Sloan Jambor ‘26, Lyonlife.org Editor-in-Chief
A new school year is underway, and as students begin to get into the rhythm of their courses, the complaints coming from students about their classes and teachers is only bound to increase. A majority of these students—especially those signed up for Advanced Placement (AP) courses—will blame their workload and struggling grades on the teacher and accompanying teaching styles. Perhaps the problem is the teacher; however, a majority of the time, students are only struggling because they are the ones who do not put in nearly enough work and effort.
At our school, there are 17 AP classes that are solely composed of juniors and seniors, with the exception of AP World History and AP U.S. History which is available to sophomores and freshmen. Our school has made most AP courses restricted to upperclassmen because they are more likely capable of handling the heavy workload. With that being said, there are still numerous students who put too many rigorous AP classes on their schedule along with sports, clubs, and work, and the only thing that they see is stress and possible delay to their schoolwork. Senior Nikki Stephenson, who has to balance hours of competitive dance every day while also taking three AP courses finds herself surrounded with stress:, “I always find myself in a difficult situation trying to balance my AP courses and my extracurriculars. Because of dance, I already have limited time to do homework, so studying and taking notes just adds extra stress.”
If students are aware that they may not thrive in a science class, but they want to take AP Chemistry or AP Biology because it looks good on college applications, they are only setting themselves up for failure. It is not only a struggle for the students who are not going to enjoy the class they are taking, but it will also be worse for the passionate teachers who just want to help their students be well-educated. It is evident to teachers whether or not a student wants to be in a class, and when students have the capability to choose their own schedule, there should be no reason that they are occupying classes that they simply do not want to take.
Everybody has the goal to make their college application look better with rigorous courses and the best GPA, but those taking a class that they truly do not want to be in are risking a low grade rather than a GPA boost because they are not mentally prepared for the course.. AP courses have never been easy, and they will only be more challenging when the student has limited willingness to try and learn outside of the classroom. On the other hand, there are students who are mentally prepared for the tough courses they take; junior Grace Watson said, “With my new AP courses, there is a lot more homework given out due to the courses being more rigorous. Due to this, I give myself more time after school to get them done.” There is no such thing as an easy AP course, and students need to put thorough effort into their classes both in school and out of school. As long as students are motivated, do not overload their schedules, and communicate with their teachers in order to find success, the odds of receiving positive marks in these courses increases substantially.
Moreover, students will find greater success with their grades in these AP courses if they have a balance between their school work and extracurricular activities. There are numerous clubs, sports, and part-time jobs that students are a part of, and a majority of these students are also involved in difficult courses which forces them to find balance within their lives. These students are the same ones that do not overload their schedule because they understand that they are going to have limited time to study if they also have sports and clubs that are mandatory to attend. Students need to understand that they are only going to be setting themselves up for potential failure if they overwork themselves more than they are accustomed to.
As the stress piles up, and the students dive deeper into the school year, the recurrence of the unnecessary complaints is prominent. Students, stop signing up for the courses you cannot handle; students, stop taking the AP courses you have no interest in; students, enjoy your school year, and do not add additional stress you will not be able to deal with.
Lyon Life 