in extracurriculars and community service. Overall I just wish other people, especially my parents, would understand that it all can be very overwhelming and stressful. But in the end, being a student in 2018 is also pretty great, we have so many more opportunities to succeed in life and do great!
Its hard being a student these days because there is so much stuff that is expected of us. Teachers don't really understand that we have lives outside of school. Especially students like me that are enrolled in multiple AP classes, college classes, playing sports, applying to colleges and scholarships, working and trying to keep everything ok at home. Schools continue to add things for us to do because they think it will make us better people but in reality it gets us more stressed out and worried about how we are going to make it through high school with decent grades and a happy life. I know that schools are making us do all of this stuff because they are trying to get us prepared for life after high school but at some point it is just way too much. And thats just the pure school aspect of life, we have families that want to spend time with us, constantly changing social enviroments and the stress of moving on in life and finding a career and starting an independent life.
I need people to know that not everything is about school. The amount of stress I hive from school work and sports is insane. I don't have tome to relax and do anything I want. My time is filled up and I need to find time to my self. School need to be done at school and not at home. Something else I don't think schools understand is that some students don't have a way to do work at home or get help. I never really had this issue coming from a middle class family but others do. If something needs to be done online and a student or their family doesn't have wifi or even a computer, no student wants to go to the library. Also, if some students need help at home, a lot of parents can't help them. I have far surpassed my parents teaching ability and they can no longer help me. Some lower class parents might also just not be able to help in general. One last thing is that we are moving into a very large age of technology. Instead of banning the use of tech, schools should embrace it and find creative ways to utilize it.
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I wish parents and teachers understood that certains subjects are difficult to understand. I wish parents were more helpful with things such as bullying, homework, etc. Bullying has gotten worse since they have been in school. Bullying has led a lot of people to self harm. Parents think students will be fine and that the kids are just going to leave them alone eventually. Eventually turns into never. However, there are some good things about being a student in 2018. We have technology now. The technology we have now helps us a lot. We can do a lot of stuff on a computer than we could than just looking through a book. Some students would prefer a book but for those who hate books or they just can’t focus, they like the computers. You can find pictures, words, articles, etc. Parents don’t think their kids should be scared in school. Which some kids aren’t but I am. I am scared to go to school everyday. I’m scared to go to school because I never know when our school will get shot up or if it will. I am scared that I will walk into school got to class then hear a gunshot. I’m scared that I will see one of my friends or family members die. I’m scared that I will see a teacher die. I’m scared that I could die. I don’t want to think about this at the age of 16. I should be worrying about if I’ll have clean clothes at home, if I’m going to be able to eat when I get home, if my grandparents will still be alive. I should not be worrying about stuff at such a young age.
Id want people to know what its like because the bullying is terrible in some schools and to be honest i dont think it should be a schools problem. I think it should be a parents problem. yes i get some kids are a just stubborn and dont listen but most of them have to respect their parents. Parents should teach their kids young thats being mean isnt right.
Parents have no control over what their kids do at school. It definitely is a school's responsibility to watch over and assure there are no major bullying instances going on. Yes, I do agree parents should teach their kids the rights from the wrongs, but they can't go babysit the children while they're at school. The child may receive punishment at home, but at the end of the day, no one really experiences things first hand like the school does. Having respect for your parents isn't going to stop bulling? I guess I'm not seeing where that has any logic. So, if there is ongoing bullying occurring in your school, that's the higher ranked officials responsibility to handle properly.
It's hard to be a good student with the distractions of people talking,electronics,and politics. It's hard to be the student my parents and teachers want me to be because everything else is changing but school has stayed the same for years. The stress of having to keep the Ozone layer from being burnt away. From the Freon that leaked out of the older generations air conditioners,and freezers.
I get what you mean. It is really hard being the good student your parents want you to be.
I wish that more people understood that we aren't a hive mind. Sitting in a classroom, or talking to a family friend about a topic, it often feels like if I have a 'different' or 'uncommon' opinion from what is perceived to be teen opinion, then it is ignored. I don't think it's intentional, but it seems to me as if most adults try their best to see the entire teenage population as one single minded group. Maybe it's easier for adults that way, to see us all as a single thing that can be ignored, talked to the same way, taught the same way and for the same things to be expected of us. Maybe that way adults feel more comfortable, like they don't have to fear us as a group they can't understand. I suppose they are just playing the same roles that history has assigned them to, but we are all different and we need and want different things. I wish that adults/teachers would walk up to my friends and I and address all of us as individuals with different life experiences. I wish we could be addressed as people.
Sometimes I try to imagine what different people see when they hear school, first image that flickers in their head. For me, it’s staring at piles of work that don't matter, for a grade that will determine my future. It’s stressing about the homework and tests I have. Its sitting in classes I don't care about in the slightest for that big check mark on my college application. I wish school was a place of aspirations, and instead of learning about triangles I was learning about something I’m passionate about, like philosophy and world problems. I know I’m lucky to go to a good school, with new computers and couches in the classrooms. I know people would die to go to a school like this. But it makes me wonder if all that makes the pressure worse, the expectations higher. When I was younger, I would read for hours. Once I got to school, it turned into nothing but a grade on a piece of paper. I haven’t read a full book in 3 years. I’m to busy writing essays for subject I don't care for, and studying for tests for subjects I won't remember. It makes me sad to think about it. School isn't about learning, it's just about getting through it. When you have mental illness, sitting in a classroom without passion leads to constant feeling of being trapped and depression. It's time for a change, for kids being excited to go to school because they can't wait to learn without worrying about the grade that will follow it and without destroying their mental health.
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I am a sophomore at my public high school, In all honesty I really do not get very stressed, I love my life and the opportunities that I have been given and I am very grateful for them, I don’t have a straight A average but I’m making honor roll and I'm completely fine with that. I enjoy coming to school because I love the challenges and being given the opportunity to learn. In the town that I live in for the most part so many people are too busy getting caught up and stressed by everything else around them rather than enjoying what they already have. When I think about the people living in my town what comes to mind is “this person is depressed’’ “that person is wants to die”… and a whole list of awful events that tragically occur to frequently in our society , but for what, why are so many people hating their life when they could be out living, taking up a new hobby, having a creative outlet, I have a passion in art so I actually take art classes in the city, and just being there exploring what I love doing has opened my eyes so much to what the world has to offer and how people come from all walks of life and can still be such happy, positive people, and every time my mom picks me up and we are driving back together I ask “why is it in our town so many people are miserable and want to die when they can be out living their lives” so this is what I would like not only parents and teachers to know but also the students, life is too short to be miserable and stressed.
