Stresses of Seniors

by
Fahsai Intharak

Sasipa Chunharungroj

Thunjira Srirojanapinyo

Ramon Sampatasatien

Sarunpas Jittopas

Pnita Jantarakolica

1005

In this investigation, we would like to investigate from the educational society, the school. Our

task for this project is to come up with a problem within a target group, research about the problem and
carry out a survey and record results, compile the responses, and analyze. The target group of this
investigation is high school students or those advancing to college, generically, teenagers. From this
investigation, we are to investigate the problems that occur among high school students that would
aect as a starting point to uncover a business opportunity.

First of all, we started o by compiling a list of problems our group members are facing. There

could be many motives that could aect these high school student problems. Since we are all the same
age, in the same year, we as seniors have a common issues of school. problems concerning school,
university, and society. In which, from concerns with school, high school students are most likely to have
concern with homeworks, grades, quizzes, and tests. Moreover, concerns with university, such as
entrance examinations, requirements for their application, time of preparation, and scholarships. Lastly,
the concerns with society, like their family, surroundings, or even friends.

As mentioned above, we carried out the investigation through surveying students about their
concerns. We made a Google Survey to research and gather informations from high school students,
both in and out of MUIDS. Although our sample size was 50, the responses exceeded our expectation
with 64. The result was as expected, which is, everyone is stressed about future and college, which
eects their life in many ways, including no time with family. We also looked at some articles regarding to
GPAs and high school stresses for support.

The questions in the survey are as follows:

How stressed are you?

Are you doing what you want to do?

Are you learning what are you want to learn?

Do you have extra classes outside of school?

How many hours with family in a week?

How many hours do you spend on studying?

Do you do homework yourself or do you copy your friends?

What do you do on weekend/ after school?

Do you have enough time to prepare for college?

What concerns you the most?

How long that you use to do your homework?

Do you have a problem with homework or the lesson?

The problems of the target group are mostly time management due to the amount of

work and not enough time to prepare for college or rest. What we found out about the individual
problems that occur among all teenagers was that they dont have enough time to rest. Moreover, the
reason is arriving home late, because my house is in the city as well as tutoring for college showing
that transportation is one of the reason that wastes the time. Some of them have decision-making
problem like Don't know what major should I choose to study in college, or problem like the classes
we take in school like There are too many homework especially calculus. I don't mean that it is waste of
time because we need to practice in order to do it better, but I have to spend so much time to finish it
and it makes me don't have enough time to study for university admission. There is also comment on
school projects such as I hate school and group work that allows some to be selfish. Somehow when I
grow up, I understand that it's an education system to blame for not my friends who can't adjust to this
imagination-destroying system. Also the grading system is also problem since we didnt choose what
we want to study and the core course sometimes it caused the overall grade to drop down like
sometimes, the pressure of maintaining grade is my problem

From looking at the results, we can see that the major problem in Thai high school teenagers is
about college and study. It is undeniable that teenagers will be concerned about their own future, but in
some cases of countries that have high competition in learning, there were too many problems for the
teenagers, including school works that they also need to do.

According from survey, most people picked 5 in college and exam (IELTS, SAT, TOEFL)which is
the highest concerning topic, but they picked 2 on yourself. It shows that almost teenagers get stress
from concerning their college and study and in contrast have little time to care for own happiness,
health, and social life, ranking as the least concerning topic.

Students are stressed due to the amount of homework and studying, also the preparation for the
college. Some students dont know what they want to do and dont have time for their family. The stress
most students are suering from can aect the people and community the stress they feel could turn
into depression, which aects the people around them, and if the majority of students are all stressed,

this could aect the whole community as students also make up a big part of the society. The stress in
students has been and continues to be a nationwide problem in South Korea, where A relentless focus
on education and exams is often to blame (Hu, 2015). Many South Korean students are ending their
lives because of the intensity raised by the amount of studying they have to bear in the pressure of
having to get into the top schools. From this, theyve tried to move away from this tradition, although
there's such pressure from parents to try to give their sons, their daughters the best educational
opportunity possible (Hu, 2015). This brings us to determine the causes of the problems; seeing from
the South Korea example, we could see that the tension is mostly built from parents forcing their children
to study endlessly for higher ranks in education. Furthermore, the pressure they have of getting into a
top-ranking university and the competition between students themselves. This resembles some but not
all Thai students although the problem concerning extra classes outside of school seem to be the
same, as well as the amount of homework assigned.

In conclusion, the main problem in high school student is the time. High school students,
especially seniors, have to prepare for the college, but they dont have enough time to do. From the
survey the result are student get too much homework and student are take extra classes outside the
school. Most of them have a home that far from the school, so they have to take 30 mins - 1 hours for go
to school or go home. Then they will arrive at home around 7-8 PM. When they arrive at home, they still
have to do the homework from the school. So they dont have enough time to prepare for the college or
prepare for the test such as SAT, IELTS, TOEFL.

By this, businesses could come up with new institutions or services for relaxation and
counseling for highschool students. This would be a problem that could be turned into an opportunity for
students to find time for themselves and evokes the rising problem of relaxation and work balance.
Furthermore, this foresees the same problem in adulthood, and if we try to lessen the amount of stress in
their early years, as Kim Mee Suk has said, If young students [are] not happy, we cannot guarantee their
happiness when they grow up, so our future will be really dark, (Hu, 2015) it is possible to raise the level
of happiness in adults, hence, enhancing work quality in people.

References and Appendix

New York University. (2015). NYU Study Examines Top High School Students Stress and
Coping Mechanisms. Retrieved from http://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/
2015/august/nyu-study-examines-top-high-school-students-stress-and-copingmechanisms.html

Goldenring, J. (2007). Coping with School Stress. Retrieved from http://

www.webmd.com/parenting/features/coping-school-stress#1

Carter, C. (2011). High GPAs, Low Happiness? Retrieved from http://

greatergood.berkeley.edu/raising_happiness/post/school_success_v_happiness

Hu, E. (2015, April 15). The All-Work, No-Play Culture Of South Korean Education.
Retrieved September 04, 2016, from http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/
2015/04/15/393939759/the-all-work-no-play-culture-of-south-korean-education