We've all been through the obligatory and painful experience of health class. Where we are forced to shift in our seats and listen to topics like periods, abstinence, and drugs. Why? Because someone on some education board decided that sex and drugs were derailing the precious children of America. So while we are shifting uncomfortably in our seats talking about sex and drugs, health teachers often coin the word "dependent". Addicts repeatedly use because they have physically become dependent on the sensation that the receive from the drugs. Yet in a ironic twist the system that is teaching us that drugs are bad, are the ones that have created, unintentionally or intentionally, a mirror affect in the form of our GPAs.
We always joke about the stereotypical Asian kids in our schools. The ones who stay awake at 2 am studying and get upset at the thought of getting below a 95 on a test or quiz. The ones whose pride and ego are dependent on the number that is on top of their paper. Oh, but that's different, which is probably what you are thinking. How?
Ok, so let's set the scene. A drug addict who looks sleep deprived, goes through painful symptoms of withdrawal, and will lie, cheat, steal, or do initially anything to get more drugs. Now let's imagine a stereotypical A-straight student in 2016 who's given back their history with a whopping 75. That student is imaging their average fall, the feeling of inadequacy sets in, and suddenly rather than going to UPenn they are serving slushies at the multiplex. They run home and study everything, getting three hours of sleep, and the next test they get a 95. That high that they get from that 95 for one moment makes them feel worthy and capable of great things, and then Oh, crud the next subject.
Now some of you may be thinking That's ridiculous there is more to life than grades. And let me tell you that that is completely true and that A-straight student probably has been told and understands that. But as someone who was also that student, the feeling of not being good enough makes life doesn't go past the grade book.
Of course everyone wants their child and/or student to be great, that's natural. But expecting precociousness does more harm than good. So instead of telling kids about drugs and its effects take a minute and try to fix the pain that leads to taking drugs. The same goes for grades, instead of rearing students' intellectual health also pay attention to their emotional wellbeing. And not just depression, mental disease and anything out of a textbook that is only memorized for an easy A. No matter how smart a kid can be if they don't believe in themselves, and need grades as reassurance, then they might never be able to reach their full potential, and that's a crying shame.
