Academic stress affects students more than many realize. Students become unmotivated, grades drop and many are tardy more than ever. To find what’s causing academic decline, we need to find how each cause plays a role in each other.
Mental health may be one of the most important issues to stay on top of, especially when it affects how you manage throughout the day with work and school life. When your personal life is littered with issues, it can be hard to focus on anything else.
“The issues that affect me make it harder for me to strive to do better,” Senior Jose Ramirez said. “Unless you’re blatantly struggling with something that others will see from an outside perspective.”
He thinks teachers may be too harsh on kids. “Nobody really takes you into consideration,’’ he said. “We get such big projects and assignments, and the rate teachers give them makes it such a struggle to stay on top of them. Things pile up and it’s hard to manage. It really makes me want to give up at times.”
He also thinks school starts too early. “Starting at 9 works for Lehman so I don’t know why we shouldn’t. I would rather wake up a little later to get more sleep in.”
Amane Torres, another senior who faces similar struggles, says a lack of in-depth explanation with high expectations has led to disappointing results
“A lot of my teachers give a bunch of work without ever really explaining it properly,’’ she said. “On top of that, there’s usually not much time to complete it.”
Parent coordinator Wilson Lantigua shares insights he hopes will help students with their academics. “My mom always says don’t do tomorrow what you can do today,” he said. “If you know you have a midterm to study for, don’t wait until the last minute. Aside from that, only take on what you can handle. People join all of these extracurriculars, and they barely have time to do homework, which overwhelms them.”
He also sees flaws in the academic system where middle schools don’t always fail students who deserve to fail. “When kids get to high school, they have the same expectations and think they don’t have to put in any effort,” he said. “They should definitely be held more accountable, even at a young age.”
As the parent coordinator, he also is working to boost parent involvement. He’d like to see more parents taking part in parent-teacher conferences, meetings and other events.
The struggles students face can’t be solved, but they can definitely be faced with enough effort. Whether it be small changes made from school staff or lifestyle adjustments from students, there has to be a way to better the learning experience of students.
