Stress: The most frequently used word by high schoolers

          Most students, when asked, "How is school going?", will simply answer "good" or "it's ok" in order to shut the interrogator up so that they can continue on their too-cool-for-adults way of living. But   the real question asked by most parents seems to be some variation of the thought, why has school become so stressful?  Most of our parents' generation was not faced with 2-3 hours of homework a night. In fact, most schools when our parents were our age only offered 2 or 3 AP, or college level, classes.How come my student is faced with so much work, what feels like 24 hours of the day, 7 days a week?
        For some reason, the word deadline, for students, is ALWAYS associated with the word stress. When students are faced with a task, and asked to do it in an x amount of time, it seems as if a bomb of stress explodes within their brain, causing them to want to shut down completely and put off the assignment for later. This results in procrastination.When they allow for this to happen, students are making themselves prone to build up a mound of stress. Eventually, these decisions lead to a late Thursday night struggling to stay awake with the support of Starbucks, and not to mention a night consisting of only 2 hours of sleep the night before a major assessment. This is what most parents see, and react to as a stress meltdown. But parent's simply shouldn't get so ahead of themselves; this is just a student's way of handling their tasks.
         But is procrastination avoidable? Is there a way to stop ourselves from putting things off? I recently read a blog from someone who says that good work ethic and motivation can help stop procrastionation. However, if one is a procrasinator, then do they have potential for good work ethic in the first place? Isn't work ethic a DRIVE to work? And don't procrastinators drive AWAY from work?
         From personal experience, I would say no- you can't stop procrastination. I am usually the one staying up the night before an assignment is due, rushing to complete it. However, I have learned recently that maybe if I DON'T wait to do an assignment or study for a test, then maybe I won't get so stressed out all of the time- magic! However, I find myself in a constant battle with procrastination. If I ignore it, it will come back. If I pretend I don't do it, it will come on stronger.
            It is simply human nature to procrastinate and want to do things that only seem enjoyable. That raises the argument that if your class is something you enjoy, then maybe you won't put off all of the work. Sadly, this is not true. Not every student, even if they are a crazy fanatic of ancient Chinese history, is going to go home and want to write a comparative essay about 2 ancient Asian civilizations. It simply does not seem appealing.
     Most parents want to prevent any type stress from even existing around their student. However, frankly, it is inevitable. This is a result of the student's lack of diligence and a belief that the student can just put assignments off until the last night. This human nautre of procrastination results in the feeling of stress, something that one cannot prevent; they can only face it head on.

http://taprootcreative.com/2011/02/procrastination-mastering-the-inevitable/
http://www.powerhomebiz.com/vol72/procrastinate.htm