Falling Behind
Ashley Wang | sept. 24, 2024 | The fall Supplemental
Summer break is a time for students to recover from the previous school year. Yet, as the new year begins, this progress can be ruined by the threat of falling behind in academics. At Stanton College Preparatory School, students are familiar with a routine cycle of eating, working, and sleeping. This routine builds a continuous state of unhealthy habits, leading to a detrimental lifestyle.
Adolescents, ages 13-19, are at a stage of developing habits that can potentially affect their future. Specifically, students are often sleep deprived and that can have long-term health consequences.
“Last year, I remember seeing a lot of people being drowsy [and] summer had just ended three months ago,” said junior Carol Chen. “I remember myself already being tired and burnt out.”
For Chen and other Stanton students, exhaustion and burnout are the byproducts of academic success. During the two-month summer break, students take time to relax as a reward for their efforts during the school year. This system mirrors a routine of working diligently followed by a short break, repeating itself throughout the school year.
Some Stanton students often pull all-nighters and sacrifice their long-term health for academic success. This pattern is romanticized by the prevalent use of social media, as seen by TikTok influencer Kay Chung who has gone viral for time-lapse videos of her studying for up to 10 hours per day. Although she is not a pioneer of this trend, Chung has a concerning number of videos doing these tasks back-to-back. In addition, she has been able to normalize this practice for students to the point where they see no wrong in the activity. Stanton students have followed this sleepless pattern to keep up with the rigorous coursework.
"I've seen the videos Kay Chung [has] posted. Honestly, I relate to the videos heavily," said sophomore Jude Khakpour. "It [presents] the life of students in a way of empathy but also devotion.
There are many videos on social media presenting a students’ life emphasizing stress and workload. However, this can have negative effects as influenced students may apply the same habits in those videos onto themselves. This harmful romanticization leads to harmful routines being perpetuated and standardized throughout society.
Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggest the adequate amount of rest for a high schooler is eight to 10 hours per night, not all students can meet this expectation. With this, students’ anxiety levels increase as the school year progresses.
"Throughout the school year, [I get] progressively [more] stressed,” said senior Lucas Farfan. “[Especially] during testing season, [when] I [sometimes] would get overwhelmed.”
Due to this anxiety, students pull all-nighters to study, especially during testing season. Some students will even attempt to stay awake by consuming caffeine through coffee or energy drinks. Besides sleep deprivation, caffeine intake, particularly in high school students, is a problem because it stunts brain development. For the sake of academic success, Stanton students seemingly ignore this advice.
“At first, I only drank a minimal amount of coffee,” said senior Adrian Fabrigar. “But since my first testing season begun, I’ve been drinking it almost every day.”
These bad habits culminate over the course of the school year and reach a peak during testing season. Once testing season is over, though, the students begin looking forward to summer vacation, a reprieve from the lifestyle they have become accustomed to during the school year.
"I wish I could time travel back to summer," said freshman Danica Chea. "Summer is like a break from the pressure [as well as] a time for me to finally get some sleep in, so when the next year starts, I can at least start afresh [in a] better condition."
When school reopened on Aug. 12, 2024, some students were enthusiastic about the new school year, viewing it as an opportunity for growth despite potential challenges. However, others saw it as the resuming of the week-to-week survival mindset. Students feel as if they are stuck in a tried routine, even if the positives are blinded by such factors. The positive aspects of friends, social, and overall merriment are still there even with the pressures of academics.
“I am glad summer has ended. Over the summer, I got to focus on myself and recuperate, but now I can be with friends,” said sophomore Reagan Sadler. "School [is fun since I] can hang out with friends.”
A considerable number of students develop harmful habits rather than healthy ones and rely on summer break to renew their customs. Although choosing between healthy and harmful habits seems like an easy choice, several students find building good habits difficult.
"I [would] be waking up [at 6 am] and I [would not want to go to] school but I must,” said freshman Alex Roa.
With the school year back in full swing, students will need to choose between developing good or bad habits. This lifestyle may have unpredictable and potentially negative effects on students once they grow up, which raises the question if all the stress is worth it. The decision for students to fix their habits or not grants them their respective chances of success.