Under Pressure
There is one thing in the world that all people eventually face, no matter who they are. It can crush relationships and destroy the entire mentality of a man. This single thing can begin wars, but can also end wars.
Students seem to be the greatest victim of this horrible curse. The answer to this riddle is simple: pressure. The scholars of today’s world are faced with such pressure. The expectations are nearly impossible. These expectations can cause the student’s values and ethics to change, leading to the student to make morally wrong decisions.
School is an ocean of pressure for students, despite its efforts to improve a person’s life. The pressure of school can be so strong, students will no longer care about learning. Pupils will only care about the expectations they have to meet in order to escape the pressure. All students have considered it, and many have done it. Cheating is a constant shadow, lurking from the desires of students of all ages.
Why do students cheat? They do not cheat for their own pleasure. They cheat because they want better grades. Students are so desperate to please their parents or the people around them with grades that learning will be irrelevant. “Students here are motivated almost to a fault when it comes to grades” (Rafe Sagarin, New York Times). Most students are so desperate for a grade above failing that nothing else matters. As long as they are pleasing their peers and parents with report cards, school doesn’t matter.
According to NBC News, 42% of Harvard’s 2012 incoming freshmen cheated on their work. “Instead of trying to master the knowledge of the course, students master how to please their teacher. This issue is troublesome because college is one of the few times in a student’s life where he or she can openly challenge something…” (Trent M. Kays, The Minnesota Daily). Students, when doing a project, typically do not ask themselves “What will I learn from this?”, but more often “Will I get a good grade from this?”. Students must learn that grades are not as important as actually learning.
Most children attending school will learn a great deal of information, but once the test has been given, many students will no longer review on the topic. Learning material is simply the facade students wear to hide the true desire to achieve good grades If good grades do not accompany actually learning, perhaps students should not be under so much pressure. Parents should be more accepting of a grade that’s not quite an A or a B. People should not judge people’s intelligence by simple letters, but instead judge others on the information they know
