High school students around the world put too much pressures on themselves. Being a teenager is hard enough with figuring out who you are, what you believe and who you hope you want to be someday. Let alone the added pressures of jobs, extra curricular activities and college applications which we may put on ourselves or an adult puts the weight on our shoulders. Among all of these pressures, everyone of all ages compares their own accomplishments to other people. It’s obviously human nature to want to be the very best you can be. However, teenagers do it more so because we hold this belief that our college application determines everything in our life. Our college application has to be better than the person who sits next to us in our math class.

Did you see your new rank? What did you get on your AP exam? How many AP classes are you taking this year? How many volunteer hours do you have? Why are you taking on level physics? Don’t you know AP Physics looks way better on your college application? We have all been asked at least one of these questions, and some of us are even guilty of asking our friends these questions. Some students are so set on making sure that they have the best rank and the most amount of activities. Hey, having a drive makes you great and will definitely get you far in life. But, you know what else is great? Making sure that the people around you feel great about themselves and not rubbing it in their faces that you got a five on your AP exam when they got a two. Celebrate tiny victories like taking an AP exam.

Many of us are familiar with the quote, “pain is temporary, GPA is forever.” However, the “temporary” pain that comes within this quote is the everlasting affects of anxiety and depression that can sometime stem from the need to be in the top 10%.

The amount of pressure some students put on themselves so that they can graduate in the top 10% is borderline ridiculous. Students will stay up during the middle of the night and until the early hours of the next day studying for tests to make sure that they can get a 100. Most of the time, students are not as concerned as the actual content that they are learning; they are concerned with the grade they will get because every point matters to them–which in the grand scheme of things if you’re trying to make top ten, it does. Students are not as concerned with their mental and physical health as they are with their grades in this generation and it’s kind of sickening.

The problem that is in society is the amount of pressure high school students have with their GPA. Imagine if students were just as concerned with how they treated others and the amount of actual knowledge they gained from the content. That is such a prettier picture to imagine rather than a student laying on their bedroom floor covered with papers at 2 a.m.

Being in the top ten of your graduating class is a huge accomplishment for some. Being in the top 105 is also a huge accomplishment for some. Graduating high school is also a huge accomplishment for some. 

Perhaps the closest way to this solution to all of this is the new KISD proposed plan. Click here to read the plan.

Our parents need to stop putting pressure on us. Our teachers need to stop putting pressure on us. But most importantly, we need to stop putting pressure on ourselves.