The Hourglass 2021-22 Issue I

6 | centerfold the hourglass | OCTober/NOVember 2021
Is Baldwin’s Return to Normalcy
Too Much, Too Soon?
How are students dealing with post-Covid stress?
EMMA BARNES ‘24
SAMANTHA PIERCE ‘25
Staff Writers
What makes Baldwin students
“break”? Some say the pandemic
was the so-called tipping
point, some say we are
rapidly approaching burnout, and others
think that we’ve been breaking for years.
No one can deny that stress levels
among Baldwin students are quite high
right now. Ask any student in Baldwin
about their sleep schedule, and they’ll
tell you it has been decimated because
of an essay they simply had to finish.
“I slept two hours because I was busy
working on multiple projects after having six
cups of coffee,” said Adriana Truscello ‘24.
To put this into perspective, the
necessary amount of rest for a teenager
is eight to ten hours a night.
These sleep patterns can have major
negative effects on our physical health.
The most common side effects of staying
up late are fatigue and lack of focus, but
continuing this behavior is even more detrimental.
Falling asleep in class becomes
disturbingly frequent, and mental health
conditions can worsen significantly. This
creates a rather vicious cycle, pushing
students to stay up later, as they gradually
are not able to be as productive as before.
Last year, it felt like sleep was easier
to get due to an 8:30 am arrival time,
decreased amounts of homework, fewer
tests, minimal end-of-the-year exams,
and online school. Baldwin’s return to a
pre-pandemic schedule does not allow
for any leniency in the sleep department.
Schoolwork is not the only component
in our general lack of rest.
Baldwin’s competitive academic environment
pressures students to polish
assignments to ensure an A.
“Because students strive
for perfection, success is expected,”
said Hafsa Kanchwala ‘25.
““
“Because students
strive for perfection,
success is expected.”
And finally, there are numerous other
factors in a student’s life besides school,
such as sports, extracurriculars, family, social
life, and mental and physical health.
Many feel that there are simply not enough
hours in the day to balance all of these things.
To get some more context about
the increased stress at Baldwin this year,
I consulted a new history teacher and
advisor to the Class of ‘24, Ms. Smith.
Ms. Smith was new to Baldwin during
the 2020-2021 school year, advising
and mainly teaching the freshman class.
I asked her about how Baldwin’s curriculum
has changed for the teachers since
last year. Ms. Smith answered that because
of the expectations that this year is supposed
to be a normal school year, many are treating
it as a return to life before COVID-19.
“We’re starting to see where expectations
of teachers and students are
not aligning as they might have before
the pandemic,” Ms. Smith said.
Everyone wants a reprieve from
the stress of COVID-19, but forcing
a normal school year on a generation
that is still recovering from a not-normal-year
does more harm than good.
“I wasn’t aware of the degree to
which everyone was so stressed out and
overwhelmed. I think you all are very
good at having a stiff upper lip and tamping
all that emotion and anxiety down,
putting on a brave face,” Ms. Smith said.
Baldwin’s competitive environment
and intense workload, especially in the
aftermath of a pandemic, contributes to a
student culture of academic success rooted
in toxic, unsustainable living habits.
It is unreasonable to expect top-tier work
from a student body struggling to find
time for their mental and physical health.
So what is the solution? Pacing. Ellie
Delaney ‘22 and Ms. Smith both noted the
pacing of school work when asked about
the reasons for increased stress levels.
Delaney said, “We go through periods
where there’s not much homework,
[only] a reading or two, and
then all of a sudden, [there are] hours
of homework and all these tests, and
you’re completely unprepared for it.”
For a better insight on the administration’s
perspective, we talked with
Mrs. Reed about student stress and actions
the faculty are taking to combat it.
“This is an environment where there
is what I refer to as contagious stress,”
Mrs. Reed said. “I don’t know what breaks
that. Last year wasn’t a year off. Everyone
was working, but it was not a usual year.”
Baldwin’s faculty have been
brainstorming since the very beginning
to find innovative pacing
solutions for this complex issue.
Mrs. Reed said, “We are on the same
team,” meaning that this is not a student
versus administrator or student versus
teacher situation, but the Baldwin students
and administration are working together to
combat stress and the effects of COVID.
Overall, the stress levels at Baldwin
are rising drastically. While the administration
is trying to support and help
with these problems, students are still abnormally
overworked and overstressed.