"Burnout is the biggest MOTIVATION killer in the past couple of years, and ESPECIALLY during the late school year, and I have some possible reasons why. LEts dive in." Bryson Saunders-beckles, grade 11
Late year burnout is easily one of the biggest problems at the end of school years, both for the staff and the students here at Oakland School for the Arts. Work and productivity has slowed to a crawl, and overall morale and energy has seen a noticeable decline. Yet at the same time, fervor and excitement for the summer has also risen as well, with many (including myself) impatiently waiting for it to arrive on our doorstep like an Amazon package on same-day delivery. Burnout affects everyone, including myself, which is why this article was turned in late. Every year, we seem to run into these problems, so now it looks like it's my turn.
Based on research about the subject, interview questions sent to both a student and a teacher, and my own personal experience, burnout seems to occur at a higher rate. In an article for the Harvard Business Review, Jennifer Moss cited a Gallup poll of 7,500 people who were asked about burnout. The majority of the causes related to an unreasonable amount of work. Literary Arts teacher Amelia Whitcomb, seems to agree, observing in particular that burnout seems to occur in part because of accumulation of work and stressors over time: . “School and work life is generally a series of impending deadlines and growing workloads,” she told me over email, “add to that, a regular onslaught of social, political, and global crises, and the emotional rollercoaster of life (especially adolescent life) and it makes sense that we're just completely and exhausted and drained as we drag ourselves to the finish line of the school year.”
In particular, freshmen are burnt out from the move to high school, and seniors because they’re transitioning into college, the job market, and the world of adulthood. School burnout is easily at its worst after breaks and holidays. Winter break and spring break in particular are the worst, as we go from one to two-week long breaks back to three-seven weeks of more school, and it’s as tiresome as it sounds. According to Gracie Hancock of the Daily Toreador, student physicality and behavior is impacted by the amount of work given seemingly to compensate for school breaks. The pandemic has only exacerbated these feelings: with the lack of connection between people caused by quarantine making the past few years feel more exhausting than ever before. As shown by this article about burnout in Hospital-Based Healthcare Workers during COVID-19, burnout seems to have increased from 30-40% of interviewed workers in Spring 2020 being affected to over 60% in Spring 2021.
While solutions DO vary often depending on who you ask, students generally seem to feel like the school could be doing more to help solve the problem. “I think the school should be more accommodating of mental health days,” says Declan McMahon, an OSA freshman “and be able to exempt at least one article per semester/quarter per class to combat the seemingly endless work.” There’s a general consensus that the adults, teachers, and staff should be the ones to do something about the burnout. Additionally, the Mayo Clinic suggests that a mindful approach can help alleviate burnout. Mindfulness about what is wrong leads to mindfulness of what to improve. If your options feel low, try to open them more somehow and seek support from coworkers and outside sources. In general, find a way past the burnout. And with summer just on the horizon, maybe that’s all we really need now.: some time to relax.
Based on research about the subject, interview questions sent to both a student and a teacher, and my own personal experience, burnout seems to occur at a higher rate. In an article for the Harvard Business Review, Jennifer Moss cited a Gallup poll of 7,500 people who were asked about burnout. The majority of the causes related to an unreasonable amount of work. Literary Arts teacher Amelia Whitcomb, seems to agree, observing in particular that burnout seems to occur in part because of accumulation of work and stressors over time: . “School and work life is generally a series of impending deadlines and growing workloads,” she told me over email, “add to that, a regular onslaught of social, political, and global crises, and the emotional rollercoaster of life (especially adolescent life) and it makes sense that we're just completely and exhausted and drained as we drag ourselves to the finish line of the school year.”
In particular, freshmen are burnt out from the move to high school, and seniors because they’re transitioning into college, the job market, and the world of adulthood. School burnout is easily at its worst after breaks and holidays. Winter break and spring break in particular are the worst, as we go from one to two-week long breaks back to three-seven weeks of more school, and it’s as tiresome as it sounds. According to Gracie Hancock of the Daily Toreador, student physicality and behavior is impacted by the amount of work given seemingly to compensate for school breaks. The pandemic has only exacerbated these feelings: with the lack of connection between people caused by quarantine making the past few years feel more exhausting than ever before. As shown by this article about burnout in Hospital-Based Healthcare Workers during COVID-19, burnout seems to have increased from 30-40% of interviewed workers in Spring 2020 being affected to over 60% in Spring 2021.
While solutions DO vary often depending on who you ask, students generally seem to feel like the school could be doing more to help solve the problem. “I think the school should be more accommodating of mental health days,” says Declan McMahon, an OSA freshman “and be able to exempt at least one article per semester/quarter per class to combat the seemingly endless work.” There’s a general consensus that the adults, teachers, and staff should be the ones to do something about the burnout. Additionally, the Mayo Clinic suggests that a mindful approach can help alleviate burnout. Mindfulness about what is wrong leads to mindfulness of what to improve. If your options feel low, try to open them more somehow and seek support from coworkers and outside sources. In general, find a way past the burnout. And with summer just on the horizon, maybe that’s all we really need now.: some time to relax.