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We’re expected to be the perfect child meaning, straight-A, honor roll, social, ambitious, athletic student that has leadership in a club or two. We are all expected to fit in this cookie-cutter of a model student as well as knowing what career we want to pursue; getting accepted into the best college; acing tests; completing homework on time; and being happy and healthy. I’m in four honors courses and next year, I’m hopefully taking 3 AP and 2 honors classes. I’m on my school district’s award-winning robotics team as a subdivision leader, my schools award-winning choir, my school’s music honor society, a treasurer in a school club, and a part of a community service choir. No matter how bright my future may look, I’m not happy, I get stressed from the demanding work in robotics as well as having to complete assignments from each class and having to take care of my overall well being.
Adult expectations are the problem in modern education. My parents are happy with me now but they used to compare me to my friends who did better than me academically. They also expect me to know which college I want to attend and what job I want; which they have indirectly shot down because of my academic inferiority. Teachers expect homework from several demanding classes to be done in a matter of minutes claiming that it will benefit us when in reality, it leaves students like me more stressed. The stress from expectations left me depressed since 5th grade.
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Being a student today is way different from being a student way back when my parents, teachers, aunts, uncles, grandparents and even some of my cousins went to school. Now we have technology and a lot more pressure. Many adults say, "You don't know stress, not even close." but that's no where near true, we have to worry about grades, social media, cyberbullying, school shootings, extra curricular activities, and in some cases money. Back in the old days, as my mom says, you didn't have to worry about school shooting, I mean people left their doors unlocked and you certainly didn't have to worry about all the things that come with technology since technology is rather new. They didn't have the cyberbullying, social media, and technology responsibility. If we are absent, we have to make it up ASAP because we have our technology in order to do so. If we post or write "bad" or the "wrong" things on social media it could affect potential colleges and our future. Today everything beyond everything can affect our future. Today is "stress paradise" for students.
this is true and i really agree
I feel that the adults, who have the power to make changes in our school, which we, the students, do not have, often overlook our needs. Maybe it is because we are only kids, what do we know about what is best for us? I can easily say, however, that when I see peers with school-induced anxiety attacks and depression, I can tell that something needs to change.
First in the totem pole in making decisions about our schools is what is going to make the school look good. What is going to make the school look like they are enriching us with the most knowledge and skills in the short four year span as possible? The answer of too many adults is good grades, plenty of homework, and extended science periods. If you were to look at a school that’s students averaged an A across the board, you would say the school was doing pretty well, but ask the students, and they would definitely beg to differ. But what the students feel doesn’t really matter, at least the school has received a good reputation.
Our safety needs are also overlooked. School safety needs to be more than another political issue. We need actual change, not just pointless debates between the two political parties. As a student, this is very frustrating because there is not a lot we can do about this incredible issue, but there is not much that the people who can do something are doing, besides arguing. It is time we consult the students in how to improve school, and not someone who hasn't been to school for decades.
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I wish that more people today knew that our school system is not how it used to be. To start off, my mom went to the same high school as I’m attending, so you’d think that I would be having a similar experience that she had just about 32 years ago. However, the only similarities I find myself picking out are some old rooms and old teachers.
My school experience is much more stressful from my mom’s- she’s even said so. I feel pressured to be in as many honors courses as I can get and even AP classes… even in the subjects that I don’t like. The reason behind this is not only competition from other students, but also the prospect of college scholarships and financial aid. College tuition has skyrocketed and the only way I can go to my ideal college is if I’m smart enough or if I get a good financial aid or a scholarship.
One good thing I want people to know about my school experience today, however, is that school is much more open and accepting. This is likely due to the fact that the people- specifically, the youth- of 2018 are much more informed than my mother’s generation. I’m sure back in 1986 my mother wasn’t seeing many LGBTQ+ people in the same halls I walk today, but in 2018, I am proudly the head of my school’s Gender and Sexualities Alliance. My school may not be ethnically diverse, but it is diverse in people who are pushing to be themselves, and I’ve yet to come across any problems being myself. I’m very grateful for this part of the 2018 high school experience.
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Stress eats me alive. The anxiety that comes almost every Sunday night before I go to bed is unhealthy. Future tests, homework, finals, papers, and not getting enough sleep have gotten to me more times than I could ever count. This sleep deprivation is not only hurting me now but will affect my health forever. Why am I doing this to myself? Why am I letting my education impose on my health? Without me being healthy I can not participate in school the way that is expected of me. Therefore I stress more, then my relationships, schedule, eating habits, exercising routine, mood, and mental health go down the drain. It is far from amusing or okay by any means. Just sitting with a guidance counselor or mental health professional won’t fix this. Talking about the problem doesn’t fix the problem. Something needs to be done because I never want my children to have to go through what my peers and I are going through. Depression, anxiety, fear, suicidal thoughts and actions, isolation, self-harm, and eating disorders are only the start of a very long list of things that are an epidemic to my generation. The fear that cripples me and many others when we think about that ongoing list is uncontrollable. Just getting good grades doesn’t mean that someone has it all together. Everyone is going through something but that tends to be overlooked. I am sick and tired of school being something that is dreaded by most. This needs to change.
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As a senior this year, you could imagine that there are a few things I wish the adults around me understood throughout my pre-high school and high school experience.
For starters, times have changed. Bullying manifests itself in many different forms and on many different social media platforms. Students, based on their background and experience with stressors, handle many things differently. So, when a student comes acrossed as overreacting, rather than being forward about your personal bias with the situation; be comforting or supporting towards the student. If everyone had the same problems we wouldn't be as individually unique. One problem may be small to one person but that doesn't mean it doesn't hold a bigger impact for somebody else. When you have the option to be right or to be kind, choose kindness in those situations.
