Survey: Students feeling drained
Schools eye work reduction, later starts
Later starting times and reduced course requirements are among steps being considered to make high school less stressful.
The proposals, which have been in the works for several years, have received an extra push by the results of a first-time survey of students and teachers about stress.
The survey indicated that high school students are feeling "overwhelmed," according to Newton North principal Jennifer Huntington. "Almost across the board, students say they aren't getting enough sleep, and they are truly feeling exhausted." A survey of the faculty produced similar findings.
Huntington declined to release the full results, saying the survey was unscientific and for internal purposes only, but a summary prepared by the Parent Teacher Organization reports that nearly 50 percent of students said they don't eat breakfast on school days and 65 percent get less than six hours of sleep a night. The survey was filled out in January by all students during homeroom.
Alix Langone, a Newton North senior who is to head off next year to Villanova University, said she has stayed up all night doing course work three times this semester -- a practice common on college campuses but until recently fairly rare for high school students.
Langone said she's not alone. Indeed, she was recently joined by two classmates who made a midday run to a nearby
Nearly all of the more than dozen students interviewed for this story said they were overtaxed by a climate of overachievement.
"Newton is a community of high expectations," said Carolyn D. Wyatt, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction. "High expectations for public education. And high expectations for the children.
"Stress is usually not generated by one thing, and there's no magic bullet for what causes 2,000 students to say, 'I'm stressed.' It's a difficult thing to get our finger on, [but] we are beginning to investigate to see what can be done."
School officials say that while stress is hardly a new problem, it could be intensifying as a result of MCAS testing, more paperwork for college applications, and an increased number of extracurricular activities.
By almost every measurement -- per-pupil expenditures, test scores, and low dropout rates -- Newton is above state averages.
"Newton South prides itself on its reputation as a safe zone where everyone passes the MCAS. Big deal," junior Erica Carter wrote earlier this year in a scathing article in the Newton South school newspaper, The Lion's Roar. "School is supposed be a place where students feel protected. Yet many students hate it because they feel neither supported nor safe. Rather, the majority of students feel constant stress."
Nearly nine of 10 Newton students go to college after graduating (60 percent to a private college or university), compared to about seven of 10 statewide.
"People have been talking about college since freshman year," said Kelsey Madden, a senior who next year plans to attend the University of Northern Colorado. "And it's so competitive at [Newton] North. People say, 'Oh, did you get into this school or that school?' You don't want to have to say that you got wait-listed."
Students applying to Ivy League and other select schools say they feel as though they are pitted against their classmates as college admission officers tend to seek geographic diversity.
Upperclassmen said that leafing through college brochures, making campus visits, and filling out college applications siphons much of their free time.
"College pressure is pretty ridiculous," said Will Joseph, a senior at Newton North who plans to attend Cornell University in the fall. "Just applying to a school is so much work. The sheer amount of paperwork involved is out of control."
Students also say that, while they appreciate the wide range of extracurricular activities, they feel pressured to participate in as many as possible.
"Kids don't feel they can have fun anymore," Huntington said. "Summers aren't about having fun; it's about resume-building. We need to stop and take a deep breath."
During last month's spring break, for example, the Mock Trial Team at Newton North practiced almost every day to prepare for the national championship, and the drama club at Newton South worked on the student-produced play, "It's about Education! " -- which it is staging to raise money to perform in a summer festival in Edinburgh.
"You have all these extracurricular activities, and you don't get home until 6," Joseph said. "By the time you have dinner, and then play a few video games, you don't get going on homework until 8 or 9 o'clock."
"If you want to get your homework done, you can't eat dinner with your family," said Madden, blaming the combination of a heavy workload and after-school schedule.
Still, some students say the stress doesn't faze them.
"I'm just in school to get through it," said Joel Parker, a junior in the vocational program who wants to open a plumbing business after he graduates.
"I just like to go with the flow. Wherever the wind takes me, I'm OK," said Shayaa Richardson, a freshman who catches a bus from Boston each morning to attend Newton North as part of the Metco program. "I just don't get stressed."
In part as a result of the survey, officials are looking at reducing the mandatory course load.
Newton students spend at least 990 hours each year in class, a figure that's based on a strict interpretation of the state's 1993 Education Reform Act. Other districts have had a looser interpretation, allowing other activities -- such as community-service projects, private music lessons, or lunch -- to count toward the minimum.
School officials also are talking about moving a block of classroom time -- on Monday and Thursday afternoons -- to the front of the day and making it optional.
For most students, that would mean the school day twice a week would start at 8:45 instead of 7:50. The bus schedule would not change, so students who arrive at school later would have to walk or find a ride.
The scheduling changes would require approval by teachers, who are currently in contract talks with the district.
School officials say they are reluctant to make drastic changes in the curriculum simply because students are tired and want less homework.
"There's a fine line between being challenged and being stressed," said Superintendent Jeffrey Young. "We want to make sure the academic curriculum is maintained. We want things to be humane. But we don't want to dilute our programs."
Matt Viser can be reached at viser@globe.com.
