Pressure. It is a word that is struck as more of a scientific term, which only proves it is not discussed regarding which it impacts people’s lives. People, no matter what profession they are in or their life situation, face loads of it. Pressure tends to build and build until it is too much for one to bear by their lonesome. This is because people are not meant to handle such high levels of stress placed on themselves by others. In all grade levels, students, preschool to college, have or continue to feel the overwhelming expectations placed upon them, created by a system not forged with their best interest in mind. Pressure is a dangerous flaw produced by the way education is laid out, as of late.
It is rarely at the fault of a teacher to which education fails. The system was not built for teachers that much in mind either, more so focused on pushing people into fields of work that, whether they like it or not, makes money. With this perspective, education has created a framework in which students’ or teachers’ feelings and emotions do not fit into the puzzle. In the realm of education itself, it teaches children not how to be people but working machines for the economy, which happens to create an everlasting, nightmarish cycle bound to continue. Students feel as if they have no more value than the grade assigned to them or their high school class rank. Education puts kids against each other when the focus should be on them thriving. The system is not sufficient enough to build new world leaders or those who try to bring more positivity into the world because that was never the focus.
Growing up, most of the pressure I felt as a student was me putting it onto myself. However, I was never taught differently. It was normalized to fear one small bad grade; I still get upset when I do. The emphasis was put on my grades and not bettering myself. There would be times when I would stay up late and hungry because I did not want to give myself the satisfaction that comes from rewards that I did not earn. Yet, food and sleep are necessary for adequate human functioning. A toxic system had taught me that me getting a good grade mattered more than myself. I was a middle schooler, trying to go through puberty when education trained many young children that they will not go anywhere without being perfect. In and of itself, this created many issues that schools try to combat when they brought them up themselves. Cheating became more popularized. Buying essays or Chegg subscriptions became a normalized behavior. Children were forced to be desperate enough to perform morally grey actions because their only thought was to get the “perfect” grade. Perfection is not supposed to a goal, but education taught students that it was the bare minimum to be considered worthy in society. People can still get jobs, quite amazing ones, in fact, but the environmental pressures of schooling made it seem as if the great occupation were unachievable if one does not break their back to get there. This has and continues to have a lasting effect on children.
Children are not given time to be kids, truthfully. There are pushed and broken by a society that lives in the past of morality and exceptions. Students develop anxiety, depression, self-esteem issues, and many more cognitive disorders at a higher rate because the outside world is telling them they are not good enough. Parents and teachers can indeed play a role in pressure and stress. Still, it is the foundation of education that has been built to push everyone towards the mindset that students need to be top tier or else they need to destroy themselves getting there. Education is meant to be a system that teaches children of all ages how to be better learners and adults than previous generations. In reality, the focus was never on learning; it was on doing anything to get the grade from everyone’s pressures on a student. Students should focus on their well-being first and then learn, not with a focus on being perfect.
https://howtoadult.com/parental-pressure-children-5276.html
https://graduateway.com/essay-the-effects-of-pressure-on-students-to-get-good-grades-ideas/
Pressure and expectations are absolutely a major part of education throughout the world. I have felt pressure to perform and put grades over my wellbeing. This has become problematic at times for my overall health, but I am not convinced, especially in the United States, that the entire education culture is built to only punish students. Education is a system where you set your own guidelines and desires, and while many feel pressure to perform, I know that many feel no pressure at all. I think a change in mindset could be good in education, however.
I think that this is definitely an issue regarding our education systems that we may tend to overlook at times. I can see how many schools drill in the mindset that students have to be perfect in order to make a living, which is not true. Taking into account the pressure that people may put on themselves, as well as other external sources of pressure also helps make this overview more well-rounded. I think that considering this issue is absolutely important, and that there are probably some changes to be made to create a more flexible school environment.
Obviously this idea will strike very close to home for all college kids. The expectation of perfection creates an awful dynamic for everyone in the educational industry. I find myself frustrated sitting at my computer for hours at a time, often wondering “Am I smart enough?” “why can’t I do this?”. It is a toxic environment for kids to grow up in, especially at their vulnerable years.
Everything you said is so true. I spent pre-K through 12th grade at a small, local private school. I loved all my teachers and friends, but the competitive environment could be so toxic at times. People bragging about how little sleep they got or how much they could procrastinate on an essay and still get an A. I thrived with ease until senior year, when the stress of college applications, personal matters, and then the pandemic all came closing in. The pressure was so great that it very well could have broken me. I pulled through and graduate as salutatorian, only to come to college to take hard STEM classes over Zoom. It’s tough.