With upcoming holidays, tests and squeezing in extra hours of work to buy Christmas presents, November and December can easily become two of the most stressful months for a student during the school year. Second quarter is filled with holiday breaks that can disturb a student’s rhythm and cause unneeded amounts of stress in regards to school work. 

Students are expected to participate in clubs, have a job and get good grades in their classes. This creates pressure to succeed and can cause setbacks in a student’s life. Along with this stress, during the months of November and December students are faced with more tests, quarterly assessments and upcoming finals. Preparing for these tests is not easy and places added burdens in a student’s life. With the holiday breaks and days off in-between these tests, students may not feel prepared. They may feel they fall short of the expectations that were set for them and leave school dreading the amount of work they were assigned. They get a few days to themselves over break only to come back to school worrying about how their grades will be at the end of the semester.

These holiday breaks are needed, but the amount of school work and job hours piled onto a student’s plate can be detrimental to their health. The amount of extra work and pressure for a student needs to lessen around holidays, not escalate, to allow the students to enjoy their time off. The holidays should be a time for joy and family, not stress and mental breakdowns.