Many high school students experience a fall-off after the first couple months of school. They start with exceptional grades, cute outfits, and an overall positive mindset, thinking this year will be different. Wrong.
At the beginning of the year, schoolwork is minimal because of the slow transition back into things. It’s easy to keep up with the work and have strong grades, but teachers eventually start giving out more time-consuming assignments and develop larger expectations for their students.
Teachers try to go easy on their students by not giving out a ton of homework, being thorough in the directions for assignments, and being overall pleasant towards the class because of the new relationship between students and teachers. Soon, teachers get to know their students and care less about pleasing them and more about getting things done.
Sophomore, Hannah Hall explains that it gets frustrating when teachers don’t consider the workload they are giving for one class when students have other classes and things after school that are demanding their time as well.
A lot of kids make an effort to pick out a presentable outfit for school, not only to look good but to feel good about themselves. As students get busier and the weather gets colder, they start to care less about dressing up and more about just surviving the school day.
“In the beginning of the year I love picking out my outfits for school, but once it gets colder outside and my days get busier, I start to not care,” Chloe Landry says.
With grades becoming harder to maintain, students start to gain a negative perspective of school. Teenagers’ brain capacity is dedicated to schoolwork, homework, sports, and jobs, leaving little time to hang out with friends. Life for students becomes very stressful and unenthusiastic as they have to get through these busy times.
Hall says, “The further we get into winter, the more unmotivated and stressed I feel. It gets to a point where I can’t catch a break so I start to kind of give up.”
Once sports and jobs start up again and schoolwork starts piling up, students have to take into consideration how to manage their time. It might work decently at first, but students eventually get worn out.
“With everything going on in the winter, it gets stressful and intense. Overall, it just kills my mood,” Chloe Landry says.
Students need to find a way to manage their time and not lose motivation. It is easy to want to give up and stop caring about school, but getting through the hard winter months is important to end the year strong.