Second, deciding what we're going to be doing with our lives is honestly scary as hell. Parents, guardians and other influential figures; please be understanding of the student's choice between community college and university. If the student doesn't have the maturity to decide then that's obviously a different story. Personally, I'll be attending community college for the first two years and then I'll transfer to a university for my P.A. degree and then to continue my educational experience towards becoming a pediatric neurologist. This option is more financially sound for me and I feel is what I need to set myself up for success
Adapt to new times
Being a High School student can be tough at some points more than others. Teens struggle with stress which is caused by work, school, and extracurricular activities. This also has to do with time management. The hardest part with school is being pounded with hours and hours of homework for each class. Each night I have about 1-2 hours of work for each class, consisting of worksheets, notes, studying, and projects. The positivism that keeps me going is what this will bring out for me in the future. Adding on to all of this, I am flooded with questions, and comments on why I am not taking higher classes or having the best GPA out there. Clubs, and Jobs are what college applications are seeking for. Why do they find it so appealing instead of our Grades, or GPA. I also think teachers need to understand that adding all this work plus listening to lesson plans for a hour and a half is a lot for us. We understand that they have to do their job and all but they could figure out a better way to do it. The reason why I am motivated in school is for my future jobs and the way I want to end up in life. Also to help support my family, and extended family. Truly to understand what it is like to be a student, you need to actually experience. If your not someone who can take boredom and sit still for 90 minutes then I would not recommend trying it.
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Today, the education system is a race to reach the very top of all individuals’ potentials. The effort being put in will be rewarded in the future with attending the college of their dreams and receiving the job they always wanted as a child. However, underlying this reality is the stress, workload, and extracurricular activities that students, along as myself, have to endure on a regular basis. Behind us, gluing their eyes on every decision we make are our parents and teachers, trying to push us further to succeed. Of course, I appreciate everything that parents and teachers do to allow me to obtain the highest achievements, but most do not account for our lives outside of school.
They have never experienced the amounts of pressure that current students are undergoing and they never will be able to.
As a sophomore in high school, I always feel pushed while completing assessments, studying for a quiz or test, and participating in clubs outside of the classroom. I am surrounded by other students who are drowning in their own work.
With over 7 classes, five clubs, and hours of homework, I find it hard to find the time to maintain healthy relationships with my friends and family. Additionally, the competition to be the best in all classes is higher than it has ever been to please colleges and my family.
Students and I are all constantly planning for the future and are not living through the high school experience that parents constantly wish they could go back to.
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I am a sophomore in high school and I feel that the stress that is put on high schoolers now is too much and I feel that it not only comes from teachers, but from parents and peers. The price of college can be crippling to some families and the stress of getting good grades to get the most money off and the most scholarships is very hard. The stress of not wanting to either cripple your parents financially or have yourself in piles of debt before you even join the workforce is a very big stress factor and an issue many students now are facing. When my dad went to school it cost him $5,000 a year at Rutgers, now if you are an instate resident it would cost $32,191 a year to attend the same school for the same education. That is almost 7x more expensive for the same thing. The inflation is out of control and the growing student loans/debt in the country is out of control. My dad’s 4 years at Rutgers is less expensive than just your freshman year now. It is ridiculous. Students now have so much stress to do well just to drive the cost of college down.
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I agree its ridiculous that it cost so much money for 1 year of collage. After 4 years that is almost $100,000. And i know my parents cant afford that so i will basically need a scholarship to go.
When I was little, I felt “pressured” to think about what I wanted to be when I grew up. There was a project in 2nd grade where we had to talk about what we wanted to be, and why.
Now, as a sophomore of high school, I can’t imagine what my 2nd grade self thought “pressured” felt. I cannot even begin to fathom my thoughts about the stress high school has given me. Time management has been the biggest struggle for me. I don’t consider myself having a lot of friends or that much of a social life, and I still tend to feel overwhelmed with not having enough time to do my homework, play sports, get community service hours, spend time with my family, and even sleeping. I go to school for 10 hours Monday-Friday (8 hours in school, 2 hours at sports), and by the time I’ve showered and eaten dinner with my family, it’s already 8pm. Then, the homework becomes a struggle. Between trying to stay awake (from only getting 4 hours of sleep the night before) and trying to put in my best effort into my homework, I struggle with asking myself why I put in all this work. If I didn’t do my math homework, will I pass my math test, will I pass my math class, will I get into a $30,000 college? Even after I graduate college (or if), will I even have a job to go to after technology is taking over our world? The constant questioning and stress that has come from being a high schooler in 2018 has taken over my life, and I’m not too happy about it!!!
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As a 15-year-old sophomore, in a way I feel misunderstood and misled by teachers. As students, we are taught “physical grades aren’t the most important thing” and instead “only true learning and passion really matters.” Teachers claim that our main focus should be the content of the material and we should challenge ourselves, yet our grades truly determine our future. In high school, good grades mean good college means good job means good money means good life. Instead of taking the challenging and thought provoking classes that may truly interest me, I just take the boring classes that look best for college. For example, I would really want to take this Photography class in my school because I do have an interest, but with college in mind, I instead would choose to take a more boring business class. I know I limit my own opportunities, but it is harder than it seems to take this risk. I have this constant fear of failure if I do try to follow the advice of my teachers. As students, grades basically mean everything. As college costs continue to rise, less students choose to expand their horizons and instead take a safer root. I’m only a kid, but I have to always be looking out for my future. Also as technology is becoming more common, students face greater/faster expectations concerning working/learning paces, but we face so many more distractions and greater responsibility. It's hard to expand our horizons when we are used to taking on tasks & communicating behind a screen.
1
I wish that parents and teachers understood that there more stress in our generation then the others because we have a lot of challenges ahead of us with getting scholarships and maintaining our grades in school and college. There is more stress with in our generation then what the older generation think. You see that we know more then what we think we do and with our generation we have jobs and with the jobs on top of school work the stress is more and more built in our heads trying to not overload our minds.
I feel as if it is very different to be a student in 2018 than it was back when my parents were in high school. I think parents somewhat understand how difficult it can be to have good grades, keep up with school work, and participate in extracurricular activities, but I do feel as if the difficulties we face as students can be overlooked by our parents. I think school requires a lot more hard work and effort than it used to and I also think that schools have started to require a lot more homework. The standards that are taught in schools now are much harder than what they used to be. I do feel like school is more organized now, in 2018, and I feel like we are given more opportunity to participate in extracurricular activities which can be a positive, however I wish that more teachers understood that giving hours of homework can really drain students and make them become lazy rather than help them. I also wish that more teachers understood that it is difficult to get help at home because our parents were taught differently than we are. School definitely has taken advantage of technology and I think that it is becoming used too much. School has changed in positive and negative ways, but I think it will continue to improve in some ways as time goes on.
