Receiving a B on a test disappoints 20-30% of students. Grade inflation has become a big topic in schools around the United States. Academic pressure has an overwhelmingly large impact on students, whether that be through their mental health, family relationships or their lives involving school and outside of it. Students are putting too much pressure on themselves through their grades. When overly high expectations students set for themselves are not met, those students often feel disappointed in themselves. High school students need to recognize that a B is above average. Although a B may not be viewed as the best score one can receive, it is still a grade to be proud of not disappointed in.
Good mental health is an important thing to maintain in a student’s life. Grades can have a big impact on a student’s mental health. When a student feels their grades are not an accurate representation of their academic abilities, they start to feel disappointed in themselves.
“Grades can be very motivating and good and rewarding, however they can also be very defeating for some kids,” Global Studies Teacher Elizabeth Peloquin said.
Maintaining good grades can sometimes go too far. When students set goals for themselves that are too hard to achieve, they start to feel discouraged about themselves. This can affect their mental health negatively.
A grade does not reflect how smart a student is. Many students are bad test takers or cannot demonstrate the skills they learned in class on a test due to stress or pressure.
A good student has many characteristics. Junior Scarlet Huelsmann describes them as “someone who gets their work in on time, doesn’t procrastinate, and pays attention in class”.
There are many high school students who excel in all of their classes. Some students show a different trend between their homework and tests. These students cannot perform as well as they want to on tests despite how hard they might try. Students like this are under a lot of academic pressure from themselves and the people around them.
An A is the most sought after and “best” grade a student can receive. Most teachers only give a student an A on an assignment, if they have gone above and beyond the expected grading rubric.
The Pony Express staff explains how, “in the past a C was the average and expected grade, but now if a student gets anything other than an A they are disappointed.”
Big dreams are a good thing, but everyone needs to keep in mind that we cannot always get what we want. Some students set such high goals for themselves that when they do less than expected it feels like a huge defeat.
Students high focus on grades is taking away from the actual learning. In most cases the amount of points something is worth is more important to students than the actual learning they can get from the project.
“If someone is a hard worker, it’s not about the grades, it’s about wanting to do better,” Peloquin said.
Sometimes the work is more important and shows more than the outcome. When students are bad test takers, or fold under pressure their grades do not accurately reflect them as students.
When a student does poorly in a class, in some cases it can affect their family relationships and home lives. Some of these students have large consequences for bad grades. In many cases when students perform poorly in school, their parents choose to take things away from them. These consequences are often: phones, cars, and social medias.
Some members of the Pony Express staff say their parents “take their car away” if they do poorly on a test.
All parents do things differently and some believe that consequences are the only way to help their child learn. This method of discipline can bring students even more stress. Students not only feel bad about themselves, but they also feel their parents are disappointed in them.
Academic pressure is affecting students mental health negatively. Many students suffer big consequences for doing poorly in school. They can end up feeling bad about themselves due to these high expectations. These expectations need to change in order to keep students from feeling such intense and overwhelming academic stress. Students need to keep in mind that grades do not define them as people. Comparing their own grades and academic achievements or struggles to others will only make this matter worse.
