By Elora Brow
Online Opinion Editor
Mira Costa’s Social Emotional Wellness Committee conducted a homework survey to assess student workload on Feb. 27 during English classes. The survey is a constructive step toward reducing student stress and workload as long as the school properly takes students’ responses into account and makes effective adjustments accordingly.
The SEW Committee conducted the survey to determine the daily workloads of students, Mira Costa Principal Dr. Ben Dale said. The survey included questions on the number of hours that students spend on homework, studying, projects and extracurriculars. The school will not release the results of the survey to the public.
Link: The Princeton Review talks about student stress and workload.
The school plans on combining the results from the February survey with the results of a similar student stress survey that students took earlier in the school year in order to make adjustments to ease workloads, Costa Vice Principal Dr. Karina Gerger said. This method is a good addition to the school’s efforts to account for students’ tests and homework and will hopefully work to reduce student stress accordingly.
According to a La Vista survey of 200 students, 78% of students answered the school’s homework survey honestly. The students’ honest responses are beneficial for the students and the school as a whole because with these truthful results, ideally, Costa will be able to make adjustments to students’ schedules in a manner that is consistent with students’ difficulties.
Furthermore, according to the La Vista survey, a combined 77% of students believes that either all or some of the questions were relevant to their student workload. Thus, the school and the creators of the survey did an admirable job in ensuring the survey content properly applies to the lives of students. This accuracy will allow Costa to provide appropriate and suitable solutions that will lessen the pressure students feel.
As evidenced above, it is highly beneficial that students have, overall, responded well to the homework survey. However, despite the reliability of student participation, the results have little to no value if the school does not use the results to adjust student workload accordingly.
Photos: Students give their opinions on the the survey conducted.
According to the La Vista survey, 54% of the respondents believes that the administration will most likely not utilize its findings from the homework survey to make beneficial changes to students’ workloads. These results show that the student body believes past actions taken by the school in an attempt to reduce student workload have not been as effective as the school intended them to be. Therefore, it is necessary for the administration to put forth a sincere effort to ensure that the survey results cause positive changes to occur at Costa.
However, Dale said that if there are huge concerns about workload based upon the results of the survey, then the school will approach departments to clarify any disparities. From that point, each department may make adjustments such as changing the number of hours on the time management sheet, a sheet that defines the average workload each class requires, Dale said. By making the sheet more accurate and realistic, the school will be able to better inform students of the total workload for the courses they plan to take.
Link: The Huffington Post talks about high school students workload.
The survey is a highly admirable step forward to reduce stress and pressure on students. However, in order for the survey to be as effective as possible, the school must work to ensure that it properly accounts for the students’ results and applies the necessary adjustments.
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