Life at MA

MA's Workload

By James Tatum ‘27 in Spring 2026

Is MA’s workload too heavy? I’m more curious why students' answers to this question vary. In the same classes, some students feel overwhelmed while others find the workload easy. This suggests that the issue isn’t necessarily the amount of work, but rather how students approach it. The question is less about whether the workload is too heavy and more about how a student’s work ethic influences their experience.

When MA students say the workload is too hard, we should think about what “hard” actually means. Research on high-achieving and private high schools shows that students report spending an average of 2.5 to 3.5 hours each night on homework. During particularly busy or challenging weeks, that amount can increase. These studies also indicate that students with heavy workloads experience high levels of stress, suggesting that high workloads are demanding. However, I’ve seen that this stress is not experienced the same way by everyone. From my discussions with other students, I’ve found that a big difference comes from how students approach their work. These approaches include time management, procrastination, and whether students focus on learning or simply hurry to finish tasks.

I usually have around two to three hours of homework each night, which aligns with the previous statistic, and busier weeks push that number above four at times. When I mention this to peers and friends, I get a wide range of responses. Some agree, saying they have a similar workload. Others react with confusion or surprise, asking, “What? How do you have so much?” I’ve noticed this difference frequently comes down to approach. The students who agree with me tend to find the workload demanding and worth the time to develop critical thinking, while those who are surprised often fall into two groups: either they aren’t fully challenging themselves in their courses, or they approach their work with a mindset focused solely on completion rather than on fully engaging with the material.

I think this distinction is crucial. From my experience, deeper engagement, such as actively annotating, takes more time but leads to better understanding. On the other hand, surface-level strategies aimed at finishing assignments quickly can lighten workloads but don’t help you grasp the material. Therefore, the same assignment can feel either challenging or easy, depending on how seriously a student engages with it, which in turn affects homework load.

I don’t believe this mindset is solely a result of the students themselves; the system and culture within MA influences and enables it. I believe my English III class is a good example. One of our goals, “Reflecting and Revising,” is meant to show how we engage with course material over time. Ideally, it rewards consistent effort, such as close reading or thoughtful annotation. However, it unintentionally rewards minimal engagement. A student might heavily annotate just a few pages to show growth or rely on ChatGPT to complete reading logs.

Meanwhile, another student may spend much more time deeply engaging with the material and receive a similar grade. Some might argue that those who don’t complete their homework won’t grasp the material enough to perform well on assessments. However, I’ve found that not to be the case. When given paragraphs to draw specific evidence from, a reading summary can provide enough background knowledge to let someone shortcut their homework and still write a strong ICP. Which, to be fair, is impressive. When our school systems fail to differentiate between genuine effort and shortcut-driven completion, they encourage a mentality focused on finishing tasks rather than true learning.

This trend definitely isn’t limited to English, though I think it makes the clearest example. In many classes, the perceived difficulty of the workload depends more on how students choose to tackle it than on the assignments themselves. In classes that require consistent, active engagement, like math, where a solid understanding is necessary for tests, the workload can feel more challenging. In contrast, in other classes, there can be a wider gap between simple completion and genuine effort.

Ultimately, I don’t think MA’s workload is too heavy, even for students who genuinely try to understand the material. It largely depends on how students approach it. A more important question is not how much work we receive, but how our academic culture drives us to engage with it. If MA aims to develop critical thinking and prepare students for the rigorous demands of college, then I don’t think having a tough workload is enough. We need to reward real effort, discourage shortcuts, and push students to fully engage with their learning.