April 4, 2023. A date that will live in infamy. That day, the results of a recent Independent School Health Check Survey were released by Lakeside School. It showed that 90% of respondents felt like the Lakeside workload is “manageable,” and its environment is “among one of the most laid-back of any school.” Students reported an average of 17.7 minutes of homework per night and 2.3 major assignments due in any given week. On a scale from 1 to 10, the average student had a stress level of 3.7.

Per the survey, elements contributing to this low average stress level are the lack of harsh late penalties and generous extensions on assignments. One sophomore lost only 33% of his grade on a math project for turning it in one class late. A Spanish student marveled at how their teacher granted the gift of an extra 12 hours to work on a 10-page essay about the intersection of class and race in 19th-century Colombia. One department went so far as to remove late penalties this past year: the History department (they clarified that they only granted this exemption to assignments turned in within a week of the due date). Meanwhile, the English Department decided to raise the highest achievable grade from a 95% to a 97%.

Revisions, especially in the Science, Math, and History departments, are another commonly cited reason for satisfaction. In the science department, one junior managed to up their chemistry grade on a project from an 89.5% to a 92% after only three meetings, five sources (three of which were JSTOR articles), and a paragraph of argumentative reflective writing. The math department’s secret formula for test revisions is also known to be unusually generous — one senior in Multivariable Calculus mentioned how his grade jumped up from 2.89 to 2.98 on a math test after only a couple of 20-minute meetings. 

Lakesiders also cited how well academic staff stay in touch with student concerns — unlike most schools, Lakeside’s academic departments refuse to ignore students’ concerns, and always communicate effectively with the counseling team and students’ advisors when mental health issues arise. When a freshman went to them after feeling overwhelmed and depressed, they advised them to “quit school for a little while—perhaps a couple weeks. Your grades could drop — indeed they will, but a couple C’s and A-minuses shouldn’t hurt you in the long run. It is what it is.” The counseling department alerted the students’ teachers, who took in the information, and emailed the student all of the assignments they were going to miss. Some teachers even offered to waive any late penalties the student would incur.

Survey respondents mentioned that Lakeside’s lack of competition helps as well — in the survey, only 10% of respondents felt like they “were pressured to receive even higher percentage grades in order to keep up with their peers, despite already having A’s.” Thanks to the introduction of less stressful finals, greater capacity for revisions (including on in-class essays), laid-back late policies, and easy-to-understand test questions, Lakeside ranks in the 99th percentile when it comes to student peace-of-mind. 

With such a low percentage of mental health crises and breakdowns, plus very high satisfaction in school-mandated surveys, it truly is a marvel how Lakeside manages to maintain its stellar academic reputation while also engaging in its most important duty: caring for students.