Midnight Dates With Your Homework
For a healthy human being, we need around 7 to 8 hours of sleep. Without sufficient sleep, there can be dire health complications as well as irritability and a noticeable change in someone’s behavior. Developing and/or growing children are encouraged even more, as sleep deprivation can stunt their brain development and how they function from their day-to-day business.
The other day, I surveyed multiple students at LHS, to find out, on average, how many hours the students at Leonia High School sleep.
The results were completely unexpected. Out of the 136 students that were polled, only 28 of them got the recommended 7 to 8 hours of sleep. The other 108 students averaged around 4 -6 hours of sleep, with 10 percent of them getting less than 4 hours of sleep.
I had to uncover why my classmates were sleeping so late. To get the answers I was looking for, I decided to interview some of my classmates at Leonia High School.
Daniel Baturin, a senior at LHS, claimed, “I have to stay up late every week to study and do homework from every single class. All of these assignments take over 5 hours to finish.”
Daniel gets stressed out trying to cram everything into one night as he is scared to see his grades drop and stresses if he isn’t prepared for class the next day.
Other students I’ve interviewed had similar issues to Daniel. Some teachers are never lenient on going extra days or skipping homework for a night. Teachers believe it benefits students to a higher academic status. Julio Cardenas a junior at LHS even stated, “Some days I have 3 tests and a project due all the same day.”
Although homework is necessary to practice responsibility as well as to strengthen lessons that were taught in class, too much homework causes unnecessary stress and stunts a student’s ability to perform to the best of their ability.
Regardless, there’s nothing we are able to do in terms of getting less homework or more time to do assignments. Fortunately, there are ways for students to join together to make the course loads more tolerable.
Solution 1:
Study groups are a great way to get work done quicker as you can divide the work amongst your peers and finish assignments as well as study for tests even quicker than by yourself. Try introducing the idea of a study group to people in the same classes as you and chances are, they’ll want in.
When I was struggling with my classes, I was lucky enough to have a group of supportive friends that were willing to help and do homework with me. It definitely expedites the amount of time it takes to complete assignments.
I asked my friend and former LHS student, Will Pak, who I used to study with when he attended LHS, how effective were our study groups? He stated,
“I used to have no free-time to do anything I wanted to do before I was part of a study group. Assignments that took me an hour took 20 minutes to complete and my test scores increased a lot.”
If everyone can stay focused, study groups are a fun way to spend time with friends and get work done.
Solution: 2
Another method that is effective in getting your work done and still be able to enjoy a good night’s rest is getting extra help through a tutor or the teacher.
Teachers at LHS usually don’t mind meeting after school, before school, or during lunch to help you with topics you’re struggling with. Some classes even have National Honor Society meetings for you to receive help from someone who is knowledgeable in the class.
Many students at LHS have stated that they’ve seen drastic changes in their grades after receiving one on one tutoring help. Essentially, it is actually more effective than study groups if you have trouble staying focused on the task at hand; As a result, this might not be as fun as study groups but it’s still better than working until midnight and waking up with a headache.
At the end of the day, both methods are great but it’s finding the right one for you. End the midnight dates with your homework and start spending more time with your bed.
