Success, or just stress?

The high schooler sighs as she glances at her clock,1:49 am. Her headaches, she can barely keep her eyes open from the long nights of studying and has got little sleep during the past few weeks. She stares at her textbook, thinking hard, then scrunches her paper into a ball in frustration. She sinks down into her chair as the her hope fades away slowly like a fire turning to ash.

Homework is meant for students to continue their school learning outside class but for many, studying for long hours each night, pressure from parents, frequent exams, tests and assignments only leads to a weight of stress on their shoulders.

Too much homework can lead to stress, negative behaviour and health problems, depression and a lot worse. Research shows that in South Korea, the amount of teen suicides rise each year dramatically as exams in school starts. According to the National Statistical office, 1,000 students from ages 10-19 committed suicide from 2000 to 2003 due to stress in school studies. This shows the high stress levels in Korea that are leading to teenagers committing suicide as a last resort. In addition, Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union and the Korea Youth Counselling Institute have surveyed Korean teens on if students had considered the idea of suicide. 48% of all the students had suicide ideation.  

Just as in South Korea, in UWC students are feeling stressed in school studies. A high school student says she often feels stressed and tired from the amount of studying. “Tests in high school have become very overpowering and stressful. It gets especially tough because of the upcoming IGCSE’s,” she says. Studies have shown that more than two hours of school homework everyday is counterproductive and she agrees, “When I am stressed, I tend to sleep very late and am up till 1 to 2 am studying, which leads me to being very tired at school and unable to study or understand what the teacher is saying,” she says. The National Sleep Foundation recommends that teens should be getting at least 9 and a half hours of sleep each night, however 58% teens sleep less than 7 hours each night due to studying.

Stress from school studies leads to the question, what is causing this pressure in middle school students? Is it self pressure to get better grades, peer pressure to be as clever as your friends, pressure to not disappoint your teachers? These could all be reasons why students face pressure to do well in studies, but most students say that the pressure to do well comes from their parents.

Another middle school student explains the harsh consequences of not doing good enough on exams at school. “I am always very stressed when doing tests because I know that if I don’t do well, there will be consequences. One time, my parents were so disappointed with my grade that my mum didn’t allow me to meet up with friends or use my phone for 2 months as well as doing intensive maths studying every day,” she says.

How do we stop stress in studies? Since most of the pressure on school studies in middle school comes from parents being harsh on their children, parents should be more forgiving and help their child improve positively, not through stress. Should parents lecture their child? Limit their activities? Punish the child? According to the University of Michigan researchers, parents should create a home environment that stimulates learning. When there is a good environment at home and good parent and child interactions, children perform better. Punishing and lecturing children and teens results to the child feeling more pressure and stress to do better and can lead to the breaking of family relationships, health issues and negative behaviour.  To prevent stress, parents should motivate and support their children not create more stress. Choose between the path to stress or the path to success.

Sources:

"Statistics Korea." Statistics Korea. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2015. <http://kostat.go.kr/portal/english/index.action>.

Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2015. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_in_South_Korea>.

"Is Too Much Homework Bad for Kids' Health?" Healthlines RSS News. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2015. <http://www.healthline.com/health-news/children-more-homework-means-more-stress-031114>.

"Teens and Sleep." Sleep for Teenagers. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2015. <https://sleepfoundation.org/sleep-topics/teens-and-sleep>.

"Bad Report Card: Are Parents Too Tough? | University of Michigan News."Bad Report Card: Are Parents Too Tough? | University of Michigan News. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2015. <http://ns.umich.edu/new/releases/23062-bad-report-card-are-parents-too-tough>.

Is the haze worth bearing for the economy?

The haze is a commonly debated topic, A topic which has aroused many different viewpoints, mostly which are negative. But are there some plus sides to this too?

Many concur that the haze does spread many harmful toxins and is an impediment to many normal day to day activities. But can the haze be beneficial in the long run? Most deforestation happens so that palm-oils can be produced hence the production of plastic.

Plastic is necessary for every household. Almost everything is made from plastic. From your containers to your blenders, everyone uses plastic. So if we take a look at the haze that way, does that mean what we are doing is actually beneficial to us for survival? Another solution is to find a replacement but scientists have been working on that for multiple years, don't expect that anytime soon.

In conclusion the haze is possible needed for our long term sustainability.

By Shrishti Khetan

The Conversation

On Monday the 4th of October a man had a very unusual experience on his way to work. The man went over and sat next to a old man with a frown on his face.

The two began to get into a conversation however it quickly escalated when the overweight man began talking about how he had lost everything due to a sickness him and his wife were diagnosed with.

