Why is it that peoples’ grades seem to go down every year during the 3rd quarter?

This phenomenon is very common among FHS students and high schoolers everywhere, for that matter.

It is difficult to pinpoint one factor that affects each individual student, but it has been narrowed down to students slacking and/or teachers giving harder or more work.

FHS science teacher Mr. Sutherland was interviewed and did not seem to think that the curriculum or workload was the reason in grades going down. He said that it’s because the “students become slackers”, or worse slackers than they were before.

FHS students Erin McGinley and Erin Moreau supported Sutherland’s opinion. They both agreed that the realization that the school year is almost over causes laziness in students.

Personally, I think the curriculum has an affect as well. The cross of the halfway point in the school year means that teachers are expecting more.

Especially in Pre-Calculus Honors, as junior Jack Duffy attested to, after the midterm, the course is less review of Algebra 2 and mostly about diffcult and new concepts.

FHS student Drew Simon seems to agree with both sides. He agrees that the coursework become more difficult but also said, “I think kids slack too. You think school doesn’t really matter because you know the end of the school year is coming soon”.

Emily Lavallee had a different approach. She said that kids become lazy not because of summer getting closer but because “at the beginning of the year everything is fresh and you’re willing to work. Then with second term, it’s still pretty easy and you want to get the same or better grades than last term. By third term, you’re kind of sick of it”.

Curricula vary course to course so it is hard to relate to everyone, but laziness is pretty universal. Hopefully, you found what got you down this year during third term and are prepared for next year. Although, that’s what many of us said last year.