Students at Waltham High School are suffering from an overwhelming amount of projects loaded into the last few weeks of school. In a peer survey we did of over 30 students from grades 9, 10 and 11, 73.5% of the students said that “projects make [them] overwhelmed”. Oftentimes projects are looked at as something fun to give students as a break from the monotonous day-to-day of school. However, when each student is getting four or more projects at once, compounded with end-of-year testing and other end of year events, they quickly become stressed.
With many classes assigning both a final and an end of year project it becomes arduous to feel well prepared for each of your classes. This is worsened by a significant portion of students doing most of their projects at home, as some feel they’re not given ample time in class. During the weeks prior to finals week, at home time is ideally used to study and review for final exams; but when students are cramming in work for their project, using time that could be spent studying, the result is submitting less-than-your-best work and feeling unprepared for your exam.
“It makes [students] very stressed because [they] feel like [they are] just trying to catch up in all of [their] classes and not retaining any information and leaving [them] no time to study for [their] finals,”said Maggie Ngo WHS sophomore.
Some of the students that filled out the survey had seven projects due, and considering how most end of year projects are given within the same time frame and have the same due date, this causes significant amounts of stress. This stress is partially caused by having to prioritize which project you need to complete first, which can cause lower performance because instead of being engaged in the learning aspect of projects, you are focusing on getting it done.
Throughout the school year patterns have emerged between the numerous projects we’ve been assigned as students. We are expected to put our best work into them and turn them in before the due date. Since each teacher that assigns a project likely has an enormous amount of students, and each teacher puts a good amount of time into grading each project, it can quickly become a monstrous amount of work for them. This can lead to projects taking weeks to grade, which doesn’t allow for students to reflect on where they are in terms of how well they need to perform on the final for that class.
Complying to all of the students’ wants and needs is understandably difficult. So when deciding whether to do a hands-on project or a written assessment it can be a tough choice. The goal isn’t an abolishment of finals or final projects, but merely a mutual understanding between teachers and students of the time students actually have to work versus the time teachers think we have to work on these projects.