He then said he lived with his daughter but was abused as he was believed to be bad luck due to his sickness. He said “I am only fed rice, and my daughter makes me sleep on the balcony”. He also showed the other man his empty wallet saying he was on his way for treatment. The other man seemed to be listening with empathy and when it was time for him to get off the bus he kindly handed the man twenty dollars.

However the poor man did seem incredulous as it also did not make sense that if he was only fed rice he could be overweight. It is unclear if the man was tricking the businessman or not however with the countless number of cheaters there are, he may very well be one.

By Kimia

Haze in Singapore

Since the burning of the palm trees began in Indonesia the countries surrounding it has been affected by the smoke being blown from the sites of burning.

The pollution from the burning from the palm trees or “the haze”has been cause by the palm tree farmers that are over in Indonesia.

the farmers there are burning down the trees because the field of palm trees that are not making a lot of income for them are being burnt in order to create more fertile soil to plant the next batch of seeds that they hope would better results for them. The indonesian has refused all help from neighboring countries like singapore who have offered their military forces to fly over the sites while pouring water to put out the fires, which is what the indonesian government has been trying to achieve. The psi readings (the reading for air quality) have been raised over 3 thousand in indonesia and has killed lots of wild life already. In singapore the psi reading are from 100-200 (Considered hazardous)on average and this has caused most outdoor activities to cease to a halt while the haze hangs about singapore.

While the Indonesian does it efforts to put out the fires all the neighboring countries can only standby and wait for the haze to stop.

By Chien Yu Huang

Round Square

It wasn’t often UWCSEA East welcomed an abundance of visitors, let alone a large group of infants, but with the Round Square conference, today was different.

Students from Persatuan Pemudi Islam Singapura visited 8 DSz at the UWCSEA East campus. Warming the hearts of the 8th grade students, they enlightened the classroom and engaged in various activities prepared by the students. One of the more favoured activities was a Playdoh station, which allowed the infants to play with the homemade Play-Doh. The reaction the infants garnered during their entrance was a synchronised “Awh...”. A sound that was rarely heard during regular school days. Although most of the activities had received a positive response from the infants, Jenga was received poorly, “One of the kids kicked me!” expressed station organizer, Aditya Bhanap. Overall, the children were said to have had an excellent time on campus and were impressed by the class’s hospitality and the extensive size of the international school, and the conference illuminated a new path for connections.

By Philip Haryanto

Cellphone Zombification

Are cellphones hypnotising the human race? On Monday the 5th of October, 4 round square delegates from the round square conference visited the class 8SMD but just end up on their phones, bored, for majority of the time. Sydney, one of the delegates was constantly engrossed with the contents of her phone, instead of participating in the activities planned by the students.

Every now and again the other 3 would take a glance at their phones as well, but it was mostly Sydney. At one point she said “this is so weird!” to the other delegates before a game of musical statues, then went back to texting on her phone. Her facial expression mostly looked like she was unfocused and bored. Rhea, one of the students from 8SMD said “I thought it was a bit rude because we were supposed to be bonding but she was just ignoring the activities we were doing”

But Sydney isn’t the only one. People everywhere are attached to their phones. On the MRT, almost everyone on there is on their phone playing games, listening to music, calling someone, texting and more. One woman, most probably a helper, with a local child about 3 years old were aboard the MRT. The woman was concentrating on a game on her phone, not keeping an eye out for the child. Afterall he is her responsibility and she was hardly paying attention. It just shows how immersed we are in technology these days, are we becoming programmed into becoming phone zombies?

By Isabella G

High School Students Under Pressure

High school can often be imagined as a group of friends racing to finish their latest assignments.

At around 10am on the 30th of September, Wednesday, a group of high schoolers could be seen in the library of UWCSEA East on their laptops, urgently discussing the homework, due to stress levels.

High schoolers are often seen discussing school and how it disrupts their lives. Many are visibly stressed about school, sports, relationships, and what they want to do in their lives, as well as what is preventing them from doing so.

“I’ve still got 160 words to go, and my citations are really messed up.” was one comment from the group in the library.

Stress is a big issue in high school, and UWC is one of the schools that try to relieve as much of this pressure as possible. But why are students still stressed?

A few problems arise when asked this question. As kids move into high school, many parents start pushing them to get better grades, and most students are not used to the kind of pressure high school puts on them. And this is only one part of the problem.

Many students have other hobbies they want to work on and perhaps build into a career. The problem is, with so many other subjects they need to excel at, it’s difficult to work on those hobbies, and they eventually fade away, leaving the kid with uncertainness about what they really want to do in the future.

Finally, most high schoolers just want to get through this phase of their life.

“I wish I could go back home.” is a recurring statement heard in high school. High levels of stress is a common factor of high school, and that needs to change.

By Rhea Anne Goyal