Being a student today is a challenge. We suffer from so much anxiety. I wish our teachers and parents would understand as students we have so many responsibilities and assignments to keep up with at once. Teachers make inconsiderate deadlines to students who have jobs and to students who have other major things going on in other classes. Being a student today has its perks such as, we have technology to help us ease our workload. Also, our peers our big contributing factors to today's school system too. Our peers impact us on how we learn and what we do.
Being a student now is misunderstood. Teachers do not understand the daily routines of an average teenager. Take this for example - I take all honors classes, currently play baseball for my school, and workout at the gym a handful of times per week. On top of this, I have to complete 1.5 - 2.5 hours of homework per night, and this rarely includes additional studying.
I have only had a handful of teachers who have understood what it’s like for their students to have lives; most of these teachers being on the younger side. Teachers do not understand extracurricular activities and family obligations. How can you exercise, socialize with friends and family, go to baseball practice, eat a sufficient dinner, and still have time for 2 hours of work? You can’t, at least not with success. They say, “Get involved...colleges like diversity and extracurriculars.” This is impractical. Playing three sports at my school and still receiving decent grades is a feat to be commended. Take my friends for example - those who play multiple sports do not get the best grades. Those who focus on school more are not the greatest on the fields. Why do you think it is so uncommon for a student to be an all-county athlete, and also graduate with a 4.0? Ask the teachers.
Of course, there are exceptions. But these are super-humans who can pull A’s and still wear their varsity jacket with pride. And even with these people, who knows how much time they spend with their family and friends? I sure don’t.
1
Being a student in 2018 is definitely not as easy as being a student in the past. Many parents are putting stress on their kids to figure out their future. My friends and I are only sophomores and are being put through the stress of college. The more we think about our future, the more anxious we get into deciding what we want to be. And even in this day in age, students aren’t pursuing their passions such as music or art. They’re stuck being forced into majoring in fields such as business so they can grow up, make a ton of money, and maybe even one day become more successful than their parents. We’re told that we are the generation that is too attached to technology. We depend on it. In my honest opinion, I really miss writing with a pen and paper. I feel like I’m able to obtain the information more when I write in hand rather than on a Google Doc. I do however understand that technology in schools does have its perks such as being able to research a topic 100 times easier, but still technology really just makes the social dynamic of school 10 times harder. Also the cost of college is ridiculous. How can I make the world a better place with my education, when I’m too busy working off my student loans. College isn’t an option anymore. More and more students are told that college is the only way to be successful. But is college really the one single thing that are going to make us successful or is it our work ethic?
1
What i wish more people understand is that sometimes when we have stress it leads to many other things. When i have a giant workload, i stress. When i stress, i get really bad anxiety,and when i stress i don't get any sleep and when i dont get sleep i don't do nothing in class. When i don't do anything at school i stress then the cycle repeats again.
1
I wish that teachers and parents knew that it is harder now. We have to extra classes that we don’t need. Most of the time teenagers have to go to work or practice a sport. I mean some teachers gives us quiz every single day. Like in high school we don’t have enough time to learn U.S. History in one semester. I wish they could see how, what we learn the new types of math. It's different from the past because they didn’t have to learn extra classes just to graduation high school. Parents should know how we stress out other our work getting done.
austin
I wish people knew how School has changed over the last 10 years like most ever class only use laptop not paper anymore and their more activities like atec and other things like some people are having more anxiety when at school because stress, other student, and the school shooting of late. That just something older people should know.
While I am only a sophomore in high school, I have seen the effects that the current school system is having on all students. School is something that is supposed to encourage children and foster beliefs within them that they can change the world, and go on to do whatever they want with their lives. What actually occurs within these walls is something much more sinister. Students are constantly being pushed to their limits with the sole intention of getting in to a "good" college. Sophomores, juniors and seniors alike are expected to take on as many Advanced Placement courses as possible, all while avidly participating in extracurriculars and maintaining healthy relationships with their peers and families. The mental states of students in my school and many others are deteriorating rapidly due to the obscene amounts of pressure placed upon them. These students do not only want to succeed to benefit themselves, they are continuously trying to impress and please the adult figures in their lives.
School teaches you that the only kind of smart is academic smart - the only "intelligent kids" are the future engineers and doctors. The only chance we have to be successful is to be an academically sound student and still be entering into a field that will make us money guaranteed. We need to know that this is not the only outcome.We need to know that we can take risks, and that taking risks can have amazing benefits. We deserve to feel validated no matter what future we choose.
1
The hardest thing about being a student in 2018 for me, would have to be how distracted i get when doing my homework or just being in class. I often find myself drifting off on to YouTube or Twitter while doing my homework, and it takes hours to finish it all. On top of the massive amounts of homework that me and my peers do receive, in my case, the distractions of living in this day and age add a burden to that homework. I am not sure if my peers feel the same way about the technology, but I feel it would be much easier to focus if it was not there. However, there are many pros to having this technology. If you forget the homework, you can easily just text a classmate asking for what it was. They are absolutely great for research as well. However, there are pros and cons to every situation, so I do not know how I would feel about them being gone. Who knows really? If these laptops were never invented, I wouldn't get distracted as easily, but if they were never created I could never have wrote this submission.
1
I’m a sophomore at a very high pressure public school in New Jersey, and I wish teachers would treat my anxiety as a real condition that needs real accommodations. In gym when you break your leg, you aren’t expected to participate in class, so it perplexes me that the same idea isn’t transferred to mental illness.
Sometimes my depression is so awful that I cannot get out of bed, but to the school, that’s an unexcused absence. Sometimes I need to use my 504 in order to be placed differently in the room, and to many teachers that is me trying to be difficult. There are days where I am too anxious to even handle being in a classroom with a cacophony of noises and and white lights flooding my line of sight, but when I need to leave class to access our designated space for me to be calm, it is often times counted as a cut.
My work can be subpar, or my attention can wander, but it doesn’t mean that I don’t love school and I don’t appreciate everything teachers do. My brain is a constantly sparking fire, as a lot of teenagers are, and I often times find my teachers trying to fight it with ignorance, rather than being able to educate themselves on mental illness, and find the ability to empathize with me and the millions of other teenagers struggling with the same issues.
