Toon by Samantha Stephan

It seems some teachers think their class is the only one students are taking. In reality, that is not the case. 

All too often, I hear frustrated students express that they deal with this problem even though they have other classes they need to be studying for. 

In fact, the majority of students are considered full-time. According to the document entitled “Admission Criteria and Academic Regulations” from Southeastern, a full-time student must be taking 12 hours each semester. Also, collegecalc.org said 11,138 Southeastern students were full-time and 4,265 were part-time. 

This means the majority of students are juggling more than one class and would not be able to handle a teacher monopolizing a significant amount of their time by assigning excessive amounts of homework, projects, quizzes or exams. 

College students are stressed enough as it is. According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, 80 percent of college students said they experience stress often or on a daily basis. 

This stress may take root in an unfortunate variety of ways. I have seen students brush people off in a rush to get things done, throw their head down in frustration inside the math lab and describe the multiple tasks they must complete for one class with a due date chugging toward them like a freight train. 

Educational psychologist Robert Segal states there are cognitive, emotional, physical and behavioral responses to stress. Some of these include memory problems, procrastination, chest pain, moodiness, feeling overwhelmed, drug or alcohol use to cope, frequent colds and the list goes on.

In addition, some students are also involved in extracurricular activities such as athletics, organizations, volunteer work, the arts, family events and so on. They have to use their time wisely and distribute it accordingly. 

I am a 4.0 sophomore enrolled in 16 hours, involved in multiple organizations on campus like Students for Life and PRSSA, working two jobs and a smaller side job, practicing clarinet for church on Sundays, weight-training four to six times each week and trying to maintain healthy relationships.

Despite all of these responsibilities, I remain positive and patient, but I feel disheartened when my professors assign loads of work without care. I become disappointed in them when I remember they were once in my place resenting the endless assignments as well, but they do the same to us.

To be fair, not all professors over-assign work. Some are considerate and seem to have their students’ best interest in mind. They are cooperative and might reduce the amount, extend a due date or offer extra help during their office hours. 

I thought I heard the heavens break forth with the sound of angel choir when two of my six professors said they realize that this is not our only class so there will not be homework. We would only be responsible for in-class work, quizzes, tests and a project. 

While other teachers may not make it a point to bombard us with items to turn in, they might over-compensate with the degree of difficulty or amount of material to cover for one exam. 

The alternative would be for professors to give a reasonable amount of work in respect to what they predict the workload of a full-time students will be. Also, our teachers could cut down the amount of work by focusing on what is absolutely necessary and beneficial to our future. 

Some professors choose to act as if student life revolves around their class. However, this unrealistic attitude adds unnecessary stress on students. Professors should continue to challenge their students, but also be mindful that the majority of them have other obligations.