Pressure to Get Good Grades

Living in a society like the one we are living today, can be very challenging for students. As the world gets more competitive, students are pressured more and more to achieve success. The pressure that students receive by parents, school, and society to succeed, has caused students to take some drastic actions.

Many students are pressured by their parents to excel in school. Although many parents think that pressuring their kids to get good grades may be helpful, in reality, it can become overbearing. In the case of many students they are already balancing out school, work and extracurricular activities. Pressure on the part of the parents may only stress them out more than what they already are. Many students want to make their parents proud but the additional pressure to do well adds much more stress and worries in their life, which can lead to negative effects on the student’s lives. The pressure from parents to their kids starts at a very young age. As early as elementary school, kids and their parents are already worrying about how they are going to get in the best universities like Stanford, Yale, Harvard, and Berkley. Denise Clark pope author of “Doing School: How we are creating a Generation of Stressed out, Materialistic and Miseducated Students” states: “pressure by parents and schools to achieve top scores has created stress levels amongst students, beginning as early as elementary school, that are so high that some educators regard it as a health epidemic.”(Palmer) As we can see the pressure by parents to be the best has created big problems for students. Some students become so mentally and physically exhausted that there comes a point that they take some drastic actions, for example cheating. Students may cheat to achieve better scores in exams, finals or even plagiarize papers to be able to receive a better grade in class.

Students receive numerous pressure in school. Many are pressured to have good grades to be able to attend a good University. Students are overscheduled and therefore struggle to keep their grades up. There comes times where don’t even have time to get enough sleep therefore they start taking pills or medication which will help them stay awake. Many students without noticing become addicted to these medications bringing consequences in the long run. Other students may start using drugs or alcohol to try to relive their stress, but in reality some drugs and alcohol which are depressants, make students feel disappointed or not good enough, and this can cause students to fall into a deep depression or to even commit suicide. Many students are also pushed into joining clubs, and many other extra curricular activities which is not bad, but it can become something very stressful if these activities are not measured moderately. Counselors, coaches, and teachers always inform students that the more they are involved in the more chances there is for a good university, therefore many students take on more than they can handle, only