There are multiple factors that cause a high school student to experience stress and anxiety. Something every high school student stresses about is their GPA; also known as your grade point average. Students are up until 2 A.M. multiple days throughout the week trying to get all of their homework done. Since teachers don’t communicate with what they assign, some people are given at least an hour of homework from each of their 5-6 classes. Along with homework, it is extremely difficult to even out your study time when you have three tests the next day. Teachers cannot expect a single student to complete 6 classes worth of homework, at least one quiz or test, and practice sports all in one day. 

It comes down to one question; Would you rather get enough sleep for the night or finish all your homework, but with 4 hours of sleep? 

A survey was conducted to experiment how many students think they have too much homework. Once the results were calculated, 59% of the students believed that too much daily homework was assigned to them. If this many people can agree that they are too stressed out, more and more students’ grades will fall. Many teachers throughout the world refuse to accept late work for any credit, forcing the procrastinators or busy students to stay up late. Compared to the strict teachers, the ones that are more understanding tend to be favored by the students as well as having a higher average of grades for that subject. 

There are plenty of other things that go on in peoples’ lives outside of school. This can include sports, extracurriculars, social lives, and family lives. Sometimes, things at home are not good and it can lead to students falling behind in their studies. Not all people are brave enough to speak about their problems and teachers will then not be understanding of their grades. With a little bit of lenience and kindness, things can be fixed with that student. 

From ages 15-24, suicide is the second leading-cause of death. Within this age range, people are usually in highschool to junior year in college. The lack of sleep from large amounts of homework given to students can cause them to mentally suffer. Teenagers need at least 8-10 hours of sleep per night if they want to fully function the next day. The most extroverted students can have a noticeably large change of their personalities when faced with anxiety. It can cause some to develop anger, sadness, or even fear. Ghost, by Cynthia Huntington, is a poem explaining how it feels to be an outcast. The most antisocial people are how they are usually because of anxiety from different situations. People that are afraid to speak to others can come off as rude, making it even more difficult for them to make friends at school.

Along with the feeling of being a ghost, another heavy part of school is bullying. 40% of highscool students that identify as bisexual, gay, or lesbian experience bullying in highscool. From an early age, we are instructed to be kind to everyone and stop bullying when we see it. Sometimes, students are popular enough to not even realize that they are bullying someone because that person is too scared to say anything. Even though they can feel it’s wrong on the inside, their friends’ laughs encourage the bullying to continue. Some teachers don’t care enough to say anything or are oblivious to the fact that a student is getting bullied in their class. A good thing about our school is that there is an anonymous hotline to report someone for bullying. If you are too afraid to “snitch” on a person that is bullying you, try to gather enough confidence to explain your feelings directly to them. According to the video Lost & Found by Joey Bania, “Give it a go and sometimes it works.” If they are too inconsiderate of others’ feelings and don’t listen to your requests, it is worth taking it up to an adult to handle. 

One last part of school that can be too much for a student is sports. Many coaches are too involved in their athletes’ personal lives and can interfere with the school workload that they already have. For example, a friend I have that wrestles for their school was too sick to go one day. Instead of giving that athlete a break for a day, the coach called an Uber to their house. This is absolutely unacceptable for a student athlete to have to deal with. Not only are coaches the only problem, but a student’s own mind can be overwhelming. Sports are a perfect example of each person wanting to be the best. Through hard work, drama, and time, athletes all compete to be at the top. When you’re there, it’s easy to sense yourself “slipping”. This feeling is extremely hard on a person that gives everything for their sport, especially if someone replaces them as a result.

School can be very stressful from things including peer pressure, bullying, grades, friendships, sports and more. Every person, highschool student or not, should try to find some kind of “outlet” to release stress. For me, music is my source of freedom. As soon as my AirPods switch to noise cancellation, I am laying in bed with my eyes closed. Listening to the lyrics and beats of my favorite songs make me feel so much more at peace than I would be stressing out school-related problems. Some of my favorite sonsg to listen to include She, by Tyler the Creator and Frank Ocean, Les, by Childish Gambino, and All Mine, by Kanye West. If listening to songs isn’t your way of destressing, there are an infinite amount of other ways that don’t involve music. Some of these include practing sports, taking a walk, sleeping, baking, creating art, etc. 

Many people refuse to admit to themselves or others that they are stressed. Anxiety is a very common feeling among people and it is nothing to be ashamed about. From now on, when talking to friends, try to notice or see that something is different about them. If they are complaining about friends or their grades have significantly dropped, this could be a sign of stress. Offer them an ear to listener reccommend possible “outlets” as stated above. Each person handles school differently, but we can all agree that highschool life can get very stressful for a teenager.