Senior students at Prairie High School, Madalyn Wolfram and Chloe Clemmer talk about how they wished their teachers understood how stressed they currently are in school due to all their responsibilities right now.
Madalyn Wolfram works an everyday job at the mall and has 6 important classes she has to stay on track with everyday. She says something she wishes her teachers would know is How much stress i’m under at home outside of school.” One goal she’s focused on outside of school is working everyday to save up money for college.
One piece of advice Madalyn would give to the teachers is “Don’t assume stuff just because you’ve been doing this job for many years.” Lots of teachers think they know what’s going on in your life and how you’re feeling when they’re most likely very wrong about that.
One stressful situation that happened to Madalyn was when she tried explaining her issues at home to a teacher, and the teacher just brushed it off and brought up her own issues and said she’s also stressed but still comes to work.
Chloe works 2 jobs after school and is planning on graduating early to start her dream career as soon as possible. She only has 4 periods everyday and still is really stressed because she’s worried she won’t achieve her goals and will have to take more classes next semester.
Her main goals she said she’s working on outside of school is “working up in the restaurant industry and working toward beauty school.” One time she felt really unheard and uncomfortable by a teacher was “ when the teacher said I had to present no matter what with no practice and I told her I had lots of anxiety and I was uncomfortable and she still said I had to present, so after that I’m never going to that class again.”
Her current situation is having her really stressed because outside of school she also has big responsibilities to stay on track with everyday. One time she was struggling mentally and got behind in classes so she pulled her teacher in for a chat and explained what’s going on. Her teacher was really understanding and helped her get caught up and do better on her tests.
Understanding teachers are better teachers because one of the most important things for a student is feeling heard, cared for and respected. One piece of advice Chloe would give to all teachers is “to always give grace and sympathy to everyone, because you don’t know what someone could be going through.”
