As the school year is slowly coming to an end and the curtains are beginning to close, we are noticing a pattern of apathy from across all grade levels. Grades are dropping, motivation is dwindling, and the effort put forth during the start of this year is struggling to be found among students. What is the cause of this and how can we fix this ongoing problem?

It’s no secret that after Covid-19, students had an incredibly hard time getting themselves back on track balancing school, sports, work, and just life in general. We find it hard to not only start an assignment, but and finishing all of our tasks on time has been a struggle to say the least. While students and teachers all thought that bouncing back to normalcy would be no problem, the high D and F rate suggests otherwise.

Right off the bat, the math department noticed a drastic drop in grades. Mrs. K., teacher of Integrated Math 3 and Trig/Pre Cal(Honors) expresses, “These past two years, the kids have had a big learning gap which I think is an important factor for the high D and F rate in general. I encourage students to remember their dreams; there is a big world out there, and they need to work hard to have enough skills to survive out there.” Mrs. K is one our many teachers who provides a strong foundation for her students, pushing them to reach their full potential by providing tutoring and other forms of help as needed.

After learning the perspective of a teacher and how they see the issue of the high D and F rate common throughout school, students are also finding it concerning that they are giving up on their grades. However, some students are attempting to finish strong this year, as reflected in their study habits, homework completion, and better test scores.

In most cases, many would consider this a form of ‘senioritis’, but how can it be if affecting all grade levels? Senior Sophia Vasquez claims, “I will say that this year in particular, I have lost motivation to turn in my assignments on time or even find the motive to do my assignments to begin with. I don’t know if it’s what they call ‘senioritis’, but I do feel a loss of motivation more so in comparison to other years. ” Students are losing their drive to complete their work on time and are collectively running out of steam. Many students are in the same boat as Vasquez, but we need to dig deep within ourselves and find the urge to continue working a little longer.

If you are not aware already, students have access to multiple resources at school to help them become successful. For example, AVID provides tutoring for all students, several math teachers open their classrooms during lunch and after school for help, and other subject teachers provide office hours after school for any students with questions. With a variety of learning opportunities at their side, students will only have to push for eight more weeks. Continue to work hard and keep pushing; the outcome will surely be worth it.