1
People, meaning adults and those with the power to do something about all of this, need to understand how stressful high school is for students. My high school has a body count now due to the negligence of the teachers and administration. I’m in college now, but even now I hear about another poor kid who committed suicide from that school. Stress shouldn’t be a constant state of mind. Your silence is killing us.
I wish the teachers and schools would teach more about business an taxes an how to pay you're bills an more life lessons you're gonna use down the road.
If im being truthful school today is hard but also easy at the same time. If you go to a public school they have a lot of funding that makes for some pretty cool stuff. in fact the school i went to had all new technology, like he had our own lap tops to do work and a new lunch system where you get a credit card pretty much. So there are some upsides to school today but then again there are some downsides the people from other generations dont quite get. for example the work is a lot harder and if your not use to working on computers it can vary difficult. So i wish more people understand the pressure and the stress that comes with school today.
Stress is a big deal, I feel like a lot of people dismiss the fact that we can get stressed too even though we haven't been in "the real world". As a student in 2018 we have so much to think about, such as keeping up with grades, keeping healthy relationship,s extracurricular activities and so much more. I feel like dismissing it is only making it worse because it makes them seem like our feelings done matter and that you don't care about our well being.
To be honest, the stress and depression that my friends and I go through just about every day that doesn't have school or is a field trip. my parents, and especially my mom, has no idea what kind of mental, and emotional pain my classmates go through. Now despite my state of frenzied anger toward the educational system, I actually have a lot of friends and I've been through 10 years of school (currently in 10th grade) without many incidents of bullying, which makes it a real problem because a lot of students have it worse than me and that just makes me feel even worse because as if I haven't been pushed to the edge enough, some students as young as 11 are suicidal. I just want our 120 year old education system to modernize itself, and stop turning our children into mindless drones that make educators say: (l)earning is our business.
1
I’m just a sophomore in high school, but there is already a lot of pressure to get into a good college and know what I’m going to do when I’m older. As a student of 2018, people may not understand the stress of a student in 2018 compaired to a student in previous years. Being exposed to new technology everyday is nothing new for us students. I know I’m considered a student who is constantly on their phone and has distractions grabbing my attention 24/7, but most people don’t understand is that in the pervious years they didn’t have these distractions students are attached to everyday. I wish more people understood that students are more contented to technology than any other person and it can be a problem for students like me.
What I wish more people understood is that sometimes when we have stress, it leads to many other things. When I have a giant workload, I stress. When I stress, I get anxiety. When I get anxiety, I get sleep paralysis. When I get sleep paralysis I am afraid to go to sleep. When I am afraid to go to sleep I don’t get any sleep. When I don’t get any sleep I get nothing done at school because I’m so tired. When I get nothing done at school because I’m so tired, I stress. Then, the cycle begins again.
I wish that teachers would understand the fact that all of them are giving homework at expecting a student to turn it all in on the day after. Sometimes students have to pick between doing an essay in English or doing math out of their textbooks, and when you pick and choose you fall behind. Giving us piles of homework for each class every day is ridiculous, and it's ludicrous to expect someone to accomplish hours worth of work after getting home around 4, eating dinner around 6, and going to bed around 9 or 10. It isn't healthy to overwork yourself nor is it healthy to cut out all free time to just do schoolwork.
I wish people would understand that we have stress. Adults say that we won’t know stress until we get a real job, but I have stress. My pastor always said he would agree that students have stress. That we have a lot to do, and more adults should think of that. They also should know school is scary. We have to fight bullies, and drama, but recently we had to fight school shootings, and mass killings. I would do anything to grow up the time my parents did. Where you don’t have to worry about going to school one morning, and not coming home that afternoon. We have social media where it shows it’s cool to get and fights, gangs, and drugs. I sit and watch people around me wither away like flowers. Like we were all planted at the same time, but in different places. Watching some grow and spread while making a beautiful flower. While others just shrink and die into nothing. Being a teenager is hard.
I am a freshman in high school currently, and I never thought my high school career would be as concerning as this. Even at 14, all I hear about is college, college, college. I try to be well-rounded in extracurriculars, acamdemics, and volunteering, but there is simply not enough time. Being on varsity track and field, I return home every day at 6:00-6:30 just to start on my homework, take a shower, and go to bed in time to get 8 hours of sleep. This is all moderately difficult, considering the fact that I wake up at 5:45 to get to the bus. Though this may sound like a lot, no one has it worse than the musical department. They open this week, and they are staying more than 15 hours a day at school, including weekends. I simply wish there was a better way to get enough sleep, good grades, and look good for colleges.
Being a Sophomore in High School puts me on the less experienced end of the student spectrum. But from as far back as I can remember, so about kindergarten, I was pushed. I was able to read some before most of my classmates, therefore my better reading classmates and myself were pulled aside to read at an even higher level. And I hated it. I barely was able to read at this "higher level" so I felt very out of place. As I went through elementary school I enjoyed pushing myself, I did battle of the books where you are asked questions about books and are competing against other elementary schools, and instead of reading the 2 or 3 books required, I read all of them. I enjoyed being challenged but I soon grew out of it in middle school, that's where I met my favorite subject, math. But it wasn't as easy to push myself, someone has to teach you the next step for the next level. This is true up to me now, where I think of myself as a good math student but not compared to my classmates that are even farther ahead of me. But pushing yourself in school work is no longer good enough. That is what is broken about today's school system and college admissions. I am expected to be a straight A student, have a great SAT and ACT score, be a good sports player, play an instrument or 2, and have some other activity. I want people to know that school itself isn't stressful, it's that the stuff we have to do combined with school that stresses us out, just to have a chance to get into college.
1
Being a student is no longer about learning, exploring your curiosities and meeting new people. I'm a junior and since I stepped into the high school doors freshman year, I have constantly felt the pressure to do good enough for college. Not only is there the stress put on you from the pressure to succeed at a good college, but there's social media and technology making our lives all the while harder. Being young is no longer being young, we're forced to face the blunt reality that we're never working hard enough.
