As the eighth graders of North Allegheny move into one integrated school, they realize that high school is definitely different from what they were used to, containing a mixture of good and the not-so-good aspects of moving to high school.

While walking the hallways, the most common complaint that students spout off about is unanimous: homework.

Although every student has their own unique schedule with different teachers and courses, almost every freshman says that the length and difficulty of their homework has increased.

To determine if this is in fact true, NAEye interviewed freshmen to get a real perspective. When asked about their stress level regarding homework, all four interviewees (Emma Kim, Faith Nguyen, Nicole Foss, Claire Shao) replied that it has increased. “The homework isn’t that much harder, there is just a lot more of it”, replied Shao when interviewed.

When asked which subjects(s) give out the largest amount of homework, all three responded with the same answer: Honors Biology. “There is a lot more class work in bio, and if you don’t finish it, it will be added onto the regular homework,” said Kim.

To find the total change in the time that it takes students to complete their homework, the freshmen were asked how long it takes them to finish their homework currently, and how long it took them to do it in middle school.  All four students reported that it takes two and a half hours currently, while it took about one hour to complete the work when they were in middle school.

Although there is time to complete assignments before and after school, that time is limited. There are a variety of different sports, clubs, extracurricular activities, and out of school events that students take part in that occupy the time they need in order to get all the work done for the day. When asked how often there was no homework, Kim stated “Once every two weeks, if I’m lucky.” Unfortunately, teachers can sometimes neglect to acknowledge this, and give out more homework than students can handle for one night.

Nonetheless, most freshman at NAI learned that while time consuming, success in academics and homework completion is extremely important when thinking about their futures, and put in a lot of effort to complete it carefully. In fact, most homework assignments are designed to provide students with extra practice outside of the classroom.  However, the transition from middle school to high school is much more than just social: students must learn how to budget time and stress in order to be as successful as possible.