The Life of Students in Pain

School+can+pose+a+unique+set+of+challenges+that+outsiders+may+not+be+aware+of.

Anthony Abrahantes

School can pose a unique set of challenges that outsiders may not be aware of.

Lenny Roque, Staff Writer

Ranging from physical to emotional strains, pain is a sensation that varies from person to person. Just like every other situation in life, school has its moments where it can cause us extreme emotional distress. Here is a list of a few trademark moments that cause unnecessary scholarly suffering.


Staying up late for late grading/extensions
Everyone has stayed up to do a late assignment; whether it is because of time management issues, procrastination or an abundance of work, some nights it just has to be done. This workload seems like it never ends and after working all day and all night, you finally complete your assignments by 4:00 a.m. After feeling the satisfaction of finally completing your assignments, only two things can bring you down: either the teacher has the brilliant idea of moving the due date during class, or they decide to check the assignments months after the “collection date”.

The headache from waking up early for school is now amplified with anger and sadness because the students who did not complete it receive no repercussions and have extra time while you are rewarded with a sleep deprived brain that functions as if you were inebriated. If the teacher doesn’t check the work until a month after it is due, the anxiety starts to build up because there are three days before the grading period ends and the grade still is not there, giving another great example of how to manage time effectively.

Forgetting your ID
Everyone forgets something important from time to time; it is human nature On the occasional day that it does happen, the body enters an anaphylactic shock. Checking your pockets thinking that you have your ID just to remember that it is home creates this shock in the body similar to losing a phone. The heart drops, sweat begins to bead down your forehead knowing that you must receive a scolding from Yanet. The upside is that after the scolding you learn to never forget your ID, hopefully.

Getting more work during breaks
Break has several different definitions. I must assume that most teachers misunderstand the definition because the break in “Spring break” is a period of relaxation not, break as in “crushing mental health”. Instead of watching “How to get away with Murder” over a break, we need to watch “How to do Geometric Proofs of a Circle”. Newsflash: shapes are not real so there is no point in doing trigonometry also known as fake math especially during the break.

“Getting work on the break it’s like getting a vacation for the job but the boss still tells you to work on the project,” senior Bogdan Lazurenko said.

Sudden quiz/test
It has been said that your life flashes before your eyes with near death experiences. A lesser known—but just as valid— fact: it also happens with pop quizzes. Learning is a process that takes time and with the addition of pop quizzes, it can be nearly impossible. Even though you may not be able to answer the questions, one good thing that comes from pop quizzes/tests is that they exercise creativity because people come up with the most absurd gibberish to meander their way to an answer.

Having a pop quiz feels like accidentally stepping on a banana peel because it is unexpected and leaves you discombobulated,

— junior Andrea Sosa

When you can’t control your laughter in the middle of class
School just does not want its students to be happy because laughing in class is apparently treason. Once you have the case of the giggles, the teacher immediately considers you an enemy of the state. The worst part is knowing that if you do laugh, there will be consequences, which ends up being completely counterintuitive because it makes the whole thing so much funnier. Digital platforms make it so much worse because seeing your friend trying not to laugh just pushes you to the tipping point. Then when you cannot hold it in much longer and start chuckling, you become blacklisted; you experience the pain of all the eyes piercing through your camera screen and become filled with embarrassment.

Studying for a test and still failing
Pop quizzes/tests break the spirit of students, but studying for days on end and staying up late to study just to fail shatters a student completely. The confidence when entering the test and doing extra work thinking you could pass the test is crushed to smithereens.The homework is about calculating a triangle but instead the test requires students to crack an enigma. The other scenario is thinking you did well on the exam just to receive the exam back to see a huge F and a comment saying “do you even know what a variable is?” This may or may not be from a personal experience.

Getting picked on when not paying attention
Participating is difficult in class especially when the whole class you’ve been watching the entire “Spongebob”movie fast forwarded. The learning environment is not easy for everyone and every now and then, students fall into the temptation of doing something else. When teachers start picking students to participate, the whole class just becomes a game of extreme hot potato. To make it more torturous, some teachers even use the name wheel to pick students (also known as the Wheel of Mis-Fortune). Unless you have lady luck on your side, just pay attention in class.

.01 point away from the next grade (Especially an A)
This is a pain that rivals childbirth. The two are extremely similar in a sense that when you look at it, they are a constant reminder of the mistakes you’ve made and it is something that you cry about with your closest friends.—at least you can inflict the pain experienced on one of them. Not only is being a point away painful enough, but the desperation acts like a tumor that consumes every inch of the body. The apple polisher that one must become to obtain that one point the size of a hair follicle completely decimates your dignity, especially when they hit you with profound “no”; a fate far worse than death.