Sports, clubs and demanding class schedules are the high school life. School urges students to be involved and get into the mix. Being involved in student activities can cause stress and the workload to become too much.

With hectic practice schedules, games and weekly club meetings, a student’s day is more than halfway over before he or she even gets home. Sometimes we can’t find the time for a project due in a week, let alone daily homework assignments and readings.

In the beginning of a sports season, all aspiring athletes are told that they are “student-athletes,” meaning school before sports. As the season wears on and the rivalries start building, practices become more intense and each game is more important than the last. Homework is the last thing on students’ minds. Some coaches act as if the sport is the most important thing in the world. Winning is everything and losing is not an option. Some teachers feel the same way about their classes and believe that there is no activity as important as the subject they teach.

All clubs have executive boards and board members. Most board members spend a lot of time outside of their weekly hour-long meetings working on fundraisers, and club and school activities. Take student council or cheerleading for example. Although these are classes, they call for their members to partake in activities on their own time. It seems as if teachers do not even care.

I suggest not eliminating homework indefinitely but just to ease up a little. Maybe just one major assignment a month or make things due a couple of days later than normal. There may even be time to finish homework in class; an extra five minutes at the end of the period would help. Some schools even have a study hall, a place where students can finish class assignments, study for tests and do research for a project.

High school is a place to learn and grow as a person, a place to have fun and enjoy your teen years. Homework is a helpful learning aide, but it should not be a burden. If more students felt that it was possible to pass and play, maybe more students would join the sports teams and experience the thrill of winning.

-Return to March 2005 Issue-