A Deeper Needle Lies Under The Haystack Analysis

Isaac
Nolan
English 1A
2 February 2014
A Deeper Needle Lies Under the Haystack: The Hidden Pressures of Education While striving to achieve in school is a goal for many students, a deeper stress lies under the surface. Unrealized by many students, the pretenses for success set by those around them are likely to cause a greater strain than they can handle. The pressure to succeed in school can often have a negative effect on the learning experience of many students. Hidden elements such as a student’s inner pride, grade inflation, and family cultural values can indirectly cripple one’s education, and ultimately destroy their future. Students strive for high grades in the hopes of a rewarding future, but stress and obsession are two
common side effects of trying to overachieve. In many cases, students believe that they should be doing everything they can to advance through the educational process more quickly and do not attribute time to their own lives. Progressing through school and taking more classes is a good thing when in manageable doses. However, students often jump right into a full schedule of advanced classes and find that they have too many responsibilities; this can lead to low grades and extreme stress. The most difficult thing about handling stress is that it affects every aspect of one’s life. Students under this duress look for outlets on which to project their negative feelings upon, such as friends or family. Students easily become obsessed with school, thinking they need to rush through classes every semester. Consequently, if they fail a class because they could not handle the intense workload, they can fall into a state of depression and feel that they are a failure for not being “smart enough.” Students should take their learning process slow and focus not on passing the most classes but on learning the most from the classes that they take. Teachers also can cause students to feel unnecessary pressure.
School Districts try to make their schools reputable, and an easy way to do that is showing that its students have high grades. Grade Inflation is a cunning strategy used by some Districts to appear as a school with successful students. However, this manipulation of grades can lead not only to students being advanced to classes for which they are not ready, but also graduates not preforming well in their respective workplace. Scholar William Chan writes in the article, "A Signaling Theory Of Grade Inflation,” that “When employers cannot tell whether a school truly has many good students or just gives easy grades, a school has incentives to inflate grades to help its mediocre students, despite concerns about preserving the value of good grades for its good students,” ( Chan 1065). Employers often look at an applicant’s transcript to determine whether or not that individual will work hard and contribute to their firm, but according to Chan, there is virtually no way to differentiate between the deceptive pursuers of the career. Also, the student that is put through this grade inflation could be unaware of the fact that he or she had been wrongfully elevated and might face great troubles when it comes to be their time to perform in the workplace. Moreover, grade Inflation in one school arouses competition between districts to show that their students “succeed.” This chain of manipulation leads to further inflation which keeps cycling through more and more schools. Students must possess not only the teachings of their classes, but the knowledge of the school system itself in order to anticipate these threats to their
education. Arguably the most influential source of pressure on students is their families’ high or strict expectations of their children’s future. In many cultures, the children are raised to be in the workplace and take over the same jobs as their parents, which can lead to a stressful and unproductive education for the child. The child may want to be an artist, but feels that if he/she pursued that profession he/she would be a disgrace to his/her parent who works as a surgeon. Furthermore, the pressure put on that child deters him from following his dream by instead forcing him or her into classes that do not appeal to his/her interests. Parents feel accomplished when their child succeeds, but who is to determine what constitutes a successful child? Children need to reflect upon their own lives, and parents should encourage their children to do whatever they can to find happiness. The process of going through school is no easy task, for there are variables and obstacles scattered all throughout the system. Whether it is one’s desperate need to achieve, one’s educational structure, or one’s family and peers, school has a method of pressuring all kinds of students. Though many outside sources influence a student’s learning, it is his or her responsibility to take a moment to plan and think about what feels right for his or her own personal future. The pressures are needles hidden all around and the student must find and avoid these needles to achieve the most fulfilling school experience.

Works Cited
Chan, William, Hao Li, and Suen Wing. "A Signaling Theory Of Grade Inflation." International Economic Review 48.3 (2007): 1065-1090. Business Source Elite. Web. 9 Feb. 2014.