Dear President,

Hello, I am writing to you to inform you of an issue in today's society that is close to my heart. This issue is one that I know the struggle of first hand, it is about the stress of school especially on higher level students. As advanced students, we face many struggles such as the high standards, the competitiveness of college acceptance, and the decisions between academics or hobbies and health.

As high school advanced students, we are held to high standards and these standards are never easy to meet. They place these standards so high that many students feel degraded because they can never reach the level that is set forth by the educational board. These standards cause immense stress on the students who try and meet them. This stress can cause panic attacks as well as temporary paralyzation. Some students are having stressed induced panic attacks in school everyday; these students shouldn’t have to fear a panic attack from attending school and going to class. These years of our lives should be those of joy, not panic. As all of the major influences such adults in our life say to live these days with fun and joy, yet the standards set are unreasonable for students to attain without causing a threat to mental and physical health of the student.

Almost all students today, that are part of advanced studies, are those looking to attend college to extend their knowledge and be more competitive in the work force. These students have to have higher credentials to get into college, due to large number of people trying to go to colleges to attain a higher education. This requirement adds to the stress on the students to be able to once again meet these high standards that are relatively unrealistic. This added stress causes a greater decline in teens social life and a straight toss into adulthood. They really never get to experience being a teenager. Colleges are decreasing their acceptance rate more slowly each year and this starts a chain reaction: lower acceptance rates means higher standards adding, more stress on students, and is causing their mental and physical health to decline. Colleges are the major reason students push themselves to meet high educational standards.

Students make great sacrifices when it comes to school and their home life. Students have to make choices between good grades and a social life. The social life these kids give up might be extracurricular activities such as school clubs to sports. Students also often give up their sleep to ensure their homework and projects are completed as well as up to par for school. These things make it so advanced students don't get to live the normal social life of a high schooler or be in the right mental and physical health of such a young person. These factors lead to unhealthy and overworked teens who don’t earn credit where credit is due. These teens do all this, but their only reward is being able to say they got into college and went through another 4 years of schooling.

These issues need to addressed because not only am I experiencing these issues and struggles, but I know my fellow classmates are feeling it too as are other students nationwide. We together as a group come to you as the President of the United States of America asking for you to help resolve our dilemma, or at least lower some of the standards we are held to. If you can do this for us I believe we can make the graduation and college attendance rate rise.

Sincerely,

Sierra M.

Works Cited

"School Stress Takes A Toll On Health, Teens And Parents Say." NPR. NPR, 2 Dec. 213. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.

Ossola, Alexandra. "High-Stress High School." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 9 Oct. 2015. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.

USATODAY Greg Toppo. "Our High School Kids: Tired, Stressed and Bored."USA Today. Gannett, 23 Oct. 2015. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.