Students at Rialto High School are complaining about the number of assignments teachers have been giving over the past few months, because the excess assignments are causing them to feel overburdened.
Most students said they received approximately 15 assignments a week, (some students received more and others less) leaving them with little time to focus on their mental health. (Although students have been complaining, it’s also important to remember that teachers are also struggling, because distance learning is new for them as well).
Many students argue that teachers are giving more work than they would if students were in school. “I think the amount of work teachers assign is really inconsiderate because they believe since we’re at home we have so much free time. They’re really not considering our time and mental health,” says sophomore Alyssa Vigil.
Although teachers may claim “these are troubling times” and that they care, many of them still turn around and assign more work which causes students to continue to feel overwhelmed. “Personally it has affected me in a negative manner, I now have a caffeine addiction, insomnia, and my arthritis is acting up again,” says junior Alexa Sanchez.
Students are also not getting enough sleep, claiming that they go to sleep at around two or three a.m. because they’re staying up so late trying to get work done. Staying up to finish all of the work is also causing problems when classes start because students are exhausted so they have trouble focusing.
Another thing students have been complaining about is how all of their work is affecting their personal life. Some claim that school is simply getting in the way of chores and daily activities, giving them no time for themselves. This is also causing students to be unmotivated because they’re officially drained and are tired of school, which is affecting their grades.
“After the four hours we spend in class, adding another few hours of homework is just demotivating and exhausting. It’s caused my grades to suffer, but I don’t even care anymore, because there’s bigger things to worry about than school,” says junior Jimena Villegas-Marin.
Although students are complaining about all of the work, others understand what teachers are going through and that they are trying their best to navigate through everything. “I feel like teachers are starting to realize how much their work has affected us. During school the teachers had no idea what we’ve had to deal with outside of school, but now that we’re under the same circumstances I feel like they have started to realize how much their work has affected us and have been more lenient on due dates then they would’ve been during school,” says senior Kayla Mendez.
Despite the fact that students are stressed, they must also consider that teachers have a certain curriculum that they have to stick to. The malware situation at the beginning of the year has also caused some teachers to give more work due to losing out on valuable time to teach.
To help students understand what teachers are going through, we asked a few teachers what they think of the situation. “I don’t know if teachers are necessarily trying to give more work. The case may be that this is just new to all of us,” says English teacher Mrs. Nicole Tellyer.
Teachers have also been stressing that although students are complaining about the workload, they have also started to extend dates to turn in late work, give students more opportunities to get their grades up, and started to even give less work. “I think most teachers that I have spoken with have been modifying their curriculum a lot to ease the student workloads due to the pandemic. Also, many of us have given a lot more time/opportunity to turn in late work. I know I have given lots of opportunities to turn in missing work and have specified the assignments that would best help their grade,” says AP U.S./ U.S. History Mrs. Pechinko.
With this overwhelming semester coming to an end, hopefully teachers acknowledge how students are feeling and possibly change the way the workload is designed now that teachers, along with students, know what to expect with distance learning.