We went to college knowing that there would be days of studying and stress. Along with those difficult days we expected to meet new friends and really start living our lives the way we wanted to. However, we were unaware that everything that has happened in the past year would make college so different. The days of hanging out with friends before and after class have been gone for a year now. Staring at a computer screen has taken up all hours of the day. I personally have been back in my parent’s house for the past year not having returned to campus since I was told to leave my dorm. It feels as if the college I imagined and worked towards vanished a year ago.
For a while, students seemed to be adjusting to this new form of college whether learning in person at a distance or being on Zoom. I think that all changed this semester, Spring 2021. The stress of college has grown as we are thrown from one assignment or exam to the next. Our spring break was taken away from us to create a condensed schedule. This meant that we would be taking our midterms and then go straight into finals season. Our one chance to breathe, focus on our mental health, take a step away from the computer screens was taken away from us.
Friends and students I talk to are on edge. We have not had a second to relax since the spring semester began. Some schools took random days for “Wellness Days” instead of spring break. Other schools did nothing for a replacement. Students go from one class to the next, one assignment to the next, one exam to the next. Once one assignment or exam is completed another is piled on. There is no time to take a break because we are all focusing on what we must get done. Many students have started to complain that professors are assigning more work now online than they did in person. What some professors do not take into consideration is that every additional assignment creates even more stress. Then we are told that this is college, we signed up for this, but did we?
For some students, midterm week lasted for a month. The schedules we have in place do not seem to mean anything because they are constantly changing. Students who have asynchronous classes are struggling because some professors are not answering emails just giving out assignments and exams. There is little guidance. And now that midterms are over, all professors can talk about are final exams and papers. We are going from one large exam to the next without a breather in between and it is taking a toll on students.
Universities and professors say they understand the pressure and the stress, but they are not listening to the students. Taking away spring break, assigning more work because we are online, and not answering emails or giving extensions when students desperately need them. They say we are in this together that they understand our stress, but students feel like no one is listening. This is not the case with all professors. I have had a few that have genuinely made online school easier, but those professors did everything they could to work with us and learn this new way of schooling. The professors that decided not to alter their classes to work in this new environment have made it even more difficult as their classes were not meant to be online.
Students are even struggling with clubs and organizations. Attendance has decreased because everyone is stressed out about classes and assignments, so they are no longer able to enjoy the other aspects of college. All there is now, is work. Up until the spring semester students were able to juggle this difficult shift but something has changed. Would it have all been better had universities not taken away spring break? If professors and faculty would listen to how the students were feeling? If we were able to take a break from the assignments, studying, and exams? If we could take a break from our computer screens?
We thought college would be stressful when it came to midterms and finals, but we never thought that college would be like this. Of course, we did not know that this was going to happen, but something has made it more difficult this semester. Students from all universities are struggling and reaching their breaking points. When students are talking about how difficult it is for them right now, listen. This is still new to all of us, something so many previous college students never had to deal with. We are the guinea pigs of online learning and how it is right now is not working.