Let’s be frank, school is hard. And whether or not you’ve convinced yourself it’s easy, at some point throughout your academic career, the nagging feeling of anxiety to keep up with classes will eventually emerge. I believe that this pressure, to an extent, is self-induced.
I asked my mom about her high school experience, wondering if the difficulty of classes was the same during that time, and what I learned made sense, but was interesting nonetheless. She revealed that there were no AP classes offered at her school. This goes to show that standards have increased dramatically since then, as many more AP classes for almost any subject are offered across multiple high schools. As students are surrounded by peers who are taking more challenging classes, it may induce pressure on themselves, making them feel that to succeed further down the line, they must succeed academically. And with Mountain Lakes High School being such an academic weapon when it comes to testing and grades, students may be pressured to challenge themselves more than they have previously. This definitely has the possibility of invoking stress among students who may not be equipped to manage the workload that comes with taking multiple AP and honors classes. So, is convincing yourself to achieve academic success really worth all that stress?
A popular celebrity example of achieving success off the beaten path can be seen through Elon Musk. While often referred to as a genius due to his entrepreneurial adventures such as Tesla and SpaceX, Musk actually performed rather average in school, earning a B on his senior math certificate in high school. Instead of hyperfocusing on school, Musk found it more productive to learn on his own time. He found himself engaging in more practical studies that would allow him to understand more diverse subjects. The skills that he learned on his own time allowed Musk to become proficient in technology and physics, which allowed him to establish Zip2, a video game software company as a teenager, gaining him entrepreneurial experience outside of school. By most The important takeaway when observing Musk’s educational journey is that he didn’t solely focus on education and grades in school. This allowed him to actually research and pursue subjects that he enjoyed, which led to great success.
The issue is, if modern high school students pressure themselves into taking more rigorous classes, they may be so caught up in school work that they will not have any time to dedicate to personal studies. Personal education and hobbies are just as important as academic success, as it allows people to find subjects that they enjoy themselves, rather than taking as many courses as they can across multiple subjects in order to minmax their GPA. This freedom to enjoy subjects and find fun in education is what allows people to find such great success in life, as they are driven to explore new opportunities in their field of interest.
Academic pathways to success, implicit or self-incurred, may plague high schoolers into believing that they must succeed academically in order to succeed in life. But failing is just as important, and sometimes recognizing that you might not be cut out for something (whether it be academic or something else) may be the first step in finding the right path to explore in your own life.
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