And so it begins.  Following the high of winter break, January packs it in.  The multitude of long weekends aside, the month is full of tests, projects, essays and midterm exams.

It seems as if a black cloud of stress hovers over Jefferson towards the end of January.  Semester courses are finishing, underclassmen are scrambling to raise their grades for the quarter and seniors are pushing for the final grades that will be sent to colleges.

Unfortunately, many teachers disregard the difficulty in studying a semester’s worth of material by assigning students onerous workloads at the beginning and middle of the month.  The amount of work drags down students who are trying to keep up in each of their classes.

It certainly isn’t necessary for teachers to stop assigning work for the entire month; that would be absurd.  However, they need to take into consideration the time required to complete assignments and to study, as well as the overbearing stress of it all.

Instead of focusing on tests and major projects, teachers should use quizzes and less stressful activities, such as in-class projects, to assess students.  Additionally, the decrease of actual work would give students the ability to review more on their own.

In turn, students need to give it their all.  Grades should not have to be important as they are, but frankly they are.  With a lightened workload, students hopefully would be able to focus on actual learning rather than memorization.

While the month of January is going to be stressful, regardless, teachers need to emphasize getting their students to learn than to be overwhelmed by work. Then students will be able to focus on midterms and lean the subjects at hand.