Written by Alyssa Solis, Staff Writer
There’s an unspoken issue among teens not only at Indian Trail, but at schools across the nation. Something is very wrong with our education system. Until recently, I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what was wrong. Then, we all took the AP Language exam last spring.
After the exam, AP Language teacher Allison Walton shared what most kids talked about for the argumentative portion of the essay, which prompted students to write about what was overrated. Of course, this was around the time that the James Charles and Tati drama came out, and all the memes on Twitter were about the students writing about it.
When Walton came back from grading AP exams, she informed us that the overwhelming majority of the students wrote about school-related themes. Walton could tell what we were all trying to get at: we are overworked, and something needs to be done about it.
According to the American Psychiatric Association, students are reporting stress levels that are topping adult stress levels. Teens now report becoming depressed, feeling tired, and skipping meals.
I’m sure many students reading this can relate. Most probably believe that it’s par for the course. It’s normal in today’s world to be sleep deprived, as shown through many memes online making it normalized. After all, in order to get into a good college, you must take multiple AP classes a year, have a job, do volunteer work, and be highly involved in a club all while maintaining outstanding grades.
There is simply not enough time in the day to accomplish all of that and have time to take care of yourself in the end. So obviously, one must be sacrificed. Unfortunately, it happens to be the latter.
We’ve all accepted this as normal, especially since we compare ourselves to others.
“If so-and-so is taking ve AP classes, than I should be too,” is the common thought among students, especially those who are college bound. Since college is so competitive now, most students overload their schedules and sacrifice their sleep and mental health to maintain this rigorous schedule.
This, however, can be very dangerous and lead to the brain not developing properly, resulting in long term problems such as depression, which, according to the APA, 30 percent of teens report having due to stress.
We don’t discuss these important topics in school, nor do we have adequate professional help offered to students. In fact, we have one school psychologist to service over 2,000 students, a psychologist that most students don’t know exists.
Although there is only one psychologist, there are many people you can talk to here in our building. Teachers are often open to listen to students’ problems as well as counselors and many other staff members.
If you don’t feel like you can talk to anyone here, there’s always the hotline for the National Alliance on Mental Illness, which is 1-800-950-6264. They are equipped to handle a variety of mental health questions. Additionally, there is the national suicide hotline, 1-800-273-8255.
It’s very important to talk with someone about your feelings. Bottling it up is never healthy and often leads to breakdown. So make sure you talk to someone, and if they don’t listen, keep looking. You’ll nd someone that will listen to you. If you really can’t talk to someone, journaling is also a very efficient way to let your feelings out.
Make sure you t time into your schedule to be yourself. If you can’t set aside enough time, then your schedule is overloaded and you need to get rid of something. After all, your health is more important than taking on an extra club to impress colleges.