We’ve all heard the saying “respect your elders”, and although that’s important, I think it’s about time adults start to give the younger generation some credit too. 

Oftentimes, adults don’t realize how stressful being a student can be. In fact, about 61% of teenagers from the ages of thirteen to eighteen suffer from stress over school-related issues. 

“I am involved in a lot of after-school activities, so sometimes it can get super overwhelming having a really busy schedule,” North Penn senior Julia Beaver said. 

North Penn High School offers many opportunities to be involved. Whether that’s club activities, theater, class cabinet, or any of the other amazing hands-on possibilities, both teachers and students pride themselves on North Penn’s ability to cater to precipitation and connection. But what about the help? What about the support systems when everything gets too difficult to balance? 

“I feel like sometimes the school doesn’t offer enough resources for students who are overstimulated and have a lot going on. Personally, I struggle a lot with time management and being able to calm myself down to get done what I have to get done by the end of the night,” Beaver commented. 

The difficulty of a heavy workload isn’t an isolated problem just for Beaver, however. Many students struggle with the same obstacle. 

“A lot of [my stress] is caused by teachers giving too much homework. The way they sometimes phrase things in school makes [the work] seem like a life or death situation,” North Penn senior Ciara Cavelius noted. 

Yet grades aren’t the only thing on a student’s mind, as most have other responsibilities that weigh them down even while the yellow buses drive them home. 

North Penn has recognized, at least to some extent, these major factors in a student’s life; shown by the two-hour homework limit each teacher has a week. Although this rule is set in place, students still struggle with how time-consuming academic life can be when coupled with their personal lives as well. 

“Many times, when my teacher assigns homework they’ll say that it should take no longer than an hour to do. I feel like some teachers forget that there are eight periods in a day, and the majority of those classes also give a lot of work. When all of that adds up, it takes up a lot of time especially if a student is in any extracurriculars,” Cavelius stated. 

This never-ending clock of waking up, going to school, getting home, spending hours on homework, going to a job, and getting ready to sleep for a few hours just to wake up and repeat the process over again is a constant pressure in a teenager’s life. Most of the time, the pressure builds up into something that looks a lot like stress. 

“I think it’s important that mental health is taken into account when work is assigned,” Cavelius said. 

It takes no effort to recognize all that adults do for adolescents. Most of them work, make dinner, and keep us healthy and alive. It would only make sense that sometimes those responsibilities can produce strain. But just because their roles are important doesn’t mean that we should negate the key role that the younger generation plays in our world and how much they have to deal with too. 

“I think that if teachers and adults in general took into account the increasing pressure put on teenagers in today’s world, they would make some changes to their expectations of us,” Cavelius concluded.