Exhaustion, frustration, and lack of motivation are all things that someone dealing with academic burnout can experience, from an overabundance of work. Expectations have become more difficult to meet. Are schools giving students an excessive amount of work? Or could it be the new 8 period schedule?
Ms. Hanlon, an AP Language teacher at WHS explained that she notices students losing lack of incentive to keep up with their school work, especially with AP students. “Students who think that taking several AP classes are manageable and they also do sports, they also do extracurriculars.”
Classrooms that used to be filled with students engaged in work and conversations with their peers, are now full of tired kids with their heads down, reluctant to raise their hand, and simply trying to get through the 6 hour school day.
High school is a pivotal transition period for teens. These 4 years are the time for teens to find their passion and goals to work for. Without a plan to force you to keep pushing, it becomes easy for students to become lazy and unmotivated. However, that’s not all that comes from burnout.
For Sophia Best, she first experienced burnout last year as a sophomore, and it has increased this year. “I’m less likely to find motivation within classes that aren’t high in personal importance, as well as overall exhaustion both in school and outside of school.” Sophia also notes that academic burnout leads to “more emotional struggles and anxiety.”
So does the structure of school enhance or inhibit academic burnout? Sophia says that “Between the expectations of students to have full schedules, take AP or advanced classes, as well as the expectations of students to be in sports or work, school can cause students to burnout through unrealistic expectations.”
Finding motivation after one has lost it is a little more difficult, but ways to deal with burnout can be simple. You can try making to-do lists, separating time to work and time to rest(and sticking to it), and cleaning your bedroom/work space.