Too much homework is not good for college students

   The problem most college students face is the large amounts of homework they receive. Most people say it is a way for students to learn time management skills, but at what cost? Having too much homework in college causes stress, anxiety, and it takes time away from students who need jobs to pay for school.

   Having too much homework causes college students' stress levels to increase. The article "School, homework, activities, sleep, repeat: College stress takes a toll on students" by Hayley Curtiss states, "Time management becomes harder and some students have too many assignments and not enough time to complete them". Having so many assignments to do in a short or even long period of time still causes a lot of stress and panic for many students. Students should be taken seriously when they say they are stressed. The ADAA says, "30% of college students reported that stress had negatively affected their academic performance"(ADAA 2015). College students have enough to worry about and homework doesn't help.

   Many college students have jobs, so time for homework is short. The article "Working Too Much Harms US College Students' Academic Progress" states, "[Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce] found that almost half of undergraduates work more than 30 hours per week. And one-quarter of students study full-time while working full-time". A lot of college students have jobs; having a job allows college students to pay for school. That being said, it is extremely difficult for any working student to be able to complete their homework and balance a job that would help pay for the student's education. Balancing a job and the large amounts of homework a student receives is a tough task, but what doesn't help is adding in the anxiety a student gets in situations where there is just too much homework.

    In the article "School, homework, activities, sleep, repeat: College stress takes toll on students" by Hayley Curtiss a student says, "School and work definitely causes my anxiety because I want to get good grades and sometimes I want to feel like I don't have enough time to give my 100 percent on all my assignments since I have so many due at once". Having so much homework really affects students' mental health. Most students feel anxious when thy have to do their homework because they know it's never just one assignment that has to be completed for each class. Each class students have assigns more than one homework assignment. Usually, those assignments are all due on the same day. Students put in less time and effort on their assignments because of all the work they already have to do.

   Having too much homework in college takes away time students could be spending on getting money through their jobs to pay for school, it causes stress, and it causes students to become anxious. The only way these problems will be solved is if there were policies in place to help students not have too much on their plates.

Why the Pressure to do Well in School is Harmful

   Most people believe that telling students, no matter their grade level, to get good grades in school and to have extracurricular activities is helpful in allowing the student to lead a prosperous life, but what if that mentality is doing more harm than good? Students are so busy with maintaining perfect grades that they forget to tale time for themselves which would result in their mental health being stable. They also forget why they need the good grades that everyone tells the to get. The pressure to achieve in school doesn't allow students to think for themselves and their mental health suffers.

   Pressuring students to achieve in school holds them back from looking into their future and becoming their own person. In the article "The Paradox of Pushing Kids to Succeed" the author Lynn Margolies mentions that pressuring kids to perform well in school is often less beneficial to parents and students. Parents who pressure their student to get good grades in will often lead to their students not truly having their own motivation to get the good grades that are so desired. Margolies also speaks about teens starting out compliant to the pressure, but , more often than not, compliance replaces problem solving and success. Encouraging students to think and act for themselves and learn from their mistakes leads to a healthy development of identity, respect, and competence.

   

   Pressure to succeed in school causes students' mental health to suffer severely. David Kate's article, "Parental pressure may cause more harm than good", reads, "One recent study out of Arizona State University found that children who faced relentless pressure from their parents to succeed were twice as likely to suffer from anxiety and depression than their less-pressured peers." When a student is constantly being watched by their parents or other important people in their life, the pressure of keeping up a good front is crushing. A student who feels as if their under a microscope can become depressed rather quickly because they feel like their failures no matter what they do, they're never going to be good enough for their loved ones. The article "The Academic Pressures of High School Students and How Parents Can Help" states, "It seems to be the current belief that in order to have any type of personal succeed in life, one should only earn top grades" (Gauthier, 2018). Students definitely feel the pressure of having good grades. A lot of students who are in honors classes tend to freak out the most when they get a score lower than an A and that is partly because of their fear of letting their parents down. Parents constantly tell their children to get the highest grades possible so they become more successful in life. Not only are students told to get high grades, They "are also expected to participate and succeed in extracurricular activities" (Gauthier, 2018). On top of getting and maintaining high grades, students are expected to participate in clubs and sports. These expectations that parents and even teachers have for their students is overwhelming. Students become stressed, anxious, and depressed as a result of all the pressure that is on them. It is not super shocking that "nearly 50 percent of high school students admit to feeling of depression, and roughly 26 percent of students have been diagnosed with depression or an anxiety-related disorder. That is nearly five times the national average" (Gauthier, 2018). It is proven that so much pressure on students is not healthy. Students are developing mental illnesses due to the stress their older peers give them. 

   The pressure to achieve in school damages students' mental health and it also holds them back from discovering who they truly are. Students are so focused on getting good grades that they fail to really understand the reason as to why they need good grades and what they will do for their future. Students with a lot of stress have higher chances of having an anxiety disorder.