The Pressure Cooker: How Expectations and At-Home Deadlines Lead to a Build-up of Stress in Students

Stress among school-aged children has become an increasingly common issue, affecting their mental, emotional, and physical well-being. In recent years, many students have reported feeling overwhelmed by the demands of school, leading to higher levels of anxiety and distress. Several factors contribute to this growing problem, including the pressure of weekend and 11:59 deadlines and high expectations from both teachers and family members. As children struggle to keep up with academic responsibilities and extracurricular activities, the stress they experience often spirals into anxiety, creating a cycle that can negatively impact their health and performance. In order to better support students, it is crucial to understand the root causes of this stress and work towards solutions that prioritize their mental well-being.

One of the main causes of this stress is weekend deadlines and 11:59 deadlines in general. These deadlines are becoming increasingly commonplace for students and are only causing excess stress and anxiety. By pushing these deadlines into the student’s home time or free time, teachers are taking away the student’s ability to escape the classroom and the work. Before the major shift to online coursework, students would have assignments due the next day, or the next time that they had class. This would give them time to do their work not just when they had the time that night, but also if they had time in the morning or before class which would allow for a more gradual approach to assignments and, as a result, a higher quality of work as they would be able to work while their mind was sharp and could take a break when they began to feel fatigued. This is no longer the case as students are now required to work well into the night and past burnout if they are to meet these deadlines. 

Some may argue that this late-night deadline now gives students more flexibility for when they can complete the assignment. While this is true, many students wish to have a life outside of school and work. They may be a part of sports, clubs, or have a job which can prevent them from having time to complete the assignment later at night. There is also another cause to this stress. The 11:59 deadline may give students the illusion that they have more time to complete the assignment which, as previously mentioned, may not be the case if they are involved in extracurricular activities. This leads to procrastination which only builds more stress on top of students. A study from the University of Calgary found that 80%-95% of college students procrastinate with this 11:59 deadline, and among these students, it showed a consistent, negative correlation resulting in lower quality work. 

“An Invitation to Fail: How 11:59 Deadlines are Hurting Students”, an article published in 2023 by Kathir Sankaralingam, a journalist for the Medium and student in neuroscience at the University of Texas at Dallas, outlines Sankaralingam’s time as a student and how these deadlines impacted him personally and made him feel overwhelmed and made his mental health spiral downward. He also cites how other students that he has talked to found this to be the case as well. The article highlights how much of an issue that this is becoming for students of all ages as their places and times that were once used to escape from these stressors have now become a haven for the catalyst of spiraling mental health. 

Another one of the main causes of this stress stems from high expectations from teachers as well as family. One of the main fuels to the stress felt by students regarding their school life is the expectations set by teachers. Whether consciously or not, teachers set expectations for their students such as when they want something turned in, the standards of quality in which it should maintain, and the format or length that it should be. These expectations, individually, are not bad or unrealistic; however, when students have these expectations set upon them by 4-5 teachers, each expecting 9-12 hours of work each week, this becomes overwhelming and unmanageable. 

With 168 hours in a week, using an average of 10.5 hours of homework per week per class as outlined by most universities, if someone works part-time for 20 hours per week, sleeps 8 hours a day, is in class 15 hours per week, and spends 14 hours per week on sports or clubs, that gives them 158 hours of work. Assuming this standard schedule, which does not include time for meals or commutes as they may be different depending on how far students live, students are left with less than an hour and a half per day of free time, which when including these necessities that were excluded, is much less. The result of this tends to be less sleep or less time on homework, both of which lead to grades suffering. 

As far as family expectations go, most students feel completely overwhelmed and crushed by the pressure set upon by parents. These expectations include maintaining a high GPA as well as feeling the need to become just as successful, or more successful, than their parents. An interview with author Breheny Wallace, a New York Times best selling author, from The Harvard Gazette showcases just how detrimental and toxic pressure to be successful from parents can be to a student’s mind. She hones in on the idea that the pressure set forth upon students by themselves and their parents can result in the mindset that self-worth and value are connected to achievements. This mindset is destroying the self-esteem of young students, which makes their grades suffer because it is nearly impossible to put forth their best efforts when they feel as if their best will never be enough.

As weekend and 11:59 deadlines take away more and more separation from a work-life balance, more and more students will spiral into becoming stressed and overwhelmed by what is expected of them from their teachers and parents. This balance is nearly completely nonexistent anymore as most students are found to have hardly one hour a day to themselves to spend it how they please. If this separation continues to become blurred, it is only a matter of time before the stress and feelings of being overwhelmed become too much and student suicide rates begin to rise. 

References

Sankaralingam, Kathir. Medium. (2023, July 7). “An Invitation to Fail: How 11:59 Deadlines are Hurting Students”. https://medium.com/@kathirsankaralingam/an-invitation-to-fail-how-11-59-deadlines-are-hurting-students-d58702223fcc

Perfas, Samantha. The Harvard Gazette. (2023, September 11). “How Achievement Pressure is Crushing Kids and What to do About It”. https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2023/09/how-achievement-pressure-is-crushing-kids-and-what-to-do-about-it/