The Vermillionaire
Student and Teacher Debate on the Controversy of How Much Homework is 'Too Much'Monday, January 31, 2011 By Blair Gilkyson
Many high school students know the stress of juggling a busy schedule and their schoolwork. Recently, senior Andrew McCann and teacher JJ Heyden shared their view points on the topic. When asked his opinion on school, McCann said, “I think it’s garbage that we have to get up early and go to school where teachers try to fit in as much as possible in as little time as possible. We go through chapter after chapter and don’t worry about leaving kids behind. They give us work to do at home that between commitments we make, such as jobs, church and Boy Scouts, etc, we don’t have enough time to fit it into our schedule. On weekends we want to spend time with our friends and family that we don’t get to see because we waste the whole week away with working.” McCann is just one of many seniors who feels this way. Even after being a part of VHS for the past four years, their opinions are still very strong. Hearing McCann’s comments, Heyden said, “I don’t agree with this. School is meant to challenge students. We as teachers prepare them for the real world where they’ll have plenty of important responsibilities that they will not be able to get out of when it gets to be ‘too much.’ Our goal is to push students to see how far they can go. If they give even a little effort and use class time wisely, they should be able to get their work done with no problem.” McCann countered. “I see where Heyden’s coming from, but he’s not looking at the situation from our point of view. There’s just not enough time. No teacher leaves you without work. We’re constantly pushed to do better and better and it definitely gets stressful. We feel pressure to take advantage of every opportunity and do as much as possible for college opportunities or to stack our work résumé. Eventually, our work load will be so heavy that we start to fall behind. Our work might not be as good or done to our best ability because we have so much to do. I just don’t see how any of it makes sense.” McCann is a perfect example of students being overloaded. At the beginning of the season, he made the decision to quit wrestling in order to have more time for work and school. This is just one of the many sacrifices a student may be forced to make if their school work starting feeling like it’s too much to bare. Another student who feels overwhelmed by high school is freshman Teagan McNary. “ The transition from middle school to high school is very stressful. You go from having teachers take care of everything you do, to doing it all on your own and having everything become your responsibility. Then, you add the stress of jobs and sports and other extra activities, and it becomes too much to handle,” McNary said. |