Praised for Grades: The Effect of Academic Pressure

Former overachiever,

Anastasia Perkovic

Australia

2024

At the age of 12, high school began. I was naive in my idea that school would continue to be nothing more than a careless adventure. Within my first week, I discovered how foolish I’d been. The days were no longer rushing by and the hours seemed to drag on forever. Throughout the corridors, the whispers of grades could already be heard. Senior students were stressing in their final years and trophies of past overachievers were displayed on the walls. It didn't help much when the family name was engraved on them. Then, the slam of assessment tasks upon all new students and almost immediately the questioning from parents and teachers. “Are you going to be doing as well as your sister this year?”, “How are your grades looking?”, and the ever-painful question of “Shouldn't you be studying” when your 12-year-old self was finally taking a break. Any and all social life was immediately stripped away and you couldn't even think about aiming to get a first-time job, there was no time for that. Then finally, the all-important end-of-semester reports. Everything depended on those letters. But even then, there was no winning…

If you got a good grade? Congratulations, life got to continue as normal and the expectations only continued to rise. But if you got a “bad” grade then suddenly the world came crashing down. Pretty soon straight A’s became the minimum expectation.

Those reports went on to define the rest of my high school years. Years of stress, pain and exhaustion all for the sake of letters on a page. From that point on and throughout the entirety of my high school life, I got to see and experience first-hand the determinantal impact of academic pressure on the life of a student.

Many people believe that the academic outcome of these years will only support future success. However, these adolescent years pave the way for the rest of our lives. Academic pressure should not be the sole focus as the choices and pressure experienced during this time create lasting mental and physical effects. One of the most prominent impacts that I myself felt when being put under academic pressure was the constant anxiety that it created. In this situation, you feel as though you are trapped. This is because one-time achievements become less of an achievement and more of an inescapable expectation. There is even evidence to support and validate these feelings. Jiang et al (2022), stated that “Studies have shown that teachers and parents have higher learning expectations of teenagers with good academic performance.” This creates a toxic schooling environment as students are trying to appease those around them rather than simply learning. It also creates additional academic pressure as “A” grades are no longer an achievement but rather just a relief.

However, advocates for this state that this pressure may have some advantages. In Ma, Z’s paper, scholar Su, L (2023) stated that academic pressure “is helpful for students to maintain the motivation of learning, to improve their academic performance.” However, I strongly believe that students should find their own motivation to learn as it builds discipline. This will build long-term studying habits that will actually help in the workforce. I also believe that said “motivation” that comes from academic pressure is not motivation at all, but rather, fear. Fear of failing and fear of letting everyone down. Therefore, to allow students to actually learn, academic pressure should not be placed on students at all. They should be able to find their own academic pace and success.

The negative impact of academic pressure on teens also has a reach beyond just academics and school. It stretches to all aspects of adolescent life. One of the most prominent impacts is on the social life of teens. As Sandi, C and Haller, J (2015) stated in their NIH article, “When undergoing high-level or persistent stress, individuals frequently retract from social interactions and become irritable and hostile”. Academic pressure and its subsequent stress cause students to withdraw from social life during a point in time when it is most critical. Overachievers are forced to focus more on academics than on building lifelong connections. This causes problems with the development of social skills, ultimately forming long-term disadvantages. I myself felt the impact of these social effects as I was constantly changing friend groups due to a lack of time for socialisation. It's extremely hard to connect with those you are unable to talk to. This social isolation also feeds into more negative aspects of academic pressure: The Mental Impact.

The mental impact of academic pressure is by far one of the most life-altering. The mental changes that occur during adolescent life can last for years, well into adulthood. In relation to academic pressure, there are a few mental struggles that stand out. The Teen National Health Interview Survey from 2022 (Lee, C, 2024) revealed that over 20% of teens in high school report feelings of anxiety and depression. The research team from King’s College London (2010) further added that students with excellent academic performance were at an increased risk of developing mental health struggles that inhibit their day-to-day lives. As Jeremy, T. stated (2012) “High-achieving students…reported significantly higher levels of stress compared to their lower-achieving peers.” These problems also don't just dissipate when individuals leave school, in fact, they can worsen with age and stick with them all throughout adult life. Davis, B. (2021), a former overachiever who has long since graduated, stated that he still suffers from perfectionist tendencies that he first developed as a result of academic perfectionism. He further mentioned that these tendencies impact day-to-day work life. This brings me to another issue with academic pressure: The Employment Impact.

