As Bernie Sanders, a Senator from Vermont, once said, “A kid is more than a test. We want kids to be creative. We want kids to be critical thinkers. We also want schools held accountable for factors other than test scores.” Across the nation, high schools place emphasis on certain unnecessary factors of education that does not do any good for the students, and these schools force their students into competition against each other, creating a sort of battle to see who can get to the top and who must be trampled over in this race for success. This is not a race everyone wishes to compete in, and it tramples over student’s ebullience for learning. Alexandra Robbins, author of The Overachievers, has named this aspect of education “Overachiever
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Overachiever culture is present in the decision to take these classes, and many students take AP classes based on the GPA boost they give and how the credit will look according to colleges rather than interest in the class. “If students are bound within certain limits, they won’t feel the need to outdo their classmates, because they won’t be allowed to” (392). Class work is often not the only thing students have to do, as they often load themselves up with extracurricular activities and community service or a job. Students do not always understand what taking an AP class entails; they’re not always aware of the amount of work that goes along with it. By placing a limit on APs available per semester, it will lessen the students work load without making them feel guilty or making them feel like they should be doing more. An overachiever at LCN is taking 4 AP classes, and honors math course, and French as an eighth hour; also, she also dances most days after school and is a member of the marching band. She has enormous pressure to do well in all of these things from her parents as well as from herself. She doesn’t have enough time in the day to get everything done, which places anxiety in her life. If her school had placed limits on AP …show more content…
“By delaying high school start times, school districts can save teens from the sometimes disastrous health effects caused by sleep deprivation” (390). Teenagers aren’t meant to wake up at five am. It goes directly against their natural sleep cycles. Even if students could go to bed at reasonable times, which they can’t because their chemistry does not allow them to be ready to sleep until around eleven, they still won’t get enough sleep to satisfy their bodies; therefore, schools should do what they can to help their students out. With current start times, students are faced with a horrendous quandary: Should they sleep or finish their homework? Most choose the latter out of fear of falling behind in class. Sleep can wait, school won’t. But school should. Another student at LCN has faced the consequences of sleep deprivation more than once. She takes a reasonable amount of AP and honors classes and is involved after school. Usually, she has enough time to finish all her work. However, she still feels the early start time damaging her health. She usually falls asleep in class once or twice every few weeks. She has fallen asleep during tests and quizzes, which often lowers her grade, and yet, she still goes to sleep at a reasonable time. However, she feels the mental strain of not getting enough sleep
Overachiever culture is present in the decision to take these classes, and many students take AP classes based on the GPA boost they give and how the credit will look according to colleges rather than interest in the class. “If students are bound within certain limits, they won’t feel the need to outdo their classmates, because they won’t be allowed to” (392). Class work is often not the only thing students have to do, as they often load themselves up with extracurricular activities and community service or a job. Students do not always understand what taking an AP class entails; they’re not always aware of the amount of work that goes along with it. By placing a limit on APs available per semester, it will lessen the students work load without making them feel guilty or making them feel like they should be doing more. An overachiever at LCN is taking 4 AP classes, and honors math course, and French as an eighth hour; also, she also dances most days after school and is a member of the marching band. She has enormous pressure to do well in all of these things from her parents as well as from herself. She doesn’t have enough time in the day to get everything done, which places anxiety in her life. If her school had placed limits on AP …show more content…
“By delaying high school start times, school districts can save teens from the sometimes disastrous health effects caused by sleep deprivation” (390). Teenagers aren’t meant to wake up at five am. It goes directly against their natural sleep cycles. Even if students could go to bed at reasonable times, which they can’t because their chemistry does not allow them to be ready to sleep until around eleven, they still won’t get enough sleep to satisfy their bodies; therefore, schools should do what they can to help their students out. With current start times, students are faced with a horrendous quandary: Should they sleep or finish their homework? Most choose the latter out of fear of falling behind in class. Sleep can wait, school won’t. But school should. Another student at LCN has faced the consequences of sleep deprivation more than once. She takes a reasonable amount of AP and honors classes and is involved after school. Usually, she has enough time to finish all her work. However, she still feels the early start time damaging her health. She usually falls asleep in class once or twice every few weeks. She has fallen asleep during tests and quizzes, which often lowers her grade, and yet, she still goes to sleep at a reasonable time. However, she feels the mental strain of not getting enough sleep