Young Students and Stress

As a youngster, I remember being anxious to begin first grade. I hadn't had benefit of kindergarten, so at six years old, school was a new, exciting experience for me. I eagerly walked the mile and a half to class, and the mile and a half home to tell my mother what went on that day. After my teacher, Mrs. Barret, said she was going to show us how to read, I could hardly wait to learn, though I'd been teaching myself before then, with limited success.

School started at 9:00 A.M., and for first and second graders, ended at 2:30 in the afternoon. We had a short recess in the morning, and an hour break for lunch. Of course, we ate hurriedly so we could spend more time on the playground.

Once we were dismissed for the day we went straight home, and the rest of the afternoon and evening was ours since there was no homework. Unless we had chores to do, we could immediately enjoy riding bikes and other outside activities when the weather allowed, and could relax inside with our families when it didn't. We woke up the next morning, rested, refreshed, and ready for another day of school! Learning was fun!

Third grade through fifth, was much the same, with the exception that the we were denied the short morning recess, and we remained in class for an extra hour in the afternoon. Sixth grade changed only in that toward the end of the year we students were given short homework assignments and we knew that the latter would escalate once we began junior high, which was the equivalent of today's middle school.

Now, in sharp contrast, I watch six of my seven young grandchildren get up between 6:00 and 6:30 each morning in order to meet the bus at 7:30, including the next to the youngest grandson who only recently turned six years old. They don't return home until after 4:00 in the afternoon and by then they are sometimes so tired they go to sleep on the bus.

Once the kids make their way down the steps of the school bus, they head straight to the dining table where they begin doing homework. There are math sheets, spelling lists, and required reading, among other things. I have helped my younger son and his wife assist their children with the assignments. With the three of us adults doing our utmost to help their four little ones, we've worked solidly past 6:00 P.M., all of us gathered together in what amounted to our own private classroom.

Add it up. Those young children had been focusing on school in one form or another for 12 hours, roughly double the number I did at their age. And as if that isn't enough, they face even more if they participate in extra activities such as read-a-thons which the educators encourage them to do in the children's "spare" time.

My other son met his two, school aged boys at the bus and literally rushed them home, feeling harried and grumpy, and complaining he was having a time of it, getting them through homework, putting dinner on the table, and meeting the boys' bedtimes. With little time to relax and play, if they're left with the energy to do the latter which is oftentimes questionable, it's time for baths and bed, only to rise early the next morning to another day of predominantly sitting at a desk or a table with papers and books. Our youngsters are tired, though bedtime is at 8:00 P.M., and earlier if the child goes to sleep in class, which has happened on more than one occasion within our family.

My daughter, an educator, worked in a primary after school program, and she witnessed young children, kindergarten through third grade, at school at 6:00 in the morning for breakfast, then they attended a reading program. After that, they went into their regular school day which included two short recesses. Then the children went to the after school program with my daughter from 3:00 to 5:00 P.M.. Every student, 60 children in all, spent 30 to 40 minutes with her working on homework, and often failed to finish since they ran out of time. She also helped students with learning disabilities, and such long days were extremely trying for them.

Those young children more than likely had to get up by about 5:00, and most probably no later than 5:30 A.M. to be in school by 6:00 in the morning, and they were then forced to stay at school for 11 hours. Once they reached home, they had to finish their homework and whatever else their parents required of them.

Though I value our children's education, I feel sorry for them at the same time. When are they allowed to be kids? On one hand people complain about how sedentary our young people are, and on the other they're shoving books and school work at them, leaving next to no time to do anything but sit in a chair.

Given a choice, all seven of our grandchildren are very active. They spend summer days out riding bikes, swinging, jumping on the trampoline, swimming in the pool, and so on. They're hardly ever still. But during the school year they're forced to sit on the bus, sit at their desks, sit at the kitchen table with written assignments and work sheets, sit with a book in their laps, reading, growing weary and burned out on education before they get past third grade.

And so, at least for the lower grades, I feel there is too much pressure. Educate our children, but let them have a few hours at the end of the day to be kids. Just as factory workers and other employees are found to be more productive when they're given ample time to rest and recreate, it very well may be the same for our students. A rested mind will be more apt to be alert and ready to learn while a fatigued one will undoubtedly be more sluggish.

Despite the long hours, or perhaps because of them, the children are struggling to keep up with educational expectations. School should not be about the quantity of hours spent in the classroom and doing homework, but about the quality of learning.