Elementary School Vs High School Essay

There are two things that almost everyone in the world will go through at some point in their lifetime. Elementary School and High School. Both of these times involve three main things. One is what expectations people have for others when it comes to athletics. Another is the amount of workload a student will have daily while in either Elementary or High School. The last one is the amount of stress caused by both the workload and the expectations. All three of these things factor into the statement that Elementary School is a better than High School.

In elementary school, kids play so many sports it is hard to keep track of which ones have and have not been played by a particular person. When a kid plays sports there are almost

no expectations of how they will play because they are kids. I can remember that there were almost no expectations whatsoever when I played sports in elementary school. For example I can remember playing soccer with my dad being the coach. There was a particular game where I did not do nearly as well as I hoped I would have done. I was not clearing the ball in the right direction or would have really sloppy goal kicks as well as clearing the ball in the wrong direction. When the game was over my dad and everyone would always tell me that I did a good job. But that is what every parent is supposed to do. When a kid plays in a game people always tell them that they did great and that they are proud of them. That is exactly what my dad did after the game. He told me that it was not my best game but that I did not disappoint him. This is what everyone would tell both my brother and I after we finished a game of some kind. Because everyone would say this that means that they did not really have too many expectations for me. It was okay for me to mess up because I was a kid and that was accepted. Not having these expectations while in elementary school just makes elementary school that much better of a time in life.
While in high school, odds are everyone will or has played a sport of some kind. It could be cross country, football, cheerleading, basketball, or any other sport offered by the school. The thing about joining a high school sport, especially being on varsity, is that there are so many expectations. I can remember before the King’s meet in cross country I was extremely nervous. I knew that I had to get a personal best time at least by a few seconds because it was long overdue. I got up on the starting line and as the gun went off I began to run. A 5k later I finished and saw my time on the clock as I passed by. When I saw that I was so excited because I had gotten a personal best. It was only by about 7 seconds but it was still something. At practice the next day I went on a run with my coaches and teammates and was in a pretty good mood because of the race the day before. While on our run one of my coaches told me that I had not filled her expectations for yesterday's race. She said that my finish was not up to her standards and she said I could have sprinted harder. When I tried to defend my side of the case I could tell she was not buying it. She had her mind set on the fact that I could have done better and she was not happy about me not fulfilling her expectations. I could tell that there were probably other things she was not too happy about when it comes to my race showing there were even more expectations that were never voiced. High school athletes do not just get a “good job” anymore but instead are told they could have done better. Having these expectations when it comes to athletics makes high school worse than elementary school.
While in Elementary school there is a limited amount of work that needs to be done on a daily basis. During elementary school kids go learn and there is some work that goes along with what is being taught. The amount of work is very little work to almost no work at all. One time where work is being done is in the classroom. While in class in elementary school I can remember having to fill out a sheet of paper with vocabulary words or just coloring a picture for science class. These were both very simple things and would take little time to complete. On a hard day in class we would have to complete a packet of questions about something we were reading in class. They were fairly basic questions like, “Who is the main character?” and “What was the climax of the story”. Again answering these questions would take maybe a whole class if the packets were long. Another time of work during elementary school was homework. Homework was almost nonexistent until fourth or fifth grade. Even then homework might be finishing up something that was not done in class. The absolute most amount of homework I ever had during elementary school was an hour. The things for homework were always the normal, daily, things such as reading a book for twenty minutes and doing five math problems. Maybe there was the occasional project or studying for fifteen minutes for a test the next day but there was never a large amount of workload in elementary school. The workload for elementary school in general was extremely little if not nothing.
High School’s workload, however, is much more different from elementary school. Both in class or at home working on homework, there are mountains upon mountains of work to complete. In class there are some projects that have to be done by the end of class or notes that are constantly being taken. Every single class period is being used to the complete max of time. Students are always working away at whatever work they have to do knowing that if they do not finish it will just become another thing added to the pile of homework they have to look forward to when they get home. Once I get home I sit down and think of all the things I have to do for class the next day. Usually, I would think every high school student ever spends at least three hours on mandatory homework each night. When I say mandatory I mean the work that is due tomorrow and needs to be done in order for school the next year. The things that absolutely have to get done in order for school the next day. Once all of that work is finished there is all the studying has to get done. Odds are studying will add at least another hour to any homework routine. When I study it has to be hard actually studying not just reading over my notes once and calling it a day. Having to do this for all of my subjects I have tests in each week adds immense amounts of work I never had to do in elementary school. That is why, when it comes to work, elementary school is much easier causing for it to be better than high school.
During Elementary School, schoolwork is not very hard and there is a limited amount of it causing a limited amount of stress and problems related to academics. This means that there is almost no stress that comes along with being in school. The only time I can ever remember being even a bit stressed about schoolwork was when I was in 6th grade. I was a little worried about a math test that my classmates and I had to take later on that week. To prepare I studied the worksheets I was given and went over past homework assignments that we had. Once I did these things I remember that I went outside and played with my neighbors until it was time for me to come inside. I ended up doing fine on the test but this shows that I was hardly nervous about my upcoming test. Because I was able to go outside and keep my mind off things it shows that I had no stress about the test I was going to take. The entire time I was in elementary school if I was nervous it was a lot like this. Any nerves were very minimal and did not last long if there were any.
While in High School I have noticed there is a lot more stress and have way more problems when it comes to dealing with the classes being taken. Almost every single week there will be at least five tests or quizzes. Odds are on top of that there will be at least one project being due. That could be an essay, a poster, or a presentation that has to be done later in the week. This causes so much stress on a person. I also have my hard classes and knowing that I have a test soon where I am extremely worried for the outcome. Take last night for an example. When I got home I started working on all the things I have to do for homework. As I started working I realized how much I actually had to do in preparation for this week. The only thing I could think of was that it was Monday and I already knew of four tests I would be having this week. I also thought of how two of these tests are in my hardest classes and I am worried about how I am going to prepare. These thoughts made my stress level rise immensely. Later on at dinner my family could tell that I had a lot of work to do and realized how stressed I was about my schoolwork. In High School I have learned it is not uncommon to be this stressed out. There is a lot more stress a person has to deal with while they are in high school rather than being in elementary school. With the fact that there is a lot more stress while in high school it shows that elementary school days were better days to have had.
Both High School and Elementary School are experiences almost everyone has gone through during their life.

Each have their pros and their cons. However, based upon the amount of expectations, the amount of homework and schoolwork, and the amount of stress in High School makes Elementary School better. While in Elementary School people have very small expectations for any type of sport being played. If they are not fulfilled there is no big issue and it will most likely just blow over within a few minutes. In High School there are so many things needed to be upheld expectation wise, especially when it comes to athletics. If people’s expectations are not fulfilled then things do not just blow over within a couple of minutes. It takes longer for it to be accepted that things did not turn out how they planned in the meet or game. In Elementary School there is almost no homework and barely any type of schoolwork that would need a lot of thought. In High School there is always doing some type of work in the classroom and it is almost a guarantee that there will be a minimum of four hours of homework a night. During Elementary School there is almost no stress involved with schoolwork. There was never a time in Elementary School when I was truly stressed about things. In contrast with Elementary School, in High School I am almost always stressed to a certain degree. Because Elementary School has a smaller workload, amount of expectations, and stress makes it better than High

School.