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High School Students: Feeling Overwhelmed is Not Unusual
- By Phyllis Zimbler Miller
- Published 10/14/2008
- Health & Beauty
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Phyllis Zimbler Miller
For help with high school schedules, see THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS YOU SHOULD DO AND KNOW TO GET AHEAD OF THE GAME OF COLLEGE APPLICATIONS by Phyllis Zimbler Miller, who has an MBA from Wharton and blogs at Flipping Burgers and Beyond.
View all articles by Phyllis Zimbler Miller
Only a few weeks into the school year, a 9th grader at a very academic private high school is feeling overwhelmed. This is not an unusual feeling for high-achieving students because the pressure today to do well and “beat the competition” is intense.
Yet the FLIPPING BURGERS philosophy is somewhat different than the “get the highest grades and highest test scores” philosophy for getting into top colleges.
The FLIPPING BURGERS philosophy says that you should follow your passion in high school. This means trying to arrange a challenging but not overwhelming school schedule so that you have time to follow your passion outside of school.
And the advantage of following your passion outside school is that you will have to pursue activities that are not handed to you on a silver platter (the school’s own activities). Why, for example, join the high school drama club when you can join a local theater group near your home? In this way you will demonstrate initiative to the colleges to which you apply and your experience may be richer for having to learn how to “work” act) around adults of various ages.
If you are overwhelmed already and this is still early in the school year, consider whether you may be able to re-adjust your school schedule so that you have more time to pursue your passion and still take academically challenging (but not overwhelming) courses.
For example, this re-adjustment may mean saving physics until summer school where you can really focus on this subject and, in place of this course during the school year, take a less-strenuous one that will give you more free time after school.
In addition,
take advantage if your school has free tutoring on any subject. Don’t wait until you fall behind. After you’re done on the first day of classes, go to the tutoring center and review the material with a tutor. THIS IS NOT A STIGMA!
Many people believe that getting help implies weakness rather than indicating strength. It is actually a much better plan for life to recognize when free services can strengthen your position and to take advantage of this available opportunity.
Each person learns in a different way, yet repetition of new material can probably help everyone. And, if you’re going over new material with a tutor, you might discover that you misunderstood something that, if not corrected, could set you off in a major wrong direction. Thus, by reviewing new material with a tutor, you can quickly discover where you’re about to go off track.
If your school offers such services and these services could be of help to you, do not refuse to go because you’re afraid this would make you look dumb. Instead, getting help makes you look smart – smart to take advantage of any help you can in order to make sure you’re on the right track.
If even with tutoring you are just not understanding a subject, you might consider whether you have an unidentified learning disability that is interfering with your success with this subject. Frequently students are able to unconsciously cope with learning disabilities until high school, when the subject matter gets too difficult to cope without having learned specific coping skills for your learning issues.
Whatever you do, keep an open mind. It is only by being willing to fail that you can learn something new. If you are set on always appearing smart, you will be prevented from taking risks that can lead you to new understanding.
Yet the FLIPPING BURGERS philosophy is somewhat different than the “get the highest grades and highest test scores” philosophy for getting into top colleges.
The FLIPPING BURGERS philosophy says that you should follow your passion in high school. This means trying to arrange a challenging but not overwhelming school schedule so that you have time to follow your passion outside of school.
And the advantage of following your passion outside school is that you will have to pursue activities that are not handed to you on a silver platter (the school’s own activities). Why, for example, join the high school drama club when you can join a local theater group near your home? In this way you will demonstrate initiative to the colleges to which you apply and your experience may be richer for having to learn how to “work” act) around adults of various ages.
If you are overwhelmed already and this is still early in the school year, consider whether you may be able to re-adjust your school schedule so that you have more time to pursue your passion and still take academically challenging (but not overwhelming) courses.
For example, this re-adjustment may mean saving physics until summer school where you can really focus on this subject and, in place of this course during the school year, take a less-strenuous one that will give you more free time after school.
In addition,
Many people believe that getting help implies weakness rather than indicating strength. It is actually a much better plan for life to recognize when free services can strengthen your position and to take advantage of this available opportunity.
Each person learns in a different way, yet repetition of new material can probably help everyone. And, if you’re going over new material with a tutor, you might discover that you misunderstood something that, if not corrected, could set you off in a major wrong direction. Thus, by reviewing new material with a tutor, you can quickly discover where you’re about to go off track.
If your school offers such services and these services could be of help to you, do not refuse to go because you’re afraid this would make you look dumb. Instead, getting help makes you look smart – smart to take advantage of any help you can in order to make sure you’re on the right track.
If even with tutoring you are just not understanding a subject, you might consider whether you have an unidentified learning disability that is interfering with your success with this subject. Frequently students are able to unconsciously cope with learning disabilities until high school, when the subject matter gets too difficult to cope without having learned specific coping skills for your learning issues.
Whatever you do, keep an open mind. It is only by being willing to fail that you can learn something new. If you are set on always appearing smart, you will be prevented from taking risks that can lead you to new understanding.