180 days a year, 5 days a week, 7 hours a day the average U.S. student is spending their day in school. That may not seem like a lot but mentally and physically it takes a toll on the body. Everyone has their own opinions on school, but face it, we will be in school for at least 13 years, so we might as well get used to it. The real problem is the stress.

Some people are good at handling their stress, but others are not and feel like they will crack under the pressure. Which brings me to my point, teachers expect a lot from their students. I’ve recently interviewed Ms. Nazelli, and Elizabeth Myers asking their views on homework, school, and stress. First we have Ms. Nazelli.

Q : What are your views on homework?

A : Here is my opinion on homework, the results of studies on homework are mixed, depending on the area, studying can be very helpful. However, for overwhelmed, and tired teenagers, homework can sometimes be counterproductive if it’s just busy work. It should relevant and related to learning objectives.

Q : How do you expect kids to handle things like school, work, extra curricular activities, and their home lives? 

A : Students are learning time management skills, high school is a challenging time to do that. Recent studies are showing us that teenagers are needing at least 11 hours of sleep a night, the lack of sleep complicates teens ability to time manage school, extra curricular activities, a job, and family life.

Now we have some answers from Elizabeth Myers.

Q : What are your views on homework? 

A : Homework is useful for some curriculum that an individual would need to practice. If you already know something, it becomes annoying to do the same thing over and over again. Homework is mentally too much sometimes, your brain gets tired.

Q : How often do you feel overwhelmed by school, work, and other things in your life and how do you handle it?

A : At least twice a week I feel like that. You are at school for 7 hours getting head crammed  with information, then you get to go home and do hours of more cramming of the same information, and on top of that teenagers may have other responsibilities like sports, chores, or work. Teenagers are supposed to get sleep, and with everything we have to do, we don’t get to actually lay down until 11, 12, or even later. I try to keep myself organized by using a planner. It helps me manage all of my daily tasks.

In conclusion, school is an extremely stressful time of the year. Students spend their entire day trying to keep themselves organized and stable at the same time. Yes, we just have to learn to deal with it, but that doesn’t mean that teachers can’t take a moment to let everyone breath, even themselves because everyone has other problems. We just need to help each other solve them.