It is the most universal feeling of dreadfulness for teenagers and younger kids; going back to school. It isn’t just about returning to the 6am mornings and seven hours of confined and “horrible, tedious” learning, but the beginning of school also marks the end of summer vacation. It is quite a depressing realization for most students, because summer vacation is often a time of relaxation, without stress from school work or an upcoming exam.
I think that the best way to embrace the change of pace brought on by the start of school is to look at all of the positives of the school year, even if it means searching for them. One great aspect of returning to school is seeing all of your friends again. For me personally, I love to reconnect with people, ask about their summer, and get back into the whole social world that is experienced so much throughout high school. Another plus could be the fact that you are back on a routine schedule, even if it does start at 7:30 in the morning. For me, I wake up at 6am, get to school around 7:15 by bus, and am home again by 2:45 (unless of course an athletics team keeps me until 5pm).
Then comes the worst part of school, the hours and hours of tedious and pointless homework assigned. I will admit not that all homework is pointless, but in most cases it is. I firmly believe that homework should never be new learning. This concept does loosen up in eleventh and twelfth grade as students prepare to enter college where they will be forced to learn a significant amount on their own. However for the most part, homework should be reinforcement of the information and material learned during class. I can assume that the board of education in my town agrees with me to some extent, because classes are an hour long each. The fact that homework is often still new learning can be blamed on the
poor time management skills of the professor, or on the complexity and depth of the curriculum.
These hardships await as the summer comes to a close at breathtaking speeds. However, I will keep searching for those positives and hope for the best in these times of “depression” that an immense amount of my peers feel as well.
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