Caption: Students like Erik Zhang, a sophomore who took AP Biology this year, learn to cope with the additional homework necessary to be in a college level class in high school. [by Melissa Fernandes]
by Melissa Fernandes
Students have to accomplish five days at school per week, and two days of resting known as “the weekend.” But does their week of school work really “end” with the bell on Friday afternoon?
In Brazilian high school for example, on average a high school student has 12 to 15 different mandatory subjects that are spread out through the school week and balanced differently than at an international school based on the American curriculum. It is common to have an extensive workload at a Brazilian school.
One way that PACA distinguishes itself from other international schools is the amount of extracurricular participation by individual secondary students who attend a full day of school (8:00-3:25pm). On top of these activities, most students still have to handle homework, extracurricular activities, personal obligations and quality time with family.
According to the Science Leadership Academy, “Homework, as we have experienced, causes a great amount of stress which can lead you to a poor mental state, sleep deprivation, and many more bad things. This can be prevented by decreasing the amount of homework significantly and/or being taught how to combat such stress.”
Based on that, I believe that excessive homework is harmful. However, if homework is given to students with a purpose (not just for the content to be used faster for example) and in quantities that will help them assimilate the content better, it will certainly be beneficial to learning.
Therefore, if schools insist on continuing with homework, dates and deadlines must be organized between the coordinators and the principals, so that students are not overloaded and lose quality time during the weekends. This type of collaborative communication has been one of PACA’s goals for secondary teachers.
Mr. Josh Stockment, the secondary principal at PACA, has provided a shared calendar in the teachers’ lounge for teachers to sign up their upcoming tests and projects. There is a separate calendar for high school and middle school and there are only two spaces for each day to encourage teachers not to assign more than two major tests or projects on the same day for their students.
Even so, there is still room for improvement. Dr. Cristina Meier, a secondary teacher at PACA, explained that there can be confusion among teachers, since the calendar is only kept in the teachers’ lounge and it is easy to forget what is listed there if a teacher is busy making their lesson plans at home or in another area on campus.
“I believe that one online solution would be google shared calendar, so then when the teachers are
preparing their classes at home, they can have access to it, so that there is no confusion on dates for other teacher’s scheduled tests,” said Meier.
Overall, It is important to emphasize that students’ mental health is a priority for schools. Ensuring that they are actually learning and are not overwhelmed and end up doing assignments in a hurry, not fully dedicating themselves to learning. Any kind of excess over someone does not bring positive results, only the pressure to meet deadlines and grades.
