The 2021-22 school year was an interesting adjustment for many students. Everyone was forced to relearn how to manage time while balancing a busy schedule. With the calm and relaxed policies during the “COVID” year bleeding over into a full in-person school year, the question has arisen if these policies should be changed. The biggest debate is over late assignments. Should students truly have all quarter to complete their assignments? Or would a stricter policy allow for less stress overall? In most cases, the latter might be true. 

At the end of every quarter stress seems to pile up on everyone. There is no denying that this is an anxiety-ridden time for everyone. But, should it truly be as stressful as it is? Many students wait until the last minute to turn in old assignments. Their grade may look dauntingly low until they turn all of these in. Therefore, many would likely have less stress if they were able to see a more accurate representation of their grade beforehand.

Many students find themselves with a couple of classes that the grade is just very inaccurate until the end of the quarter. It is not until they turn in all of their missing assignments that the grade actually depicts what it should be. 

It is easy for students to choose the route that feels easy in the short term, but in the long run, it only ends up hurting them more. 

Many students even have to go back to units they worked on months ago to complete all their assignments. The result is usually much sloppier work, as students struggle to remember the details of that unit.

Many students would have a more fulfilled educational experience if their assignments were due during the unit they were taught in. 

Another argument comes in the form of tests. Although students might believe that a smaller workload of assignments might help them stress less and focus more on the test at hand, is it fair to argue that tests would be less stressful if students did the assignments revolving around the contents of the test? These worksheets are designed to cover the content discussed in class and will likely assist on tests and better prepare students for the content of these assessments.

Although it seems tedious and time consuming at the time, it will give students exactly what they need in order to be successful on assessments. 

Students will also be less stressed if they are completing assignments that allow them to critically think about the subjects they are covering in class. It is an essential part of learning core content. The purpose of school is essentially to learn and gain valuable skills despite the fact that it feels, to many people, as if its sole purpose is to get good grades and build a résumé.

Additionally, having deadlines prepares students for the real world. Most jobs do not have flexible deadlines, but instead have short-term ones. In some businesses, employees have minutes or hours to complete work, without the luxury of taking it home or doing it over the weekend. The school could build students up to the short-term deadlines by changing its policy.

Having to complete many assignments piled on top of each other is an incredibly difficult task and one that can easily be avoided. The quality of work and amount of stress will be lower if these assignments are spread out over time.

Overall, students would have work of much higher quality if they worked on their assignments on a more spread out basis. The level of stress would also be lower if students completed them on time, as it would allow for a more thorough understanding of the material and would not cause the cramming of assignments at the end of the quarter.