What CAN you do about it?

The summer is a time for relaxation for students is it not? Yet, left and right I see teens with their heads buried in text books, trying desperately to grasp the subject at hand. What happened to care free summers? What happened to the joy of sleeping in until noon only to wake up and hang out with your friends at the lake? Have they been replaced with school work?

True, there are worse things students could have lost their summers to, but is it healthy? Is it healthy to stress such young people with mass amounts of work. Homework piled on top of a full time job can take it's toll on the younger population. I have seen it in the faces of many students. The lack of sleep they get because they had to stay up all night to finish the ten page research paper they were assigned.

The amazing thing about these students though is that they are willing to put forth such effort for their education. In the news you always hear about how the school system is "failing". There is never anything good being spoken about it. You never hear about the students who fought for a certain "type" of students to be allowed to play sports, or how a group of students got together to raise money for a fellow student to help find a cure for his disease. No, never do they report the advances our student body has made. The only thing you hear about is the school shootings and how the district needs money for such and such.

As much as I can talk about the students i can talk about the teachers. I believe that teachers are what hold the students together. Their are some truly wonderful teachers out there who make going to school worth while. They are what hold schools together, because without students you have no school. the district does not need to spend it's valuable money on new television sets. NO. Give the teachers a raise. Make new classes. Its obvious the students want more courses to choose from. Otherwise, why else would they be taking summer courses?

Honestly, it is hard to be a student. It's hard to know when you have reached a breaking point in the amount of stress your body can take. Why do we do this to ourselves? Because there is no other way for us to prove ourselves.