One of the main reasons for academic pressure in the first place is to “set students up for workplace success.” However, I firmly believe that it does the exact opposite. As Pascoe et al (2019) mentioned, academic pressure leads to a “reduced likelihood of sustainable employment.” Former academic overachievers have stated their own experience with employment, Vosters, M (2021) stated that he struggles with traditional employment as straight A’s never taught him “how to fail, how to make decisions amidst uncertainty, and how to maintain self-esteem without external validation.” I myself have even felt this impact when attempting to gain part-time employment. A few of the issues I've experienced when working is the inability to quickly pick things up as I attempt to do everything perfectly or being unable to make my own decisions for fear of making a mistake. At times it feels as though these perfectionist and anxiety-stricken tendencies will never leave me, that they will stick with me for life.

These fears and lasting effects have ensured that I myself will never place the same sort of pressure upon anybody else and I strongly believe that you should do the same. The feeling of being trapped, being unable to have a social life and most importantly the long-term mental effects are, under no circumstances, worth a grade. You, nor anybody else, should have to feel as though your academic outcome comes before your life. Students should be able to freely learn, doing what they enjoy and making lifelong connections rather than rotting away behind a laptop screen. Do I still believe that everyone should try their best in school? Of course. However, it should not come at the cost of physical, mental and social well-being. After all, in 20 years time you’ll be looking at your own health and the lifelong friends you’ve made, not at a letter on a page.

References:

Davis, B. (2021). The curse of the straight-A student. The Michigan Daily. https://www.michigandaily.com/opinion/columns/the-curse-of-the-straight-a-student/

Grove, A. (2018) What’s a Good Academic Record for College Admissions? ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/good-academic-record-for-college-admissions-788895

Hinyan, A. (2018). Academic Stress. The Critical Hub. https://thecriticalhub.wordpress.com/2018/05/16/academic-stress/

Jeremy, T., Fisher, P. (2012). High achieving students and their experience of the pursuit of academic excellence. James Cook University (Singapore) https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/21992/1/high_achieveing_students_lit_review_paper.pdf

Jiang, M. M., Gao, K., Wu, Z. Y., & Guo, P. P. (2022). The influence of academic pressure on adolescents' problem behaviour: Chain mediating effects of self-control, parent-child conflict, and subjective well-being. National Library of Medicine. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9534181/

KCL. (2010). Straight-A students have a much higher risk of developing bipolar disorder. Kings College London. https://www.kcl.ac.uk/archive/news/ioppn/records/2010/02february/straight-astudentshaveamuchhigherriskofdevelopingbipolardisorder

Lee, C. (2024). Roughly 1 in 5 Adolescents Report Experiencing Symptoms of Anxiety or Depression. KFF. https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/press-release/roughly-1-in-5-adolescents-report-experiencing-symptoms-of-anxiety-or-depression/#:~:text=Data%20from%20the%20recently%20released,they%20had%20symptoms%20of%20depression

Lindinger, M (2020). How to Identify and Practice Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2020/01/02/how-to-identify-and-practice-emotional-intelligence-in-the-workplace/?sh=6c0d15c36c2e

Ma, Z. (2023). The Study on the Influence of Academic Pressure on Academic Performance. Journal of Education and Educational Research. https://drpress.org/ojs/index.php/jeer/article/view/9045/8815

Pascoe, C., Hetrick S., Parker, A. (2019). The impact of stress on students in secondary school and higher education. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02673843.2019.1596823

Sandi, C., Haller, J. (2015) Stress and the social brain: behavioural effects and neurobiological mechanisms. National Library of Medicine. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25891510/

Vosters, M. (2021). Why Straight-A Students Struggle In Real-Life. Medium. https://medium.com/mental-health-league/why-straight-a-students-struggle-in-real-life-34d85dd11369

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