The clock sitting on the bedside table strikes one in the morning. The bed is occupied not by a sleeping body; rather, it is decorated with scattered pencils, marked-up books, and an endless quantity of index cards. The house is quiet with the exception of the teenage student hunched over her laptop, rubbing the dark circles around her eyes. Between soccer practice, SAT preparation, theater rehearsal, applications to various honors societies, volunteer work, and hours of homework, she has not had a good night’s sleep in weeks. Welcome to the life of a typical American high school student.
High school students today are under an immense amount of pressure. From their first day of school until their last they are told of the ingredients of a “good” college application: varsity sports, straight As, a 2000 or above on the SAT, hundreds upon hundreds of volunteer hours, an executive board position of a club or two or three -- the list is endless. According to a survey by the American Psychological Association, nearly half of all teens are reported to be stressed by school pressures -- pressures that are no longer about being the best learner, but about looking the best on paper at whatever cost.
A price a disturbing amount of high schoolers are forced to pay is the loss of sleep. In an attempt to maintain the image of perfection students believe colleges expect to see, students are forced to sacrifice hours of sleep for hours of memorizing, participating in school activities they don’t really have an interest in, and completing innumerable hours of homework. According to the National Sleep Foundation, the average high school student requires about nine and a half hours of sleep each night; only about eight percent of high school students actually achieve this amount. The risks of sleep deprivation include obesity, poor performance in school, and depression -- risks that 92 percent of high school students are putting on the line in order to become the ideal student they presume they need to be.
The high standards that teenagers are compelled to meet are downright unhealthy, both physically and mentally. They are told to meet the recommended hours of sleep while getting incredible grades, while being involved in extracurricular activities, while studying for standardized testing, while participating in sports -- it’s impossible. These students are devastated when they do not meet their deluded idea of perfection. Rather than focusing on themselves, their interests, and the actual art of learning, students are set on producing results that colleges want to see. GPAs and SAT scores are increasing at expense of teenagers’ mental and physical health.
The clock sitting on the bedside table strikes two. Another hour of work done, another hour of sleep lost, and another student in need.
