The Christmas holidays ought to be spent on lazy mornings and relaxing with your friends; it should be a recovery time for students after a frantic term. However, the harsh reality for teens these past weeks is staying cooped up in our rooms, shoulders aching as we hunch over the stack of homework we have been given.
Despite many teachers swearing it will only take 20 minutes, half an hour... we find ourselves drowning in work, as all these “short” pieces of work cumulate to create a mountain we have to tackle in our two weeks off. The simple fact is this: our holiday should be a holiday, rather than a couple of weeks where school crams in extra work. How do they expect us to “recharge our batteries” if our energy is wasted on homework?
Lily Scott, a sixth former, states ‘I’m so stressed, this Christmas I have had barely any chance to relax. I have three assignments and 10 worksheets to do, on top of revising for my mocks.’ However, it is not just us students pitifully lamenting about the workload. Serena Scott, a mother of three secondary school students, thinks that ‘the amount of homework you get is absolutely atrocious’.
Having so much homework can be detrimental to students wellbeing; if schools really want their students to flourish, then they should ensure that we are given time to actually relax, rather than bombarding us with homework. I think holidays should be holidays, not an extension of school.
