Anti-stress meetings counterproductive

Taking away free time heightens stress

Stress — it’s not uncommon for the typical Hockadaisy, and it gets progressively worse as the years in Upper School go by. To counteract the effects of stress, the school has made efforts to help students manage it, but are they actually helping?

For the past few months, students have engaged with Upper School administration, as well as guest speakers, to learn healthy ways to cope with stress. Most of these meetings occur during conference or Y periods, causing students to lose out on valuable study and relaxation time.

Assemblies and form meetings have taken up conference periods prior to long breaks. In December, all students had form meetings on the Tuesday and Wednesday prior to Holiday Break.

It is unfair to both the student body and the faculty to have to sit through these meetings during especially busy periods. It is important that school administration and student council representatives work together for the overall benefit of the students, rather than having “stress-alleviation seminars” just for the sake of having them.

Form councils are intended to be the liaisons between Upper School Administration, the Executive Council and the forms. Selected by popular vote, the form council representatives pledge the same thing every year: guaranteeing more free time and fun activities throughout the year and advocating for change on behalf of the student body. However, these promises are predominantly empty, as the ultimate decisions are left to the administration. This brings into question the council members’ credibility, as they are not truly able to accomplish what they promise to do.

The current situation is counterintuitive. Administration intends to relieve stress by teaching students how to manage it, through meetings during their only free periods in the day.

The Executive Council has promised and introduced a variety of stress-alleviating activities. Juniors got to play with therapy dogs and students spent time with friends at the proCRAFTination station. These solutions were more effective than the “sit down and talk” sessions because they allowed students interactive, sociable, and enjoyable experiences with their friends.

We propose more interactive, optional activities for students to partake in, similar to the activities the

Executive Council organized this year. Ideally, these events would take place regularly so students could enjoy breaks from the stresses of school. Additionally, we urge the administration and form councils to try to understand that students are only doing their best.

We appreciate the efforts to help alleviate stress. However, what we want is more time to unwind and relax rather than more assemblies. More no-homework weekends, more even spacing of tests between all classes, and more free time during conference, lunch and Y period are all aspects administrators should take into consideration to decrease stress.

Taking away our free time in the name of teaching us how to spend our free time is counterproductive, and, ironically, stressful.

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