It’s stereotypical for students to give their all at the beginning of the brand new school year or semester to make up for the lack of effort, but how can we break this endless tradition of procrastination?
According to the National Library of Medicine, “The study found that lower feelings of success and higher emotional exhaustion resulted in lower students’ attachment to school. Collectively, the findings from these studies indicate that a healthy school environment could reduce burnout among students.” So how can we, as a school, improve our performance in the classroom while also prioritizing mental health?
Freshman interviewee Elisa Contreras said, “Yes, and the way schools can implement student stress is by having flexible deadlines, and also focus on the fact that learning is important to not just grades all the time.” This is a vital point, as the focus shifts back to deadlines and students not meeting them in time. Educators should adopt new guideline grading policies. For example, in a Feedback-First evaluation, most students often ignore comments of encouragement or even criticism; but the school can implement detailed feedback first and delay the grade evaluation, forcing us onto improvement. Or, the “Not yet” grading approach, rather than failing students with a simple input of a “D” or “F” some educators can mark the grade as a “progressing” grade or “Not Yet” status. These two terms can encourage students to stress no longer about a letter grade, but about their mental understanding of the topic.
Freshman interviewee, Leo Sanders, said, “Yes, I have, because trying to keep up with grades and having a productive personal life is difficult. Being at school for more than 7 hours and then going home to do more homework is very stressful. I honestly think the only way to balance personal life and school life is by giving students a 3-day weekend instead of two. Realistically, this will probably never happen; so another solution would be making assignments due at the end of class every day, leading to no more homework.”
As Sander said, efficiency over volume should be brought back into the high school classroom because it forces the lesson to be more concise and focused. It draws the line boundaries between home and a working-environment.
As the leading generation conquers new education technologies and written lessons, we also need to learn how to manage our stress and regulate our nervous system, but how?
Set reasonable goals, and stick to them: Daily reminders to plan out a smooth schedule, making it easier to transition plans, and keep track of your progress.
Avoid unreasonable procrastination and productivity: When we have to do something, but know we can’t accomplish it due to our own limitations we tend to shove the task off until it catches up, but realizing getting the task done in that second can eliminate further stress and distractions.
Taking a Step Back: it’s hard to see a broken frame when you’re in the picture, but taking a step back and viewing the frame from a different perspective might help you glue the pieces back together.
And lastly, finding new ways to associate the class or workload you don’t enjoy doing with a thought process that’s more positive and productive.
As our next leading generation for the years to come, we roam this earth with experiences that shouldn’t define what the rest of our future will look like. Instead, schools and students take initiative in creating a more welcoming and sustainable future and environment for the future to come. Seeking guidance from your counselor or a professional can help you overcome school burnout.