It’s been a year and a half since I’ve had to roam high school halls, and I’m deeply grateful for that. So before these memories turn into a complete blur, here's a list of the unnecessary pains I was subjected to as a high school student, even after I became a legal adult.
1. All the busy work
I never thought I'd say this, but now that I'm in college, I like to get homework. Meaningful feedback on my progress is always appreciated since I know it will help me in the end. But note the word "meaningful." In high school, I was frequently given empty tasks that were a waste of both my and my teachers' time. That is, if they even bothered to properly grade them.
I remember one English assignment that seemed to be specifically designed to suck the fun out of reading. For every chapter of the book, we had to write down details about and quotes from each character, resulting in a tree-killing 20-page packet. One girl in my class, recognizing the pointlessness of the assignment, simply ripped out the last 8 pages. She got a 100%.
2. Asking permission to use the bathroom
Imagine if every person in your 200-seat lecture hall had to ask the professor to be able to go to the bathroom. Wouldn't that be distracting? A time-suck? Patronizing? Now imagine that they sometimes denied this request. Couldn't that conceivably put students into embarrassing, potentially unhealthy situations?
If you have to keep a written record, have students quietly note it down themselves. Deal with people abusing the system individually, do not deny everyone basic bodily functions for the actions of the few. If you cannot trust 18-year-olds with something so basic, keep in mind that they're allowed to join the military and purchase guns. Take that as you will.
Some of my teachers wouldn't let students go to the bathroom during their class at all and argued that we should be using it in between classes. Which brings me to my next point...
3. Running to class
At college, I hesitate to accept a schedule with mere 30-minute breaks in between classes. My classrooms are now farther apart from each other than they were in high school, but even trying to get to classes in the same building is stressful when you're only given a few minutes to do it. If you need to use the bathroom, grab your textbook from your locker, and then get to a classroom on a different floor, it's impossible. Even if my next class was in the same room, just having a few more minutes to drink some water and take a breather would have been much appreciated.
4. Tiny lunch breaks
Lunch at my school was officially 40 minutes. In practice, however, the actual time available for sitting down and eating was a quarter of that, considering waiting in line, meeting friends, and getting to and from class. 10 minutes is not a lot of time to eat mindfully and healthily. A lot of food got wasted. In my case, when I was (admittedly at my own expense) rushing to weekly lunch meetings for various extracurriculars, food just didn't get eaten. That sure didn't help me focus. For students that get free or reduced lunch, the lack of time to eat it can be particularly devastating.
5. Waking up at ungodly hours
Despite that the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that high schools start no earlier than 8:30, the vast majority of schools ring their first bell before. This unnaturally early schedule contributes to sleep deprivation, which is widely known to hurt academic performance, not to mention psychical and mental health. I personally missed class in high school way too often from sleeping in. I was warned that I couldn't make it through college like that, but the problem mysteriously went away when only had one 8 a.m. class a week.
Proponents for early start times argue that pushing first period back would prevent parents from taking their children to school and prevent students from participating in as many extracurricular activities. I understand that these are valid concerns given the current system, but a system should adjust to people's natural schedules. Not the other way around. Changing policy can allow working parents to choose both their careers and their children's health. Changing expectations can allow students to choose extracurriculars without losing sleep over them.
I sincerely hope that administrators and educators start resisting the pressure to add to the material covered at the expense of their students' well being. High schoolers are — as hard as it is to believe — people just like us and have needs too. They deserve a reasonable amount of time to relax after school, use the bathroom, prepare between classes, eat lunch, and yes, sleep.
