At the end of the semester, everyone has one state of mind: tired. I’m tired, you’re tired, we are all tired. But here at Washington University, we’re tired the second we step on campus in August. At some point, we have to ask, should we be this tired?

The presidential debate, the main event of our campus this year, is a perfect example of how difficult balancing schoolwork and life can be. As a debate volunteer, our training included a small portion about why we were hosting the debate. It wasn’t for the money, nor for the prestige—in the end, the debate was for the students. Wash. U. brought the debate here so that the students would have the opportunity to reap its benefits.

The general mood was excitement—SU set aside $75,000 for programming related to the election, and several divisions within the administration supported various activities and programming throughout the week before the debate itself. But the weekend came, and I, alongside many others, realized, “Wait…I still have homework.” The debate was brought here so that we could take advantage of it, but we couldn’t take advantage of it because most professors did not change their lesson plans to allow for students to be active.

Wash. U., like most universities, boasts a living and learning environment. We are constantly reminded that schoolwork is not the crux of our being—we should take advantage of the various opportunities the school can offer us in terms of improving our livelihood. But, as the dilemma surrounding the debate shows, there is a disconnect between these two environments. Wash. U. is not a living and learning environment; it is a living environment and a learning environment, and we are expected to reside in both simultaneously.

If Wash. U. was a living and learning environment, we would be expected to do a little of both—join a few organizations, spend some time studying. But this is not the reality. Professors assign busywork, expecting it to be done before the next class. Then they’ll wonder why we’re so tired the next day. Advisors will encourage us to enjoy our break, after explaining that we should really use it to start applying for jobs. Your club president will need something done by Friday, disregarding the fact that you have an exam on Thursday. We’re guilty of it ourselves—we expect other people to do it all, and we expect ourselves to do it all.

In addition to the expectation that we exist in the living environment as well as the learning environment, we’re now expected to practice “self-care”. As great as it sounds in theory, it’s just one more thing to add to my ever-growing to-do list. So now, I expect myself to be fully present in all my activities, do well in all my classes and find a way to cope with those two things. It’s like slapping on a Band-Aid or taking cold medicine: It’s a quick fix that treats the symptoms, but unless we attack the main issue, change the system, nothing will ever change.

The first step is to stop being complacent. The way things are, the expectation that we’re supposed to do it all, is not okay and we should not be okay with it. Just because we are super-capable people who attend Wash. U. doesn’t mean we should be expected to fill every hour of every day. For too long, I’ve said, “It’s just the way Wash. U. is.” Granted, it’s a rigorous school, but there’s a difference between difficulty for the sake of being challenged and difficulty for the sake of being difficult. It’s time that we start saying “I shouldn’t have to do it all” instead of “I can’t.”