You’re finally done with your last exam. No more studying, no more homework, no more essays for two and a half months. But wait…summer work. Your plans for a carefree summer are interrupted by the looming hours upon hours of psychology, algebra, and history.
For those students taking honors classes, the summer is marked by long hours spent at the library reading for English, doing research for history, or doing packets of math problems. This year especially, I noticed that an extremely large number of people were complaining about the excessive amount of work they had over the break. Summer is a time to focus on sports, relaxing, family bonding, vacation and a job. School should be the last thing on a teenager’s mind, yet I found myself more stressed during the break than I did during the school year.
Seniors seemed to be especially strained. It is critical for rising seniors to use their last summer in high school to visit prospective schools and start working on their college applications. Instead of getting a head start, many seniors were stuck working on summer work and many didn’t even get around to starting applications. Kayla Fennelly, a senior at MHS, is taking four AP classes and one enriched class. Collectively, she said she had about forty hours of summer work!
But maybe summer work isn’t all bad. Chloe Schorr, a junior, comments on how it can be detrimental not to have school work. She said, “I didn’t have precalc summer work, and when I came back I had no idea what was going on.” Summer work can be a nuisance if it’s given in too much bulk, but it can also be a good refresher so that you can go back to school and not be completely lost. So what do you think? Is summer work excessive or is it necessary?