"...in communities where academic expectations run highest, the real culprit is panic: about acing the exam, burnishing the transcript, keeping up with high-achieving peers"( Bruni). Students are neglecting their sleep needs in order to stay in high ranking with their peers. Colleges have become more competitive and high school curriculum has done the same to keep up. Students are pressured to learn more quicker in order to keep up with the other high achieving students in their school. "Take one more Advanced Placement class. Add another extracurricular. Apply to all eight Ivies. Lose a few winks but never a few steps"( Bruni). Stress runs high as students are told that they need to be the best. And that they can not settle for ordinary. And students listen. They take the advanced placement courses. They finish their long hours of summer homework. They take more honor courses then they can handle hoping that maybe it will be enough to get them into a good college. That maybe acing this test will keep them from flipping burgers in a fast food restraunt for the rest of their lives. They are sent mixed messages if being told to do their best but also relax. Do four hours of homework, be involved in extra curricular activities, get a part time job, and be sure to be in bed by ten p.m. But there are just not enough hours in the day. So students are skipping sleep to complete all …show more content…
In most schools students are asked to balance four to five hours of homework, extra curricular activities, and in some cases a part time job. And on top of all of that they are expected to get a full nights sleep. "students surveyed said that extra-curricular activities caused them to get home late, leaving homework on the back burner"( Wilson & Rhodes). Schools pile on homework while telling students to be involved in sports and clubs, they then wonder why the work isn 't completed. Another reason why students don 't complete their homework is because they don 't understand it or don 't believe that relates to what they are learning in school. "Critics led by parents argue that teachers are requiring students to spend too much of their out of school time completing tedious, repetitious, and boring homework assignments that have little or no impact on their ability to learn"( Simplicio). The point of homework is to reinforce the lesson that the students learned on that particular day. But if a student didn 't understand the lesson then they will have no hope of understanding the homework. This is why some teachers have allotted time at the end of class for students to start their homework and ask any questions they may have. This not only allows students more time for extra circular activities, but it also helps students