Overachievers Essay

Journalist Alexandra Robbins returns to high school to follow nine students as they pass through their years of fierce competition. Robbins combines fascinating investigative journalism and riveting storytelling to provide a moving narrative that explores how our high stakes educational culture has spiraled out of control. Robbins purpose is not only to show how carried away our generation has gotten with the desire to succeed but also to highlight and make aware of the pressure that the majority of teenagers face in high school while on the road to achievement.
AP Frank, also known as the “workhorse”, focuses more on the pressure bestowed by the overbearing parents of our generation instead of the pressure students provide themselves. AP Frank had to grapple with the horrifying parental pressure to succeed his whole life. His mother was the main source of pressure in his life with her need to control his life and carve out a path of where she thought AP Frank should be headed. “But the idea of her assigning his college course load, as she done throughout high school, mortified him. He couldn’t let her guilt him into fulfilling a path she had predetermined. (pg.12)” AP Frank’s mother never let her son choose who and what he wanted to be and set such high, almost impossible expectations that AP Frank spent his whole high school life pressured to desperately meet them. During his high school life, AP Frank was forced to take all AP classes every year by his mother and she expected him to ace them all. “At some point during the school year, his mother had indeed called up Dr. Marco, infuriated, demanding to know why there wasn’t an AP gym class so that AP Frank could have a perfect GPA of 5.0. (pg.13)” He was never really allowed to have a life. Even though Frank’s story is very crazy it is relatable. Many parents nowadays are so obsessed with their kid’s lives and success that it becomes the parent’s lives too. Because of the high expectations parents set for the kids, teenage suicide rates have gone up. As stated in the book, a student committed suicide in his room in fear of how his parents would react when they discovered that he did not get into the Ivy League college his parents wanted. Parent’s are too concerned with and devoted to their children’s life and have high and sometimes unreasonable expectations that kids now not only have to deal with the stress of school, but now have to come home to it as well. “If parents focus on their own interests and friendships, they will be less likely to overinvest themselves in their children’s achievements, thereby reducing parental pressure. (396)”
Taylor, known as the Popular Girl, depicts pressure of being accepted or “cool” and finding out whom you are in high school. Taylor, who was a soccer and lacrosse captain, was constantly scared that her ambition would threaten her popular girl status. In the book, it consistently shows Taylor torn between her social life; such as the Nastys, parties and boys and her drive and ambition of getting good grades and getting into a good college. “Taylor didn’t actively hide her intelligence from her popular friends, but when she was around them, she tried not to ‘act smart’ as she put it. The popular students treated her differently whenever her academics came up. Taylor believed they didn’t like her as much as they would otherwise, because she made an effort to hang out with smart kids, too. (pg.19)” Pressure that teenagers face, much like Taylor’s, has increased incredibly because not only do kids have to worry about getting good grades and finishing their homework on time, but also worry constantly about being popular and having a lot of friends. They have to worry about being “cool.” Taylor, like so many teenagers in high school, had to hide who she really was just so she could hang on to the people she thought were her friends.
Audrey, known as the Perfectionist, portrays how a student puts too much pressure on herself by wanting to succeed and be the smartest student in school at any cost. “A new form of high school peer pressure has the same effect: Some overachievers look down on peers who don’t aim for top-tier schools. (186)” Audrey let her perfectionism overshadow her life. All she wanted and worried about was getting into a good college instead of just being happy. She was so obsessed with doing well in school that even her parents wanted her to take a breather and relax a little bit. For example, in the book Audrey was so focused on studying for vocabulary for the SAT that while on a trip to visit a college with her parents she studied for four hours in the car. Finally her father yanked the vocabulary cards from Audrey’s hand and said, “You’re done with these. You’re not getting these back. You have to stop, It’s a mental game, and I know you can do it. But you can’t do this to yourself. You did this for the PSAT. You can’t do this again.” This is relatable to many high school students because we push ourselves way to hard and put too much pressure on ourselves to be the best students and get into the best college that we loose sight of our happiness and life. In the book Robbins states that some of the steps students can take to a less stressful and pressure free life is to pare down activities, take a year off, try an “unrewarding” activity, reclaim summer, accept that admissions aren’t personal, and take charge of our own life.
In conclusion, Robbins portrays the fierce competition, and pressure we face in high school on our way to success. Through AP Frank, Taylor, and Audrey Robbins makes students and parents aware that although being driven and ambitious is a great characteristic to possess, it is also a very fatal one too. “We live in an achievement-oriented workaholic culture that can no longer distinguish between striving for excellence and demanding perfection. It is time to stop prioritizing how children look on paper over their health, happiness, and well-being. By now the messages should be clear: Ease up, calm down, and back off. If students are free to follow paths towards their personal joys and interests, then it is worth trusting that everything will be all right in the end. Robbins wants the students and the parents to find the happy medium of a great social and school life.