By Hailey Lovejoy
Let’s be honest, school is stressful. Children should enjoy learning and receiving an education, but walking into a world that is completely different to the one you know is scary. Teachers may expect you to have certain learning styles according to how they teach. Students only see their teachers up to one hour each day, for an average of 180 days. Generally, teachers adapt to a learning style that fits the individual student and continue to teach this style among their students, which may not work for every child. High schoolers are still children. In elementary school, teachers “hold their hands” in every step they take. However, in high school, students are expected to solve problems by themselves. What can we do as humans to understand individual students and make them stronger and smarter for the world we live in? Missing alternative learning techniques in classrooms, as well lacking guidance for transitioning children into adults, may result in high stress levels among students.
Although high school should be a challenge for students, the transition from an elementary classroom to a high school classroom can be overwhelming. In an elementary setting, children are taught in a “hands-on” technique, they are often guided, and are frequently worked with independently. Because these teachers are working with their students for seven hours a day, they can acknowledge their students behavior, learning styles, and personalities, helping teachers to understand how each absorbs information. In a high school setting, students are frequently taught in a lecture style. When a teacher is speaking amongst a classroom, it can cause many issues within children like not understanding the topic. There are many different learning styles that can affect each student. For example, one student may understand a process through visuals while another might understand a process through reading and writing. The lack of alternative learning techniques in high school classrooms can add to young adult stress, similar to the lack of adequate guidance.
In high school, students don’t get as much personalized guidance as when they were young. High school students need just as much guidance as elementary students, except secondary students need more academic and life guidance as compared to elementary students. For example, teachers in the elementary field may help guide their students when they spill their milk on the table. To an adult, we would see this as a minor skill to fix. Yet to a child, it would be a difficult task to do independently. Teachers will help guide a child when they spill their milk, by explaining how to clean up the spill using a hands-on technique. Soon the child will learn in the future from experience, that when they spill the milk, it would make a mess. The child would then understand how to clean it up and prevent the mistake from happening in the future. However, in a high school setting, young adults will begin to look into career paths, it can be very stressful for the student. More often than not, high school students will not identify what they would like to accomplish in the future. Teachers can guide these students and try to help them when they are stuck on this tricky path called life.
What can we do as adults to help our students? One solution is making the transition from elementary school to high school more comfortable for our students. While still using the lecture technique, we could also provide a one-on-one with each student when needed. However, rather than this stressful movement to our teachers, the students would have to advocate for themselves. In elementary school, we are not taught how to advocate, rather the teachers would be sure of each student understanding a topic, and when a student didn’t, teachers would be there to help. Guidance is very important to high school students, we can promote advisory classes to help students who haven’t identified their future. It can be helpful when an elder shares past experiences, as well as assist students on their journey through high school and onto their career paths.
In conclusion, unprovided guidance and singular learning styles may lead high school students to stress. A few solutions could be adequate guidance, alternative learning styles, smooth transitions, along with advisory classes that can help students understand their path onto adulthood. Through these suggestions, we can make high school more enjoyable, and fulfilling for teenagers.
Hailey Lovejoy is a student at Grand Meadow High School. She is one of 14 area students participating in the Journal Writing Project, now in its 23rd year.
Leave a Reply