Whether you are a parent, teacher or student yourself, you have most likely seen the amount of time that high schoolers spend on academics, extracurriculars and everything besides free time. This practice is called grind culture, and it is the mindset of always working hard and trying to achieve success, while leaving very little room for rest. This is seen in the workplace, but it is most visible through academics in the lives of high school students.
With the severe increase in difficulty of the college admissions process, students feel that they need to go above and beyond to stand out. This leads them to put way too much on their plate, taking multiple AP classes and participating in several activities outside of school. It has become increasingly normalized for students to spend hours on end just doing homework, not including the time they spend on their extracurriculars.
“I think a lot of seniors, especially, are experiencing burnout right now. After exerting themselves for four years, I think they’re starting to lose steam. I also think that, as school ends, a lot of people are not quite sure what to do with themselves, as they’ve tied so much of their identity to their academic achievements,” said senior Alyssa Kimoto.
This is especially apparent in the Bay Area, where there are many extremely competitive schools. Students will often compare themselves to each other to see if they are doing enough, which creates the mindset that if you are not participating in one thing, someone else will get ahead of you.
Social media plays a large role in this. With a few taps on a screen, you can pull up an account of a local high school’s college decisions and see all of the competitive schools that its students are going to, and start to worry if you will be accepted to a school of similar merit.
Due to the normalization of students getting very little sleep from their unreasonable workloads, it has been talked about much less. Instead of realizing that their sleep schedules are unhealthy, students will joke with their friends about how little sleep they got the night before, making it a friendly competition of who is the most sleep deprived.
Students are burnt out. They simply do not have time or energy to balance so many things while still taking good care of themselves. School does not leave time for extracurricular activities with teachers assuming that students have enough time to finish any work that they assign as well as that of the six other classes they are taking. Teachers do not like it when students do other homework while in class, but they do not realize that it may be the only time the student has to do it. It is extremely difficult to focus in class when you are constantly thinking about other things to complete, showing how students never really stop working.
“I always have a feeling of guilt when I take a step away from my work. Like a lot of other students, I have spent most of my high school career juggling homework, sports, a job and other extracurriculars. Whenever I take a step away and take time for myself, I’m always thinking of all the things I could be doing instead,” said Kimoto.
Extracurriculars often do not accommodate much for school, either. Whether you play a club or school sport, or participate in another activity, you are most likely missing valuable time in school or spending hours each day focusing on something besides school work.
While it is necessary to have a break from schoolwork and focus on something else, it also causes more stress when students are thinking about all the work that needs to be completed later in the day. Even while writing this article, I am worrying about the countless other assignments that are filling my planner.
Schools need to take on a bigger role in helping with this issue. Having one mental health speaker at a month or two Wellness Wednesdays a year does not make an impact when students are struggling every day.
Beyond anything else, grind culture exhausts students. It is a toxic mindset that makes them feel as though they cannot stop working for one second, for fear that they will fall behind.
