School Boredom

“Ah, I got school tomorrow”, every student has said. I believe most students say this because they simply find school boring.

School is boring to many of its students. Although it offers learning opportunities, many students just don’t find it interesting. Many just wait ‘till they’re out of school to go home or participate in fun sports.

In a Gallup poll in 2004 teens were asked to select the top three words that describe how they feel in school from a list of 14 adjectives; “bored” was chosen most fequent. This is very significant in showing a student’s experience at school. With them being bored, it’s no wonder why most students aren’t engaged. A 2003 Columbia University survey found that U.S. teenagers who said they were more often bored were more than 50% more likely than not-bored teens to smoke, drink, and use illegal drugs. Although this is shocking, some would say it’s strictly the teenagers fault, but a German study shows otherwise. A 2010 German study found that boredom “instigates a desire to escape from the situation” that causes boredom. For example if someone were to tell you about the different 750 cheeses, would you care to listen?

A key part of learning something is to pay great attention, although you can’t pay attention if you’re constantly sleepy. Just like me you’ve probably had some late nights, leading to little rest and sleepiness throughout the school day. When you have these late stacked on top of the fact you have to wake up early to catch the bus, it can be tough. This can be directly porven with the fact that in the same 2004 Gallup poll mentioned above, 42% of students use the adjective “Tired”. I think there are multiple ways to solve or at least help; if school boards care about student learing and interaction.

I believe in order to take action, teachers need to change some. Teachers could be less strict on homework, seeing as though certain students have to fulfill duties at home and even take care of relatives. But general to everyone, it’d allow students to get more sleep, have a better look on school, and develope less stress. Directly correlating with this i feel like schools should change start times and move them later. It could directly affect teen sleep cycles for the better. If some schools are already trying to make policy changes, why can’t others?