Stress from grades


Days after days, weeks after weeks and there was still no success in the class of 7ACu. There had been mounds of pressure put on top of children about getting good grades. There had been some complaints from students just about certain subjects like Math where there was for some reason a lot more pressure to succeed in. Of course, some students in this class had no problem because they naturally excel in academics. However, for some it was getting to the breaking point.

A survey showed that only 5 people out of the 21 in this class had parents that were satisfied with their marks. On average there were only 3 people that would get above the grade expectation during assessments and unit tests. There are always some teachers that are sympathetic and don’t put pressure on kids by not even talking about grades.

“We don’t like to talk about grades in this class, its always about how you can improve” stated Jabiz Raisdana, an English teacher. However, a lot of teachers do put a lot of importance in getting great results. All this stress causes anxiety in the students heads and leads to bad grades on tests.

Why do grades matter at such a young age? Its not just parents and teachers that put emphasis on grades, it’s also peers. Everyone likes to do as well as their friends on tests so they can compete with them. Parents think that if their children do well during middle school, it will help them in the future and so instead of actually doing well, the kids feel the load mount on top of them and don’t do as well. This is all really insane because what happens in middle school has nothing to do with high school, let alone the future.

Teachers say that everyone should take the mistakes from their fails to succeed next time, but students see a bad grade and think that it’s over because their parents are gonna punish them. Well all that never happens, all they concentrate on is about how they’re going to get a bad grade in their report card. On top of studying for about 1 test every 10 days, students have to complete homework for 3 out of 4 subjects per day, extra work that is given by parents. When do they have time to chill out and relax? Middle school should be enjoyed and savored as in high school, there aren’t many opportunities to unwind and loosen off.

Even when children want to study late and finish homework, they aren’t given much time at all by parents. Students have to balance out their time between leisure time, sports, academics and service. The parents still want their children to sleep for a good 9 to ten hours.

Just one in every three students gains a grade that they are satisfied with. Obviously some families and students have higher expectations. This shows how much students want to improve their grades but are not able to. Low grades have cause so much concern for some kids so that they don’t even show their parents their test results.

Always something to consider when your kids aren’t getting consistent good results.