A is a seemingly unremarkable letter, not any more special than the other twenty-five in the alphabet, but to some students, it is the letter that determines their worth.
It is the symbol of victory, success, and everything that their future holds. The possession of that A will justify the gallons of blood, sweat, and tears spent achieving it. Some would look upon these students and see nothing but good, hardworking, academics, but in another lens, they are burnt out, anxious, stressed kids, who feel the weight of their lives on their shoulders before they even make it to college.
Hart Miller, sophomore president said, “I feel like at the end of the day I’m kind of mentally exhausted. I spend a lot of time doing homework. Like I definitely need some time to decompress at the end of the day just because of academic stuff.”
Miller spoke of the mental effects of academic pressure on his life. “I definitely think I’m a big victim [of making sacrifices for academics], I’m gonna be so honest, like there’s so much.” Miller said. “I feel like I do sacrifice a lot of that social aspect, and mental too,” Miller said.
“I’m aware that it’s okay to not get good grades sometimes, I never really feel that way. I feel like the grades kind of just mean everything. I have a really high standard for myself, so when I don’t meet that standard sometimes it’s upsetting,” Miller said. This is a common sentiment among students. Understanding that grades are not everything, but still are deeply affected by them.
Before all of the academic weapons get defensive, the ethical and mental pros and cons have to be weighed. Mrs. Setina, a counselor at Clover Hill said, “It [academic drive] can be a great thing because it motivates you to want to keep doing better and striving for the best, but at the same time it can kind of defeat you because then you’re never happy.”
Not all academic ambition is bad. Having good grades is not bad. Being motivated is not bad. And it is perfectly possible to have a balanced and healthy life while still being academically competitive and highly achieving. What becomes bad is when that ambition starts to shift toward obsession and starts to eat away at mental and even physical health.
Sacrificing basic needs like sleep or food, or being constantly anxious and burnt out are damaging.
“I try again, to remind students that the pressure again is coming from within for you to want to do that level of academic achievement is not always needed. I know that you feel like you need to [sacrifice basic needs for academics],” Setina said. “So I just try to remind them that you’re going to be successful,” Setina said.
In the end, schools preaching balancing time and having healthy study habits does not end up impacting students. While amazing resources like counselors can be a lifeline for some students, it is hard for the masses of academics to be reassured that “grades do not define you” when it is by definition the main thing the school uses to define students.
Unless the system changes, the issue will persist. Valuing education is not bad, but when educators (even when it is not all of them) and institutions of education push the idea that certain standards that they have created constitute your intelligence or how your life will turn out, it creates severe pressure on students who want to succeed and it can not only be harmful, but in a sense unnecessary.
As mentioned before, school measures students in a very specific way, on very specific subjects. Specific subjects that are not the end are all for deciding if you are smart or not. By pushing this standard onto them and enforcing that they need to meet it to succeed, it enforces the internal pressures students put on themselves. This is a vicious system. School, something that is supposed to be the nurturing hand to foster healthy growth and development, instead becomes a beast, snapping at their ankles to climb the ladder of success no matter the cost.
Unfortunately, this issue is not one that is soon to be fixed, therefore leaves one more assignment for students on top of every other essay and research paper: take care of yourself. Health, whether it be mental, physical, or even social, is going to have a much longer lasting impact on students’ lives than any grade will. This is not to say that students should abandon academia, or that making high achievements is not worth any sacrifice, because sometimes it is necessary. It is up to the individual to have the discernment and self-awareness to know when it has gone too far. This is a reality check; justifying or even glorifying deeply damaging and unhealthy academic habits is not okay, healthy, or smart. If you are smart enough to be an A student (or any student), then you are smart enough to make time for yourself, to understand the importance of your health, to know when to take a break, and to advocate for yourself by breaking out of the toxicity of this culture where letters are valued above people.