Stress. It is the one thing that all students have in common, and unfortunately it grows with each responsibility that we are given as students. We are told to challenge ourselves and take advance courses but are reprimanded when we do not do well. We are told to take advantage of every opportunity but criticized when we have no time. We are told to balance our academics with family, friends, jobs, sports, volunteering, etc. and yet, when we can't complete the endless hours of homework and studying, we are reproached with laziness. It is not the age in which we are students or whether or not we are misunderstood, it is the weight of bearing the title in the first place.
Balance is a lesson that isn't spelled out in any high school curriculum, but it is a key component of academic success. I am not talking about simply mastering procrastination and juggling grades and sports. Students today are required to constantly make life-determining choices that will shape our futures. We rarely choose based on enjoyment but more often based on obligation. Students today have to develop a certain kind of disciple when our motivation abandons us. It often does because we are exposed to a world of seemingly successful people on social media, who often do not go the traditional and difficult route to achieve success and acquire wealth. Though I think the increasing competitiveness of high school has helped many realize their potential and unveiled many life-changing opportunities, it encourages the notion that there is only one way to be successful. Only one way to be intelligent. We are given a list of things that we must do and know in order to make it in the world, yet there is this nagging question attached to these requirements. Why? The major issue I witness among my peers and even within myself sometimes is that there is a lack of adequate answers to that question. It has become harder for students to see the possibilities that come with our education and diplomas. We've lost faith in our government leadership, our education systems, and our ability to positively change the world we live in. This idea of purpose is another lesson we seek to learn.
As a sophomore, I am already worried about what classes I need to take to be able to accomplish the career I want, I have summers booked full of extracurriculars, internships, and jobs months in advanced, and on top of homework, I have meetings with college counselors and tutors. While I understand that these are the lengths I need to take to remain a competitive student, I find myself worrying about college and my future too frequently. Instead of learning how to drive I am learning how to do advanced math, and every Sunday is dedicated solely to school work. I think that the pressure to succeed has become so prevalent that it beginning to interfere with growing up and childhood.
Every day, teens face struggles with time management, and pressures surrounding school. Every day I am given reasonable amounts of work for every class, but these reasonable amounts add up with every passing hour. And I soon begin to worry more about going home and facing my work, than actually attending school. Teachers turn a blind eye to other classes, and despite a few attempts at reduction from understanding educators, nothing changes. This alone puts a damper on the day. But what pushes me over the edge is the pressure to do more- not just from teachers, but family, friends, and just about everyone else. After I receive my homework for the day, I am bombarded with lessons on why I need to be doing extracurriculars, and clubs, and community service, and working, all the while finding way to be appealing to colleges. I am told that I need to be taking higher level classes, do higher level programs- programs that cram more tedious work into my already ruined day. I am forced into classes that I don’t want any future with, only adding to the difficulty of keeping my GPA high- A number with so much bearing on my chances of success, yet reflects almost none of the work I do. And just when I think I’m getting by fine, I’m criticized for being jaded, or not motivated. People should understand how it REALLY feels to be a teenager today, but the only way to truly understand is to experience it yourself- something I would never wish for future generations.
1
A lot of people these days don’t understand what it is like to be a student in 2018. Things are different now then they were back then. I wish people understood that we have so many things going on at at one time. Trying to keep our grades up, working, and getting ready for the real world is no easy task. Some people act like it’s easy, but in reality it isn’t. There are some advantages to being a student right now though. Education is better, there are better opportunities, and jobs are not as difficult to find. However, it is also much more stressful. You have large numbers of school shootings as well I just wish people would understand that it is very difficult to be a student in 2018.
I feel like the struggles of teenagers are overlooked. It may of been a long time ago, but if only you could live a day in our shoes you could realize that growing up today is NOT such a walk in a park.
Can you imagine feeling alone at school, without a single friend? Seeing the latest post on Instagram, of your friend who said that she was having a night at home. Like adolescence is out to get you and the only comfort you have is that tomorrow is the weekend? I, as a fourteen year old in eighth grade, have felt this way more times than one.
On those days, which all adults have gone through at some point, are the worst times of the teen years. Maybe your best friend told you that she was moving, or you got a D+ on that history test that you studied all night for. Add in the upcoming end of year dance, finish off with high school looming in the not so far off future and you get the life of a teenager.
Everybody is fighting personal battles, even teenagers. So what if these might be minor issues. "It is not the end of the world," parents say. But maybe to us they are more than petty afterthoughts.
All it takes is a little empathy to make me feel better when I am down. Just one, I have been there too, along with some advice to escape the newest conundrum. If adults could think back to when they too, were at odds with their friends or had to cram in studying until midnight the night before, the struggles of the teen years may not be so bad.
I am a junior in high school, and like many other high school students my age, I have many things on my plate. Prepping for the SAT, beginning to look into colleges, keeping grades up, extracurricular activities, etc., so it is obvious that stress is prevalent in todays society. I believe time management is something that all students struggle with; I know I struggle with this. However, one thing that helps me manage all of the things that I have to juggle at this age is technology. Many adults view technology as something that is poisoning the minds of young people, but I disagree. I think it is important for teachers and parents to understand that not only does technology give us insight into our world that we would not be able to achieve without, we have greater access to amazing learning opportunities, such as Khan Academy to help prepare for the SAT and homework.
Time management is the biggest struggle that I face as a student. Having enough time for the little things instead of having a bunch of homework that take up my free time. As a student I care about my work and how it presents me and what I care about so I tend to spend at least 4 hours a night doing my homework for one subject. Although many of us have study periods to help with this I still find myself doing homework well past when I should be doing it. I wish people understood that us as high school students need time to socially interact or do things of our choice rather than being cooped up doing homework all the time. There is also a lot of pressure on us to get into college and have to be able to do your best in all subjects even if some don't make sense to a particular person. Grades should not define our smarts I feel a lot of people are defined by their grades but I know from experience that no one should feel that pressure and grades don't always show your worth.
For starters, I am sick of teachers teaching their class in the style of "when I was in high school..." (If you know what I mean. For crying out loud, you didn't even have calculators so imagine how much ELSE is different nowadays. They teach in a style that says to kids "Even though you have 5+ other classes in which they all give homework, not to mention extracurricular activities and social and family lives, my class comes first. SO prepare for 3+ hours of homework every night." That is the style in which a select few of my teachers decide to teach their students. It is frustrating and, frankly, IMPOSSIBLE. I would also much appreciate it if you stopped acting as if you're class is a college level class. Even though you are "preparing us" for non-leniant due dates and requirements, we are still students, and humans at that. So is that to say when a teacher mis-graded my assignment and misplaces it that THEY don't have to deal with repercussions of misplacing it? Why do I if they don't? We are ALL HUMAN. Please remember that and just accept that we, as students and people, are doing our best.
