When a student doesn't get home until nine o'clock at night, how is this person supposed to study for a 70 point physics test, an AP government test, an AP statistics test, and also do their homework while also getting at least some sleep? It doesn't happen. I am guilty of being a student and doing this. I once had many tests on one day, and after getting home from Bravo practice and One Act practice at 10:30(practice started after school at 2:30), I realized there just wasn't enough time in the day to be a successful, healthy student and actress. It seems as if senior year is trudging along and becoming more and more stressful. Isn't senior year supposed to be one of the easiest years?
For many students who are apart of Eastview athletics and activities, the ever-so-popular "All Nighters" is becoming a growing trend. With students at Eastview taking more and more classes that entitle them to study more, like AP and CIS classes, my peers are becoming more and more sleep deprived. Eastview offers fourteen AP classes and three CIS classes run by the University of Minnesota. Taking two AP classes, Statistics and American Government, and also being a part of the school's Fall Play, Musical, One Act, Bravo, Dance Team, and student council, I know what it is like to have a "stressful" night at work preparing for tests I have the next day while also do my homework.
When I wake up in the morning, I gaze at my schedule for the day that is hanging on my wall. I sometimes have multiple activities going on during the day, and at times, have to be in two places at once. Two weeks ago, I had tech week for the One Act Play, called Cut. Everyday me and my cast mates would wake up and be at school by 7:25. We would attend school, and when school was out, we would go to play practice which was from 2:30-6. During these three and a half long grueling hours, we would be speaking and walking around during the entire time. There was no time for me to sit down and breathe in my two-inch high heel character shoes I was wearing for the play. That also happened to be the first week that Bravo was happening, so right after the One Act practice was complete, some of us who were also apart of Bravo would hustle over to the choir room to learn choreography for multiple dances. We then would have Bravo from 6-10. At Bravo, I was dancing around the others even though I was just walking around in heels for three and a half hours. With no realization at how my feet would hurt later and how the exhausting almost 9 hours of non-stop movement without a break, I always tried to exceed my best. After Bravo was done, I got home around 10:30 at night. Ben Stofferahn states “It is really difficult to stay at school so late with activities and such and still be able to do our best in school. It is really frustrating when we have so much homework and teachers asking us to just do more and more.” We finally were able to sit and relax and breathe for a couple moments, but then we had to jump right into schoolwork before being able to go to bed.
Teachers at Eastview High School really encourage and expect their students to do their best in school and also participate in arts, activities, and athletics. Yet, seemingly, the same teachers who do this also are the ones who push the most homework onto your plate. You could have your director or coach as a teacher during the day, and they give you almost 30 pages of a book to read that night for homework. Then, after school, they become your director or coach and tell you what to do until they can’t tell you anymore. Then you go home, and they still are controlling your life it seems like because your then have to read the 30 pages they assigned earlier that day. “Students are under a lot of pressure these days, and it doesn’t help them when you have people asking them to be better and better, “says counselor Mr. Wanous.
So, when I get home at 10:30 and pull out my homework, I looked and I had to read some pages for Shakespeare, do a physics worksheet, and study for a physics, stats, and Gov test. I didn’t think this would take very long. I opened up my book and started to read. Then I started to do physics, when I noticed my stomach was grumbling and realized I hadn’t ate since lunch that day, almost 13 hours earlier. I finished my physics, the rushed upstairs and ate the quickest thing I could find in my kitchen, a bowl of Fruit Loops. So, by the time I ate and got back to homework, it was almost midnight. I was starting to worry and get stressed out because it was almost two AM and I still had to study for my two AP tests the next day. I would have put off studying, but these three tests were very big, and I needed to study. I then hit the books. First, I reviewed all my physics handouts we had gotten from this unit to make sure I understood what was happening. I then went to study for statistics. I memorized the few formulas we had to know for the test the next day, re-read the chapter, and made sure I understand how we get the p-value and everything else that was needed to ace the test.
I didn’t even want to look at the clock. I had though only two hours had gone by, but it was already almost 5:30 in the morning! I only had an hour to study for my government test, the one test I needed to do the best on. I started freaking out. I just couldn’t take the pressure of all these tests’ and Eastviews wanting students to exceed expectations and do the best on all possible tests. I don’t do good under pressure as it is, so with the added pressure of having three huge tests the next day and not getting any sleep capped the day off after dancing and singing and acting the night before for almost six hours. I was at a breaking point where I was not able to function. I had to do something besides sitting and looking inside a book and memorizing formulas. I went and took a shower, and came back and started to read through the government chapter when it was already time for me to go to school.
I went to school in the worst possible way, sleepy and wondering when the day was going to end. I had all my tests within the first four hours of the day; and I told myself I would be able to make it through the day. And, surprisingly, I did just that. I also had Bravo and Once Act practice that night until 10 pm again. Today, however, after Bravo and One Act practice, I went home got into my PJ’s and hopped into bed and slept as long as I possibly could without doing any homework or studying. This was the first “All-Nighter” I had experienced in High School due to school work. When my mother woke up the day after my “All Nighter” and noticed I was not “myself”, she wondered what was wrong. I told her what I was doing the night and she told me “That is completely ridiculous. You should have slept last night and not done your homework.” This was the first time I had heard her tell me not to do my homework, so I had to explain why I needed to, and she was in complete awe on how much I had on my plate that long, drawn out night.
It still amazes me that some people due this on a weekly basis and nothing is being done. Some students are so stressed that they actually do not know what to do. They run around and spend all their time worrying about when they are going to sleep and when they are even going to eat. This is really unsettling to know that this unhealthy nature is going on everywhere around Eastview. Yes, school is supposed to challenge you a point where you learn, but their becomes a point where schoolwork is okay, and when it needs to be brought back a little for the safety of the students. Teachers don’t communicate with each other so we could have a test in every single class a student has and we could be up the entire night studying and not get any sleep. If teachers knew what was best they would communicate and at least make an attempt to try to level out the amount of homework and tests they give their students.
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