Self-inflicted pressure only harming students

Imagine a typical SHS junior: He leans his forehead on his hands and lets out an exhausted sigh. His eyes burn, but that is not what’s causing his tears. It’s the pressure he’s going through. He has to balance basketball, choir and robotics, as well as academics. It’s 1 a.m. and he has to finish all his APUSH homework before first period tomorrow.

Today, many Saratoga students are faced with the task of excelling in everything they take on under their own self-inflicted pressure and the pressure of others. The question is whether this level of stress is necessary.

According to John Hopkins University’s School of Education, “Stress is negative when a person feels threatened and not in control of the situation. These feelings instigate a powerful reaction — affecting both the brain and body in ways that can be destructive to physical and mental health.”

Many students believe the pressure they place on themselves is natural. However, the truth is that stress is unnatural because it is something that students are forcing on themselves. External pressure from parents can also increase the pressure students place on themselves.

For example, many students attending the school are children of immigrants and have enjoyed the benefits of the American Dream. There may be times in which students feel the pressure to “do well” for their parents, but students must ultimately remember two things when this thought runs through their mind.

First, “doing well” as students does not mean living up to others’ expectations; it means doing what is right for themselves. Second, if this pressure is causing negative feelings, it will affect those around them as well. For example, if a student begins to get overly stressed at home, the entire ambience of the household will reflect that stress. This pressure is not worth it if it is affecting more than one person, especially if those other people should not be feeling this stress.

Furthermore, there has been a long-term trend in which many students to take extra classes and activities in an effort to get into get into elite colleges. Here, the average student takes somewhere between one to three APs for the extra GPA boost, and perhaps not because all the subjects interest them. By doing so, many students are stretching their time, staying up until unimaginable hours just to complete homework or study for tests.

To avoid these moments, students should be taking AP and honors courses that reflect their interests. For example, if a student is a math enthusiast and has no interest in history, they should take regular college prep history classes, not AP ones.

Both of us get stressed very easily before tests, but this year we have made an effort to stay calm during exams and not put too much emphasis on the grade we will get because we acknowledge that we have studied enough and should just accept whatever happens afterwards. By staying relaxed, we have been more able to stop worrying about the future and just focus on the present.

Students should remember that colleges want to see their applicants challenging themselves in areas which are relevant to their interests. If everything a student takes on is a challenge, his or her life will be a struggle, and they won’t shine in the areas they could be succeeding in.

It’s also important to note that success is not an objective word that is uniform to everyone; it is subjective to the person achieving it. Thus, self-inflicted pressure is only useful if used for motivational purposes in achieving something worth the student’s due effort. Behind achieving great grades must be a purpose, not a baseless race to reach “the top.”

In order to keep their life balanced and sane, more students should take a break from their load of activities and school work to just relax for a little while in their own ways, whether that be by sleeping or by watching an hour of television.

So forgive us if we take a break to watch the newest episodes on television or take that two hour nap. In this case, zoning out for a while will actually be good for us.