By: Vinh Nguyen
Many students in the United States are experiencing tremendous amounts of stress coming from school. Whether it’s a test/quiz, AP classes, or even homework. They constantly have to deal with pressure and stress. The majority of students consider homework to be the main cause of stress.
According to a survey data in 2014 by a Stanford researcher, “56 percent of students considered homework a primary source of stress. Less than 1 percent of the students said homework was not a stressor”. Based on this data, we can see that students in the U.S. are getting excessive amount of homeworks from school.
Homework is an effective way of keeping students to stay on track of the topic, and training them to be more responsible, but too much could backfire with negative effects on physical and mental well being of students.
According to Mary Alvord, a clinical psychologist in Maryland and public education coordinator for the American psychological Association, “A Little stress is a good thing, it can motivate students to be organized. But too much stress can backfire.” Too much homework load can lead to sleep deprivation and other health problems such as weight loss, exhaustion, and stomach problems.
Tai Pham is a Yerba Buena High School student who has experienced many physical symptoms due to stress, said, “I have experienced physical symptoms like headache when spending too much time on homework, and stomachache afterward due to stress.”
Research conducted at Stanford University surveyed more than 4,300 students at 10 high-performing high schools in upper middle-class California communities found out that “80 percent of students reported having at least one stress related symptom in the past month, and 44 percent said they had experienced three or more symptoms.”
Parents are also somewhat aware of this ongoing problem. Some realized that their high schooler is experiencing a lot of stress from school.
Jennie Huynh is a mother, who was surprised to see her daughter, Nora Huynh, that had a total meltdown when she didn’t get a 4.0 on her report card. Jennie says, “the pressure is taking a physical toll, too. At age 16, Nora is tired, and increasingly irritated with her siblings and often suffers headaches.”
Many students in the United States are experiencing tremendous amounts of stress coming from school. Whether it’s a test/quiz, AP classes, or even homework. They constantly have to deal with pressure and stress. The majority of students consider homework to be the main cause of stress.
According to a survey data in 2014 by a Stanford researcher, “56 percent of students considered homework a primary source of stress. Less than 1 percent of the students said homework was not a stressor”. Based on this data, we can see that students in the U.S. are getting excessive amount of homeworks from school.
Homework is an effective way of keeping students to stay on track of the topic, and training them to be more responsible, but too much could backfire with negative effects on physical and mental well being of students.
According to Mary Alvord, a clinical psychologist in Maryland and public education coordinator for the American psychological Association, “A Little stress is a good thing, it can motivate students to be organized. But too much stress can backfire.” Too much homework load can lead to sleep deprivation and other health problems such as weight loss, exhaustion, and stomach problems.
Tai Pham is a Yerba Buena High School student who has experienced many physical symptoms due to stress, said, “I have experienced physical symptoms like headache when spending too much time on homework, and stomachache afterward due to stress.”
Research conducted at Stanford University surveyed more than 4,300 students at 10 high-performing high schools in upper middle-class California communities found out that “80 percent of students reported having at least one stress related symptom in the past month, and 44 percent said they had experienced three or more symptoms.”
Parents are also somewhat aware of this ongoing problem. Some realized that their high schooler is experiencing a lot of stress from school.
Jennie Huynh is a mother, who was surprised to see her daughter, Nora Huynh, that had a total meltdown when she didn’t get a 4.0 on her report card. Jennie says, “the pressure is taking a physical toll, too. At age 16, Nora is tired, and increasingly irritated with her siblings and often suffers headaches.”
Based on my experience, the majority of parents really can’t seem to see the problem because they think the more homework, the better. The truth is, students can learn challenging skills even when less homework is assigned. This has been proven when Pope, who co-authored the Stanford study, did an experiment with a teacher who taught advanced placement biology to see if it dramatically reduced homework assignments would affect students’ test scores. The students’ test scores didn’t change.
There are ways to fix this problem. One of them is to follow and support a standard of 10 minutes of homework per grade level and setting a general limit on after school studying. So for high schoolers, they should spent 2 hours doing homework, anything higher than that would be counterproductive.
Like many other high schoolers, I also have experienced stress and physical symptom of stress like headache from homework. Sometimes, I even feel depressed. It makes me feel sick to my stomach which prevent me from finishing my work, I felt like I couldn’t do my work. The fear of not finishing my homework leads to sleep deprivation because I can’t sleep when I’m feeling some kind of pressure or tension.
If you’re experiencing the same kind of stress, I advise you to talk to your teacher or parents. You could also do your homework with a friend or someone who can help you on your work; that way you won’t experience as much stress.
There are ways to fix this problem. One of them is to follow and support a standard of 10 minutes of homework per grade level and setting a general limit on after school studying. So for high schoolers, they should spent 2 hours doing homework, anything higher than that would be counterproductive.
Like many other high schoolers, I also have experienced stress and physical symptom of stress like headache from homework. Sometimes, I even feel depressed. It makes me feel sick to my stomach which prevent me from finishing my work, I felt like I couldn’t do my work. The fear of not finishing my homework leads to sleep deprivation because I can’t sleep when I’m feeling some kind of pressure or tension.
If you’re experiencing the same kind of stress, I advise you to talk to your teacher or parents. You could also do your homework with a friend or someone who can help you on your work; that way you won’t experience as much stress.