Examining Masterman's Academic Culture

Four AP classes plus dual enrollment through Young Scholars. Sports, orchestra, volunteering and paid work on the side. The life of a Masterman student seems vibrant, fun, and exciting. From the outside, Masterman is great. An onlooker sees rigor, grit, and “talent”—whatever that means. What they do not see is the bags under students’ eyes as they compete to see who sleeps the least. They don’t see the thousands of dollars we contribute to the coffee and energy drink industry every single day. They don’t see our hyper-competitive environment, where sleep and mental health are sacrificed to “keep up” with one’s academics and extracurriculars. They don’t see the fact that there are 3,982 colleges and universities in the entire US, yet our school—and many others like it—only focuses on 100, maybe even 50. This is not new information. Instead, it is a Masterman norm.

Let me start by saying that pressure and competition, en balance, is healthy. A healthy amount of stress shapes us for the real world and motivates us to develop coping techniques, sharpening us mentally. The pressure of deadlines forces us to develop a strong sense of time management and organization, as well as the ability to prioritize what needs to be done. We all want to do as much as we can, and do everything as best we can. However, too much of a good thing almost always leads to a bad one. 

That is precisely the case for the culture at Masterman. Outsiders look at us in awe because of our “work culture.” There are immediate reactions when anyone says that they are from Masterman. “Wow, you must work so hard!” and “Oh, you must be so smart!” Laura Dragomir (add section) claims that, “Anyone can tell you’re a Masterman student when you constantly talk about grades and test scores”. Mr. Gilken, Director of Climate and Culture, someone who has observed students come and go for 20 some years, says, “The nature of an acceptance to Masterman comes with this presumption of success. So there’s that. Those standards are partly external, whether it comes with the name Masterman or the family. The students have their goals set.” Once we step foot into the school, we are conditioned into a culture of work, work, and more work. We are conditioned into a culture where sacrificing mental health and doing extracurriculars solely for college are commonplace. 

It makes sense then that our standards are so high. After all, we are Masterman, ranked the best public school in the state and one of the best public schools in the country. But, for many students, the competition has become something of an extreme. The most common question every morning is no longer “How are you today?” but “What did you get on that test?” or “How’d you do on your SAT?”  Students strive to seek academic validation. If our grade is lower than what everyone else is getting, it’s devastating. That desperation to keep up with our peers can compel us to disregard academic integrity for that good grade. Mr. Gilken,  brought up a powerful anecdote that he gave to the graduating class last year: “I remember telling a story about catching them cheating as 8th graders. When I pulled them aside, they said it was because they were unprepared. They were afraid to get the F. They couldn’t fathom the idea of not doing everything they can, even things that were disingenuous or against their own character. What upsets me is that a lot of people here are, for lack of a better term, ‘sweating the small stuff.’”

We conflate our self-worth and value to a number on a piece of paper. Instead of embracing mistakes, we shy away from them. We see mistakes not as opportunities to learn, but as setbacks that we dwell on for days—even weeks. Asking for help, to us, is a sign of weakness. “If I go up in front of the class and I tell the teacher I’m struggling, then I’m either the person who can’t do it in the same time frame, or the person who is admitting that I can’t do it just like everyone else,” says Mr. Gilken. “Regardless of whether it’s one thing or another, it’s a hard thing for any of our students to do.”

This is compounded by the fact that we see so much success, and it’s not just limited to academics. Maybe a student aced a certain test and now everyone hounds them for help. Maybe they’ve coded another program from scratch. We see people constantly going above and beyond, and this causes other students to question if they are “enough.” By constantly comparing, we dismiss the notion that every person is different and that every person has different limits and situations. We lose sight of reality in a delusion to make ourselves seem at the top of the grade or the class. 

Masterman is a place where, as Gilken says, “people realize that they are capable of more while they’re here. They do some amazing things.” Our culture needs to change, and Masterman students need to realize that we all can do these amazing things. College should not be the sole product of high school. Instead, the experiences you have, the people you meet, and the skills you learn will support you for the rest of your life. For those who are struggling, it’s very easy to seek help, for whatever it might be. We need to get rid of the stigma surrounding asking for help and thinking that it will make us look “weak.”Mr. Gilken asserts that help is intentionally convenient and present; we just do not go for it.“I don’t think there is any teacher here that, when a student comes to them honestly and says, ‘I’m struggling,’ is unreasonable—who is unwilling to talk with that student and help them so that they can do what they have to do to succeed, all while maintaining a level of mental health.” 

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, we need to learn how to fail with grace and honor. To learn that it is okay to make mistakes, and that sometimes we need to take a step back to take two steps forward. As Laura says, “stop dwelling on what has already happened. Lots of the stress comes from constantly thinking about a bad grade, thinking that it’s the end of the world.” If we keep focusing on the near future, we lose the ability to enjoy life in the present. 

In the end, high school plays two roles. One, to prepare students academically for the rigorous courses they’ll take in college. The other, arguably the biggest, yet most overlooked, is to build a community and to instill a learning environment in which every student feels like they belong. As Gilken eloquently says, “Sometimes, we focus too much on the first one, and when we focus too much on the first one, we lose sight of the second one.” It is when we, as a student body, focus on that community and learning environment, that we can truly create something that no good grade can replace.