I’m just a sophomore in high school, but there is already a lot of pressure to get into a good college and know what I want to do in my life. There are many expectations made by both my school and my family, and the stress of attempting to live up to them is often too much to deal with. There is also the fear of what’s going to happen once you are forced into the real world. So many awful events are happening in the world that will land on our generations shoulders’, and we have to fix all of the mistakes that the generations before us made, if we want to keep this world a good place.
I'm a 15 year old sophomore, and as such, I often get stereotyped as a teenager who won't get off his phone or has no motivation to do anything. However, myself and many other students around the nation do not fit this stereotype and we all work hard for what we want. High school and college admissions are more competitive than they've ever been, and students are constantly under pressure to perform at the highest level. However, technology is a huge benefit of education in the 21st century. I can view my grades online whenever, and I don't always have to carry around textbooks when I can just study online.
1
I wish more people understood how much students have on our plate. I, and as well as the majority of the other students I know, work and work a lot. We have to balance doing homework for 5+ classes, working, extracurricular activities and dealing with our social lives all at the same time. That's quite the load. Not to mention, some students have a lot of personal issues that they are also dealing with. Stress is a very prevalent thing, having so much on our plate is hard and it is a lot to deal with. I wish people understood that even though we are young, stress is real and being a student is very hard,
My junior year of high school is my first year in a public school in 2 years. I transferred to my current high school from a private one in order to attend more AP level classes and leave the money dominated private school system. My experience has been stressful at times as it is for all upperclassmen, but I have been pleasantly surprised at the support I have received from my teachers. I think it is important for adults to understand how incremental technology is to our education. We are constantly told that we are too addicted to our phones and computers, which is true in some ways, but they also allow us to have a greater world view. Our need to be constantly connected has informed us about multiple perspectives and given us more global awareness. We know more than you think we do as school today reaches beyond the curriculum that you were taught. We are constantly learning, in and our of school, which helps us develop our own opinions, so most importantly listen to what we have to say. We are not simply echoing our parents beliefs, we are sharing our own and deserve respect.
Stress. It’s a thing we as student deal with daily with all of the work unloaded on us that we have to devour to make colleges, parents and teachers to notice us. The essays, translations, quizzes, and tests we have to endure to make it through the battlefield of high school. But atop all of these assignments we are also looked up as lazy and weak-minded kids who never work for anything by the older generations. If only they could see the late night cram sessions for that big AP World test, or the multiple breakdowns brought on by endless homework. If I could enlighten the older minds of today I would show them a weeks worth of perseverance that the average 16 year-old honors student has to put forth. The older generations should look deeper into what we have to do to "make it" in life and what it's like to deal with all this added pressure of wearing the right thing, or trying to not be bullied everyday for being different. They shouldn't evaluate our whole being by looking at one of our stories and should dive deeper into the novel of what our lives are really like.
1
I grew up in poverty, with a single mother and no father. I’ve moved more times than years I’ve been alive, and I didn’t get my own bed until I was 13. Up to that point it was air mattresses on living room floors, family member’s couches, sharing beds with my mother and sister, or just blankets on the floor. These are facts. These are facts that no teacher of mine has ever known, and these are facts that were never taken into account when my grades were being compared to those earned by kids who went home to warm houses and fresh meals. Kids with personal tutors or even just parents to help with homework. Kids who have nothing other than school to put their energy into. How could a teacher give me a zero on a homework assignment when I didn’t have a kitchen table to do my homework at? How can the school see that I have over 90 absences in one year and never ask why? There are 35 students in my math class and my teacher doesn’t even know my name. Teachers don’t think about their students being abused or neglected, being hungry or cold, or maybe they do, but they will never know the reality of it. I understand I can’t make excuses, and people overcome worse everyday, but maybe if one teacher stopped to ask the right questions, they could change a child’s life. I can only assume this has been a problem since long before my generation, but that only further nags the overarching question; Why is nothing being done?
1
It is hard for me as a student to be able to manage my time. Between volleyball (indoor and outdoor), spending time with family, and homework, I never get my full 8 hours of sleep in nor do I ever have time to relax. I wish my teachers realized that there isn't a need for butt loads of homework. I am fine with a worksheet but not something I wanna spend an hour working on. I wish my mom would stop getting mad every time I get like a B on something. She has to come to a realization that there are a lot of things going in my life and sometimes I am not able to focus as well as I did in middle school. Some challenges most high schooler's my age are experiencing is being able to manage their time with school and sports. The good thing is that you always have an option in moving to the lower classes or not playing a sport at all. It's all of your decisions. I feel like in this generation teachers are more involved with their student's education and actually want to help student have a successful life. People's lives definitely don't turn out right if you don't go to school because they aren't knowledgeable and they don't understand responsibility or how to be mature. It is important for them to understand because you want to be able to get older and build a family and go on fun trips and have a steady job but if you don't go to school then you won't even know how to handle a family or how to handle a job.
I'm a freshman In high school. Everybody told me that high school would be better and it would be easier on social stress. Well, all of that is incorrect. I am struggling so much to keep my grades up and be a normal kid and try not to suffer as much as I do. The constant no friends and always feeling alone is definitely not fun and I feel like I don't know where I'm going anymore. I live in a small town with the whole high school population only 500 people and 120 freshmen class. And there are not a lot of people to choose from. Living in Colorado and the legal use of pot consumes the entire high school. Everybody does it. And for the kids who don't do it, there automatically outcasts. Were the weird kids around here. My parent would always tell me "High school was the best time of our lives!" but here I am willing to do anything to get out of it. The social part of it is the hardest for me. Being one of the youngest in the whole 9th-grade class at only 14, meeting with the counselor daily to discuss "How I'm feeling today" and pull myself together and not cry. The thing that sucks the most for me is the fact I want to go to a good college and I want to get out of here and start a life. But I need to get through High school to support myself. I can't go to a good college or any of my choice without going to high school. And lastly, no one here is going to help me accomplish my dreams.
