Boredom is the feeling that causes nearly every student to dread their next class, and it’s the feeling that teachers and students try their very best to avoid. Boredom is familiar to many people. This feeling is such an anomaly that even scientists still don’t fully understand. Boredom was the cause for nearly 50 percent of high school dropouts according to a study done by Civic Enterprises in 2006. In yet another survey conducted by the The High School Survey of Student Engagement, they noted that over 60 percent of students were bored on a daily basis during school. Now, this is not to say that teachers are lacking in their ability to teach or not engaging students in the material they are learning. I believe that their is an underlying cause for this so-called boredom: not challenging the student.

Teachers have the tendency (and a good tendency it is) to focus on helping the students who may be struggling. Without this, students would fall behind, causing even more boredom. This tactic can, and most definitely does, result in boredom for the overachieving students. This can cause irritation, rowdy behavior, and a more disorganized classroom and learning environment. I find myself on a daily basis feeling bored or frustrated because I’ve learned this all before. Now, even as I write this, I find myself perplexed by this problem. I feel that I am unchallenged due to others struggling in the class, but if teachers cater towards the students understanding, then the students who may be struggling fall behind and may even give up.

In theory, honors classes are supposed to take care of the “I’m bored” problem, providing students with the ability to learn at different paces depending on the class. Nonetheless, though this cured some of the problems, each student moves at his or her own pace. I mean we are not all programmed robots learning at the exact same rate. I cannot speak for teachers, but I believe a teacher’s greatest difficulty  is catering towards each individual student.

Teachers and schools care for their students completely. As far as schools go, they provide the correct classes for you to graduate and also give you advanced classes, but they also go above and beyond, providing us with clubs, field trips, and sports. Though schools and teachers do indeed provide students with plenty, many students are always wanting more. This is where we the student comes in. School can’t give us everything in life that we want. We, as students have to take initiative maybe by searching for clubs outside of school, or finding different ways to experience travel, art, or science. Whether you are wanting more education or other travel opportunities, there are clubs, organizations, such as Phoenix Sister Cities, online institutions such as Primavera that offer classes or even colleges like Rio Salado, and much more. So if you are “bored” in class talk your teacher see if there is extra work maybe even another class you can take to further your knowledge; after all a teacher’s job is to help further your knowledge. There is a world of things out there for students to explore and experience, so start now instead of being “bored.”