The Homework Problem

Homework was a big problem. Could you imagine working all day five times a week without doing anything else? For students at UWCSEA, it was worse. Some had to stay up till 12:00 and wake up at 5:00 just to complete the homework. People were doing homework that was due the same day in school. There were some teachers that were sympathetic and were more relaxed with due dates but some were very strict. All the marks and deadlines were causing anxiety and pressure on the children to not only get the work done but actually get a good mark.

“All the homework put on top of students is too stressful for us, we need a balance” stated eighth grade student Vedant Grover. Who also happened to be a former OFS student and is aware of the incident that happened there. While students at UWC are able handle the pressure, a student from OFS had burned up his homework and set fire to a part of the school.

A kid named Neil was a grade eight student and had an above average grade, but one day he just snapped. He wasn’t thinking at all. He set a shower cabinet on fire and alarmed the whole school. He was suspended from the school after he came clean himself. There were a lot of rumors going on about him but he apologized in the end and things went back to normal. The schools reputation might have been ruined but Neil was definitely forgiven. However, back at UWC, one student was pushing limits to get his work done.

“This is impossible to finish!” thought Arvish in his head as he frantically tried to finish his math sheet. He was in the library during lunch, ten minutes before class was about to start. There was no way that he would be able to complete it. So in the end while his friend Joel was in the bathroom he wound up copying his work with Joel finding out. He was struggling with all the load. He couldn’t find time to do anything apart from studying and homework. He could hardly even finish copying before class was about to start. Joel came out of the bathroom and took his bag away and went to class. Now Arvish was in big trouble. He could feel the tension in the library. Two minutes were left before class and he still had to get there. His teacher had already told him that if he didn’t get the assignment finished he would be emailing his parents.

“Joel, wait for me!” screamed Arvish across the main plaza.
“What?” Joel replied
“Can I see your math homework?”
“No, sorry."
“Come on I’m already two lessons late, Mr.Tsang is gonna kill me!”

With one minute left, Joel had a very tough decision to make. He was torn whether to help his friend and risk getting in trouble or stay safe. He quickly whipped out his math book and showed Arvish the answers. He could live another day. They arrived in class two minutes late and got a lecture from Mr.Tsang.

The test was next lesson and Arvish was no where near finished preparing for it. He had one more day to practice at home. Now the pressure was really getting to him. He was afraid from all the anxiety given by his teachers, peers and especially from his parents. He felt like he wasn’t allowed to fail. He had to get a 6 or more. As he was studying he couldn’t focus on the work, all he could think about were the consequences if he didn’t do well. He sat there contemplating the situation when he realized that he had to get it done no matter what and that his parents wouldn’t understand.
Arvish was probably one of the few students that was this far behind but teachers had to learn when to stop with the homework. The stress was getting too much for the children.