1
The pressures of college is just a big issue that's disrupting my whole cycle.
I'm a junior in high school this year, and all of my teachers and counselors continue to pressure me into applying for college and figuring out what I want to do with my life. But everything I'm doing with my life right now has no future ahead of me, no matter how much I enjoy it.
I have no idea what I'm going to do with my life, so picking colleges that fit my choice in lifestyle and also will accept my level of learning ability is a high level of stress on every part.
My mom is a young mother who just graduated college herself, so I don't know how I'm going to pay for a college tuition in the first place.
I'm taking a college level class right now, and I'm the youngest one in the class, and everybody else graduates soon. The teacher keeps bringing in visitors that are trying to get me to apply for colleges, but I am thinking about waiting anyway, so I can travel and discover myself as a functioning human being within our society.
Besides.
If my ideal career is something that is going to help other people, which route should I go? Helping people is such a big umbrella topic.
Where do I go from there to make myself the best that I can be?
"High school is the easiest time of your life, the most fun!" What my parents would say to me throughout middle school and all the way to today. I have found it to be quite a different reality though, but for many I'm sure this quote is the reality. For those that take on-level classes or even just honors classes, for those who don't play sports, those that don't do numerous clubs, this is likely the reality. For those of us that are top of our class, jammed with more AP classes during Sophomore year than most will have taken throughout high school there is a different reality. You wake-up at 630 be at school for your morning class an hour before everyone else arrives, then you go to school all day, then it is off to practice for 2 plus hours. Before you know it after you've eaten dinner and showered it is 8 o'clock. You then dig into 3-4 hours of homework hopefully getting to bed by midnight. This is a normal day in the life of tens of thousands of high schoolers. Then on weekends you get nagged to death about chores and getting a job, when all you want to do is get back all the sleep you lost from the previous week.
If the lack of sleep doesn't get to you the pressure surely will, for students striving to go to an Ivy League school a B isn't an option. You fret daily about that one question you knew, the difference between what would have been an A. If only parents and teachers could realize this stress we undergo every day some do, but most unfortunately do not.
1
I'm a 17 year old senior and I have to tell you being a student in this day and age sucks. I also have to tell you it could and has been a lot worse. I feel like I have to worry about daily not only is I will get bullied, but if some psychopath will come in my school with a gun or bomb and threaten us. I know my school is better than most with so many understanding teachers, but I still feel the pressure and the silent judgement from them to do better and not get anything wrong. I know that could be seen as them wanting the best for us, but it puts a lot of pressure on anyone. It sometimes feels like a teacher has envisioned something for us to reach. But I feel like some positive things are that we have so many ways to learn now.
It makes it easier for us students to find things and the teachers work load lessons even just a bit.
I sometimes feel like in school that I have to not only watch my back, but also everything around me. I have not had the best experiences, but that hasn't stopped my love for learning. I still love finding new and interesting things. But I feel judged for the things I want to learn from both students and teachers. I feel sometimes that a class moves so slow in learning things, but I can't blame anyone because that is the speed they learn.
Nowadays being different is like painting a target on your back so people try to hide it. I hope one day people wont be hurt in school for being different than the others,
Being seventeen and a junior in 2018 is a lot different than being seventeen and a junior a handful of years ago. Not only do I have to worry about a sea of never-ending “terror packets” (a monster of a packet for my AP history class; an eight-or-nine page horror story disguised as a pleasant way of solidifying my understanding of this decade or that decade), but now I have to worry about The World.
Being seventeen and a junior in 2018 means carrying more than your six-pound backpack that you are absolutely convinced is giving you some early stage of hunchback. Being seventeen and a junior in 2018 is carrying your Chromebook (which is either at 100% or 4%), stress about what’s going on at home, stress about the latest tweet that Trump put out, stress about this and that. Being seventeen and a junior in 2018 is sitting down in your precalculus class, on the literal edge of your seat, SOHCAHTOA on the board in front of you, but your eyes are barely open. It's wondering why you can't get higher than a B on the tests, even though you were sure you understood trigonometry, and yes, mom, I did stay after school, I promise.
There is good, though. There is always good. I like seeing my friends and laughing so hard in French class that my stomach aches in my next class. I like getting good grades on essays and I like the (albeit, rare) feeling I get when all of those practice problems actually pay off.
I am a Senior at Maine Endwell Highschool district, and in my 4 years of attending, i realize how quickly the school system is evolving, drastically changing the way millenials now attend their classes. You never would have thought that you can go to school nowadays with no pen, and still get through just fine due to everything being automated. My local student body is generally calm, I attend a safe school environment, with cheerful classmates and teachers. Rarely we have any issues involving safety, or lately even bullying for that matter. I think if an adult were to talk into a school today they would see a totally different world from what they once graduated from all that time ago.
One thing I find frustrating about being a student today is that we are not taught certain things that could be very useful in the future once we graduate or even while still attending high school. For example, we are not really taught anything about financial literacy or how to be financially responsible in the future, at least not at my school. It would be very helpful if school taught students how to do their taxes, write checks, how interest, credit, loans and insurance function in the "real world." Even though we may not be of age to have access to some of the things that require the knowledge of these topics, it wouldn't hurt to be given a heads up about the common confusing concepts that appear after graduating high school. I have noticed that sometimes adults tend to think less of students, or even young adults in general because some of them don't know how the "real world" works, but what can adults expect? It's not like we've been taught these things in school. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I am an 8th grader at DCPS VA, and I feel underestimated. Me and my brother, who is a senior, got into a fight about middle schoolers. He kept saying that were all the same, bt he couldn't be more wrong. There are tons of kids who know their place in the world, that know that, were nothing in the eyes of the seniors. Others, think they're all that, my brother mixed them up and kept saying that he's right. Once we get to 9th grade, we'll have to start all over. We, as 8th graders, are underestimated by the highschoolers.
I am a senior at one of the largest schools in Pennsylvania and I do not feel safe. Two years ago, my sophomore year, a junior attempted to burn down our school by setting fire to the band room - he didn't get into select jazz. Last year, a stranger came into our building looking for books about the terrorist attacks on 9/11. The security at our school is great, I know some by name and they know me. But how can I convince myself I am guarded in a school bigger than some colleges? It's so easy to enter and even easier to exit. Being a student in 2018, I worry about my safety.