the truth about academic pressure
the truth about academic pressure
Success is about making your life a special version of unique that fits who you are - not what other people want you to be.
- Mark Cuban
As a student, academic pressure is such an important topic that stretches far beyond grades, college, and rankings. It discusses what society has defined as success and what we have decided to do with our lives and future. Academic pressure does not simply come from a highly toxic school environment but originates from our simplest values and belief about ourselves, the world, and society. In this blog post, I will explore the topic of academic pressure from four areas; First, the most basic origin of academic pressure. Second, the three primary exterior sources add to our pressure. Third, the effects of academic pressure. Lastly, how we can change our mindset and beliefs to decrease the impacts of academic pressure.
To understand where academic pressure originates, we must first understand what academic pressure means. According to the Pacific Teen Treatment, Academic pressure is “an experience in which a student is burdened by the demands of time and energy to achieve specific academic goals.” These academic goals can refer to getting into a good college, achieving a higher grade than our peers, and the goal of getting a good rank during an academic competition.
These academic goals originate from our mindest and the workings of our society. If we were to get into a good college, we would be able to find a suitable job with a good salary, thus allowing us to start a family and live a stable life with insurance for our health. Putting it simply, we are trying to fit into society’s definition of “successful.” This insecurity comes from social media, our families, and our peers. Our constant exposure to people with a “successful” life makes us desire the same success others have gained. As mentioned in my blog post about beauty standards, it is part of our human nature to fit in and to be admired. If we could fit into the mold of what society believes to be outstanding, we would be respected. This inner belief and insecurity drives us to desire good grades, high rankings, and a respected school. Academic pressure results from what society wants us to be and what others have deemed successful.
Though the society might be the origin of academic pressure, there is no doubt that exterior influences from our families, peers, and school deepen the toil of academic pressure on our mental and physical health. When our parents, classmates, and teachers all have the same idea of success, there is no doubt going to be pressure from them to try and push us to achieve their version of a good life. Though they might have different perspectives and ideas of what is most suitable for us, with different views on which career, major, and college is the best, in the end, they all wish for us to find the most successful life possible. Because of this universal mindset, their anxieties and insecurities will often be added onto us. Other times, instead of motivating us as individuals, our environment will try to “motivate” us by constantly emphasizing our academic grades. This is usually through comparisons of “good” students and “bad” students, rankings of us by our grades, and the awarding of those who supposedly are “better.” Toxic motivation and exterior influences like these are the driving factors of our academic pressure.
The effects are endless when we are constantly ranked, talked about, and defined by our academic success. Though sometimes, students with strong mental strength can use academic pressure to motivate them to become even better, do better, and achieve the life they want, its adverse effects are much more frequent. According to a study on the impact of stress on students in secondary school and higher education, academic pressure highly impacted students’ mental health, substance use, sleep, dropout rates, and physical activities. Students are at a high risk of depression, and most secondary students show light symptoms of depression due to stress. Over 42% of 9–12th Grade students report stress impedes good sleep. The severe mental and physical effects of academic stress decrease our performance, leading to lower grades, thus even woresning our stress.
However, the most significant effect of academic pressure is losing sight of what we want. Often time, while trying to achieve the best grade, the highest ranking, and the most extra-circulars, we become blind. Instead of working on what we love, we strive to accomplish things that college admissions, society, and the workforce want. Though one might be in love with creating artwork, painting strokes on a canvas, because of the lower income levels that an art student might have, or because of the disapproval from our families, we instead try and perform better in areas of work that have a higher salary, a more promising future. We loose grasp what we want, what we are passionate about, and what makes our heart light on fire. While trying to fit into society, to become “successful,” for our peers and family to be happy, we fail to work on what we genuinely love.
It is nearly impossible for us to avoid academic pressure. In order to do that, we must cut off our relationship with society and completely stop caring about what others might think, a feat hard to achieve by most. Academic pressure will always be there, but we can decrease the effects academic pressure has on us.
We have the power to change our mindset and our perspective of ourselves. An accomplished person has no definition. One can live in a small flat with low income yet live happily and freely, working towards the person they want to be. We do not need to use grades and physical success to define who we are. Our value lies in much more than just our academic performance.
True success means that we understand what we truly want. We have passion and goals and are willing to work hard to accomplish them. We are in charge of who we are, who we become. If one believes that achieving good grades and accomplishments academically will help them reach the level of success they crave, they will work hard to gain that.However, if one does not believe that they need the number one school or grades, they can direct their focus on something they are passionate about. However, this does not mean that we can overlook the importance of learning. Learning and education will help us gain knowledge and perspective about the world, using it to help us grow as a person is a wonderful experience. The result is only one of the significant parts of learning and working hard, the process is. In learning new things, failing, and re-trying, we are growing. Academic pressure often appears when we worry about the result. But the process is the most important. Though this has been repeated too many times, it is an important message that must be remembered.
Academic pressure comes from trying to become a person we are not. To eliminate the effects of such pressure, we need to find out who we want to be and what we are passionate about and try our hardest to become that person.
Stop trying to become the person that society believes you need to be, but the person you believe you can be.
Citations:
"What Are The Effects Of Academic Pressure?". Pacific Teen Treatment, 2023, https://pacificteentreatment.com/mental-health/what-are-the-effects-of-academic-pressure/#:~:text=Academic%20pressure%20is%20defined%20as,to%20achieve%20specific%20academic%20goals. Accessed 11 Feb 2023.
"The Impact Of Stress On Students In Secondary School And Higher Education". 2023, p. ., https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02673843.2019.1596823. Accessed 11 Feb 2023.