Effects of Overstressing Academic Achievements

READING JOURNAL 2 TITLE: Losing Our Moral Compass: The Negative Effects of Overstressing Academic Achievement by Kalman Heller

TSL 012
COLLEGE READING

MOHD SUFI AMIN BIN SALMEE
2012228174
MPI020 2D
For
MISS EMY SYAFIKAH BINTI NORDIN
FACULTY OF EDUCATION

SUMMARY: Based on the article written by Kalman Heller, there are a few negative effects of overstressing academic achievements on students that needed to be reviewed. One of the negative effects is the depression and suicide rates among teenager increases. Secondly, overstressing academic achievements also causes health problems towards students. Next, the criminal act in school increases which relates to the fear of getting good grades more than the fear of getting caught. Another negative effect is the students will become less social among themselves as most parents send their children to private schools instead. The students also felt they were valued by their parents only by grades. Lastly, most students tend to download finished reports on the net and plagiarize them. (121 words)

CRITICAL REVIEW Based on the article taken from PsychCentral website, entitled “Losing Our Moral Compass: The Negative Effects of Overstressing Academic Achievement”, by Kalman Heller (PHD), there are many negative effects of overstressing academic achievement on students. Whether from their parents or teachers, the stress that they had put on the students causes many bad impacts. Kalman Heller often stated his points with the cases that happen in Hanover, New Hampshire. Looking from a student’s perspective, I would like to reflect on the effects of overstressing academic achievements from my point of view and compared the cases that happen in New Hampshire town with what happen in Malaysia. I only want to touch on three main points which is the criminal act in school, the feeling of getting valued by parents only by grades and the case of plagiarisms among students. The first point I want to discuss on is the rate of criminal act in school nowadays that increases due to overstressing students with academic achievements. In the article, the author talks about the case in Hanover, New Hampshire, where an Ivy League school, Dartmouth College, is located, nine students from the local high school were arrested on charges of breaking and entering. They allegedly carried out a plan that involved stealing keys from teachers, breaking into the school, stealing copies of finals, and distributing them to friends. As you can see, this is due to the student’s stress in achieving good grades in class that they tend to commit criminal acts instead. This also shows that the fear of not getting good grades in students nowadays is higher than getting caught. In Malaysia, most of the students are not really dared to commit such thing but there are stories about them spotting questions during exams. Next, another negative effect of overstressing students with academic achievements described by the author is the students nowadays felt that they are being valued by their parents only by the grades that they achieve opposed to what kind of person they are. That is an enormous burden to carry. In my opinion, parents have to play a major role in putting the right perception toward their children. From my past experiences, I always put education as a medium to impress my parents but I do not put any pressure on myself in achieving good grades. In fact, my parents valued my results with the effort I have put in. Another point that I would reflect on is the case of plagiarisms among students nowadays in doing assignments and works. According to the article, Kalman Heller stated that most of students nowadays, especially teenagers tend to plagiarise other people’s work in submitting their work. This is due to two main reasons. First, the students felt not good enough in submitting their own work and secondly, most of the students lazy to do the work or do their work last minute. This is also a chronic case in Malaysia; most of the students nowadays have the access to the internet at the tip of their thumb, so they tend to do things the easy way, which is plagiarise. From my point of view, we should not plagiarise other people work in doing ours. It is okay to use other articles or work as references, but we need to come out with our unique style of work in order to succeed in life. In a nutshell, it is not a good idea to overstress students with their academic achievement. This will causes negative impacts such as the criminal act happen in school, students may feel getting valued by parents only by grades and plagiarism in doing coarse work occur. Thus, if these problems can be overcome, our students may become more positive in facing challenges in school and be motivated in handling students’ life.

REFERENCE LIST

Heller, K. (2012). Losing Our Moral Compass: The Negative Effects of Overstressing Academic Achievement. Psych Central. Retrieved on February 20, 2013, from http://psychcentral.com/lib/2012/losing-our-moral-compass-the-negative-effects-of-overstressing-academic-achievement/

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