Academic competition harms students

Academic+competition+harms+students

Raven Fletcher, Business Manager

High school and college both come with competition, and a lot of it. Whether it be receiving valedictorian, applying for scholarships or getting into a dream college, there is always another student somewhere fighting for it. However, at a certain point the competition can be too much, and it can lower the motivation of students.

Competition can seem like a great thing for students who excel academically in the traditional sense. If a student already has a 4.16 GPA or an ACT score of 33, it can be motivating to know that improving to a 4.2 and a 34 will put them that much more ahead of the competition. However, we then see the problem of constant failure. If a student tries their hardest, studies relentlessly and spends countless hours filling about college and scholarship applications just to have nothing come of it, then it can put the student in a mindset of “no matter how hard I try, it is never good enough.” This mindset can take someone who has the potential to work for NASA or be on the Supreme Court and make them into someone who gets stuck in a low-end job they never wanted.

For students who don’t quite reach those scores in the first place, it can be even more disheartening. Knowing in the back of your mind that you can do your absolute best, but it won’t be enough to get into that school does more harm than the competition does good. It can lead to students not even trying to get into their dream school and getting by with the minimum GPA and ACT for acceptance to their backup school. This lowers performance overall and decreases the amount of knowledge students obtain in school.

The solution to things like this is simple, judge students on an individual basis and give them something to strive for. I’m not saying we should take away valedictorian or everything that produces competition, but just go about it in a smarter way. For example, a school’s assurance that any student with a certain ACT score, GPA and number of extracurriculars and community service hours is guaranteed admittance creates a goal that still adequately motivates students. A situation similar to this also dissuades students from giving up because they think that even if they reach those goals they may not be selected. A certain amount in merit scholarships is also a positive alternative to strictly competitive scholarships, especially for those with amazing scores that just can’t seem to make the cut for competitive scholarships.

The current competitive system can lead to those not seen as top-tier students only doing what is required of them to get by. It can also lead to students with a lot of potential giving up on their dreams for fear of always failing no matter how hard they try. Slight amendments to the current academic system can motivate students more while lessening the number of students adversely affected by scholarship and acceptance selection.