Is Animal Testing Ever Justified?

(Please keep in mind that there are many different types of animal testing, the one I am referring to in this blog is about the research of medication and diseases in animals.)

Are High School Students Being Worked Way Too Hard?

 Sophie La Nave

Dr. O’Brien

Language and Literature 2

September 26, 2023

Are High School Students Being Worked Way Too Hard?

At first, I thought I was of two minds with this; simultaneously believing students could handle the work given to them, but that it was still too much work. However, the more I think about it, the more I know, just because you could do something doesn’t mean you should. When given homework, expected to do extracurriculars, being in school for hours, eating dinner, spending time with family(on occasion-when/if you have time), and sleeping- it becomes impossible to balance living and learning, and yes, when it comes to the American education system, these two things are separate. I must admit, as someone who does theater, during tech week, I spend more or equal time at school and at home, on average(including hours asleep). During tech week(the week of/before the performance), I am at school spanning from about 8:00 am till around 8:30/9:00 pm. My days at school span from about 10 hours long(8:00 am - 6:00 pm, on normal theater weeks), to 13 hours long. Not to mention, I spend approximately 3 hours doing homework and studying daily. So, I spend, on average, 11.5 hours at school, plus 3 hours doing my homework at home, so in total I spend 14.5 hours working/exerting high amounts of energy. Although it’s true that doing theater is my choice, it’s also true that it’s not really a viable option to do what you like when the stakes are your mental and physical health. Not to mention, high school students are expected to take on after school activities; sports, jobs, hobbies, etc. When it is expected of you, such as studying, it becomes a moral obligation and perhaps even a desire, one which we cannot so quickly abandon. So, highschool students are left to over-exert themselves. So, yes, high school students are worked too hard.

Although highschoolers spend a lot of time working, what about when they aren’t working? How much time do they need to sleep? Highschoolers are typically teenagers, meaning they typically need a ton of sleep; roughly 8-10 hours(AASM). When asked how many high school students don’t get enough sleep, the cdc states: “About 7 out of 10 (72.7%) did not get enough sleep on school nights”. If highschoolers can’t get enough sleep, and are risking their health, schools shouldn’t push them too hard, because school already takes up so much of the day, and more importantly, students are risking their health by not getting enough sleep. It’s possible that the reason they sleep so little isn’t directly related to school, maybe they want to watch tv at night, or want to do a hobby, but no matter what I’m left to ask: why didn’t they do that earlier? They probably spent a majority of their time doing something related to school; homework, taking classes, studying, extracurriculars, etc. Even when activities don’t directly relate to school, my(as a highschooler) life is dictated by school, because school controls my time.

If school wasn’t working students too hard, students would be happy at school, right? At least they wouldn’t constantly feel tired. According to Britta Belli from Yale News: “High school students reported negative feelings 60% of the time.” So, if students feel constantly drained, something in their lives must be a common denominator, and at the highschool age, highschool is my life. High School is all of our lives- till college hits. If more highschoolers were happy with high school(our lives), I’d be led to believe maybe it’s a different aspect of our lives that we all have in common that leaves us drained- overworked, yet I don’t have evidence to support that it isn’t highschool that is the common problem.

In all, I wish school weren’t so draining, but it is. High school overworks us, and I’m tired of the assumption that this is just a middle stage of life that isn’t to be lived, but to prepare to live when college/life comes around. Well guess what! THIS IS LIFE. We are alive right now, so please let us live. High school is overworking us, which we can tell through lack of sleep, and a general feeling of hatred or tiredness towards high school. High school, give me a break.

Works Cited

Belli, Brita. "National survey: Students' feelings about high school are mostly negative." YaleNews, 30 Jan. 2020, news.yale.edu/2020/01/30/national-survey-students-feelings-about-high-school-are-mostly-negative. Accessed 26 Sept. 2023.

"Sleep FAQs." Sleep Education(AASM), sleepeducation.org/sleep-faqs/#:~:text=Children%203%20to%205%20years,24%20hours%20(including%20naps).&text=Children%206%20to%2012%20years,12%20hours%20per%2024%20hours.&text=Teenagers%2013%20to%2018%20years,10%20hours%20per%2024%20hours.&text=Adults%20should%20sleep%207%20or%20more%20hours%20per%20night. Accessed 26 Sept. 2023.

Sleep in Middle and High School Students. Division of Population Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion . centers for disease control and prevention, www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/features/students-sleep.htm#:~:text=Importance%20of%20Sleep&text=The%20American%20Academy%20of%20Sleep,10%20hours%20per%2024%20hours. Accessed 26 Sept. 2023.

How Old Should Kids be to Start Using Social Media? (Finn)

 The dangers of social media are defined differently by everyone. For parental guardians in specific, an important question to ask yourself is how old your child should be to start using social media. It’s especially important to recognize that parents or legal guardians sometimes don’t know what may come with the trendiest apps – so, what exactly should kids be using?

    Let's start with my personal experience: I started using social media at as young as 9. My first experience online was with YouTube, one of the most recognizable social media apps for its wide variety of content. However, it wasn’t long till I was restricted to YouTube Kids after my mom decided the normal app wasn’t appropriate for my age. A few years later at 11 years old, I found out about the new trendy app, TikTok. I begged my mom for the app when it first blew up and I eventually was able to make a private account with some content restrictions. I loved TikTok, and I posted videos to my friends and I scrolled for hours on end. The question is, was this really appropriate for my age?

    In my opinion, it truly depends on the app to decipher whether or not your child should be scrolling. It’s important to not look over the age guidelines for certain social media apps, even if it doesn’t seem accurate enough to trust. Different apps have different content, so deciding the “age limit” for social media as a whole isn’t possible because it’s hard to label every social media app. Personally, I think children under the ages of 13 should probably not be using TikTok. When it comes to something like YouTube, I think it’s better off for kids to use the YouTube Kids app until they are around 10 or 11. Aside from that, recognizing that an app like Twitter is going to be much more harmful than an app like Pinterest will help you be able to decipher what your child should be scrolling on when they get their first device.

    With that, as a parent you should always know what your child is using and how you feel about it. Ask yourself what you worry about for your child and how you feel when it comes to your child using certain apps. Educate yourself, and make sure you know what content your child could be subjected to when they open the apps on their phone.