There are all sorts of pressures put on students, from doing well in school to succeeding in extracurriculars. However, too much pressure is being put on getting good grades. Academic pressure is something that all students experience, whether it’s from parents, teachers, peers, coaches, or themselves. The downside of this standard is that students focus on a letter in the gradebook rather than the more important things.
School has become so heavily based upon grades that many have forgotten to focus on the process of learning. If a student is focusing on trying to get the perfect grade, they might not be approaching learning the content well. It’s not only a matter of learning the content, but learning to problem solve, figure out answers, and comprehend all the details. It’s understanding and appreciating the knowledge, not just putting it on flashcards. Grades take away from the ability to do this, with deadlines, rubrics, and such, it creates stress and pressures which makes it harder to focus on these things.
Not only do grades take focus away from learning, but they also add unnecessary stress to students’ lives. There’s the stress of deadlines, which can be difficult to meet for certain student’s schedules, the stress of maintaining “perfect” grades for your peers, parents, teachers and more. There’s the stress of not having free time because you have to spend extended amounts of your time on schoolwork.
While some pressures can motivate students to work harder and achieve certain goals, there is too much put on grades because it creates additional stress. There are even studies that show that the less stress students feel, the better they do in school. When students aren’t distracted with the deadlines and grades, it gives them a chance to do better. I believe that both students as individuals and the people surrounding them need to take some of the focus off of the grades obtained and put it onto what is learned. As a society, there needs to be a new focus on learning concepts rather than a letter that leads to negative feelings. There are all sorts of pressures put on students, from doing well in school to succeeding in extracurriculars. However, too much pressure is being put on getting good grades. Academic pressure is something that all students experience, whether it’s from parents, teachers, peers, coaches, or themselves. The downside of this standard is that students focus on a letter in the gradebook rather than the more important things.