You always hear teachers saying there’s no excuse for getting your papers in late because “they have to grade papers all night.” You also hear the prominent line: “You guys aren’t my only class that I have to grade for.” We’ve heard all the teachers’ excuses, but when we complain, it’s us being lazy or not having a good work ethic.

Most students have 7 classes we have individual work for. Teachers have 5 of the same class or a few similar classes. Though I can imagine the stress of grading, getting a bunch of assignments, or having multiple tests on the same day seems twice as stressful as that. Some might argue that when we have days off, teachers still have school. However, I feel like that’s more a part of their jobs. 

In addition to the stress, most students have a job or participate in outside activities, causing them not always to put their best foot forward. Though teachers may have things going on, being a teacher is their job. For both students and teachers, school work of all kinds requires outside work, and for a student, it requires more work. Studying and homework cause students to work into the night and sometimes ruin their sleep schedule. Coming to school late or skipping classes can also be a result of a heavy workload or a messed-up sleep schedule.

All in all, students’ workload is a lot more compared to a teacher’s; nonetheless, this isn’t an excuse for missing work or just straight up not doing it. This is a message to teachers that we have work too.