Surging Stress Slams Students and Staff as Semester Ends
Academic pressure, increased workload and lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic creates burnout.
By Andrew Mauga
Academic pressure, increased workload and lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic creates burnout.
By Andrew Mauga
This school year is exceptionally harder than the rest. Teachers and students have both addressed their concerns regarding the 2022-23 school year, as the additional stress of academics and a growing teacher shortage have taken its toll. A recent study from Switzerland said that “around 30% of teachers report that the teaching profession is ‘very stressful’ or ‘extremely stressful.’”
On top of the rigorous curriculum that is taught, the major teacher shortage has made its way to the district. Math department chair Zohreh Moaven has felt the impact of the shortage and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic immensely.
“This year things have been a little bit more stressful since we have a shortage of math teachers,” said Moaven. “Another stress in our department is the fact that the year the kids were online, not much learning happened, and math builds up, and so we feel a lot of background knowledge has been missed. When they’re coming to us, I have to constantly review the things that they didn’t perhaps learn.”
Math teacher Whitney Goodman has also expressed similar levels of stress.
“Students are not following through and the district is requiring teachers to jump through hoops when there is a teacher shortage,” said Goodman. “I have to have a lot of patience with students. I mean that goes with teaching anytime, but lately because of the lack of motivation and the lack of follow through with students, I’ve had to use so much more patience and I have my own two children at home, so trying to be patient with them, I run out quickly.”
Returning back from the pandemic has also created higher levels of stress and mental health concerns, prompting curriculum to be implemented to address it, and in response to that, teachers are required to teach lessons to which they have not been properly trained.
“This year the added stress of trying to be responsible for the SEL curriculum is something I’m not confident in at all,” said science teacher Steve Boyd. “I was trained on how to deliver the science curriculum, which I’m very confident in. I’ve been doing it for a long time, and then overnight they ask us to be responsible for these pretty in depth emotional learning responsibilities that I just don’t have the confidence to do nor do I feel like I have the time to devote to it.”
While teachers are dealing with mass amounts of pressure, students at Pioneer have also voiced their side of the spectrum.
As a result of college applications slowing down and some coming to an end, Sophia Smolinski, 12, feels that the stress has left a mark on her mental and social stability.
“Stress has caused me to be more closed off and anxious. I have been overworking myself and as a result I cannot shut my mind off and relax when I have the time to do so. This has drained me and made me feel more unmotivated than ever,” said Smolinski.
Sara Maccioni, 10, has also felt that the pressure of academics has been overwhelming.
“Stress has definitely affected my mental health. I definitely feel more pressure to get good results and sometimes it puts me in panic if I don't finish something by the time I wanted it to be done.”
In response to the academic hardships that students experience, Emma Carlson, 12, feels that teachers should take a different approach that better helps students’ mental health.
“I wish that teachers took into consideration our other classes that we take and the absurd amount of college work that we have on top of our academic courses,” said Carlson. “I also wish that teachers put in grades for assignments quicker so we would know our grade in the class so we don’t have to feel stressed out. But overall I wish teachers were more considerate of all the extracurriculars and other classes we have going on.”
On top of the rigorous curriculum that is taught, the major teacher shortage has made its way to the district. Math department chair Zohreh Moaven has felt the impact of the shortage and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic immensely.
“This year things have been a little bit more stressful since we have a shortage of math teachers,” said Moaven. “Another stress in our department is the fact that the year the kids were online, not much learning happened, and math builds up, and so we feel a lot of background knowledge has been missed. When they’re coming to us, I have to constantly review the things that they didn’t perhaps learn.”
Math teacher Whitney Goodman has also expressed similar levels of stress.
“Students are not following through and the district is requiring teachers to jump through hoops when there is a teacher shortage,” said Goodman. “I have to have a lot of patience with students. I mean that goes with teaching anytime, but lately because of the lack of motivation and the lack of follow through with students, I’ve had to use so much more patience and I have my own two children at home, so trying to be patient with them, I run out quickly.”
Returning back from the pandemic has also created higher levels of stress and mental health concerns, prompting curriculum to be implemented to address it, and in response to that, teachers are required to teach lessons to which they have not been properly trained.
“This year the added stress of trying to be responsible for the SEL curriculum is something I’m not confident in at all,” said science teacher Steve Boyd. “I was trained on how to deliver the science curriculum, which I’m very confident in. I’ve been doing it for a long time, and then overnight they ask us to be responsible for these pretty in depth emotional learning responsibilities that I just don’t have the confidence to do nor do I feel like I have the time to devote to it.”
While teachers are dealing with mass amounts of pressure, students at Pioneer have also voiced their side of the spectrum.
As a result of college applications slowing down and some coming to an end, Sophia Smolinski, 12, feels that the stress has left a mark on her mental and social stability.
“Stress has caused me to be more closed off and anxious. I have been overworking myself and as a result I cannot shut my mind off and relax when I have the time to do so. This has drained me and made me feel more unmotivated than ever,” said Smolinski.
Sara Maccioni, 10, has also felt that the pressure of academics has been overwhelming.
“Stress has definitely affected my mental health. I definitely feel more pressure to get good results and sometimes it puts me in panic if I don't finish something by the time I wanted it to be done.”
In response to the academic hardships that students experience, Emma Carlson, 12, feels that teachers should take a different approach that better helps students’ mental health.
“I wish that teachers took into consideration our other classes that we take and the absurd amount of college work that we have on top of our academic courses,” said Carlson. “I also wish that teachers put in grades for assignments quicker so we would know our grade in the class so we don’t have to feel stressed out. But overall I wish teachers were more considerate of all the extracurriculars and other classes we have going on.”