Beyond grades: The impact of Academic Pressure on Students“
Vanessa Kay M. Bornarel
Is it possible for a student to succeed in their academics while still managing their own mental health?
Every year, students face constant academic pressure from workloads, major projects, and upcoming exams. For example, when a number of a school’s requirements are due, students find themselves stressed, overwhelmed, anxious, and insecure about their academic performance due to the constant pressure to attain good grades.
As a result, in order to meet the expectations of their respective academic programs, students may find themselves depriving themselves of their sleep schedules, hobbies, and time with their loved ones. It is through academic challenges that school officials expect students to enhance their learning processes through healthy challenges. However, too many responsibilities can prove to be more harmful than helpful to a student. For example, when a student finds themselves doing several assignments with the same-day deadlines, the fear of poor academic performance, and feeling like a disappointment. We want students to challenge themselves, but overloading them with schoolwork this early just leads to chronic stress and burnout.
Pushing students academically is important, but school shouldn’t swallow up their entire personal lives. I believe that schools can lessen the academic stress among students through progress matters over perfection since students need to know that it is okay to make mistakes in their academic projects.
If the school bell strikes, learning must not become the only thing that consumes the student’s entire being. Schools can reduce the pressure on students by creating realistic time lines and pacing their homework so that children do not drown in it during a midnight rush. Learning is best achieved if there is some space for breathing—the space for playing the guitar, kicking a ball, eating together quietly with one’s family, or even doing nothing at all.
It is important for the academic success of a student to understand that good grades do not define them. Instead, students must be allowed to study in a peaceful environment free from pressure and do what they love. After all, education is meant to develop and educate an individual to be successful later in life and not make them feel like they are constantly under pressure to perform.