In her famous song “Brutal”, Olivia Rodrigo sings, ”And I’m not cool and I’m not smart and I can’t even parallel park.” Lyrics like these pervade major media for teens, with “Brutal” amassing over 60 million streams. This focus on comparison and the idea that what other people do juxtaposed with a person’s own achievements indicates self-worth plays out in schools nationwide. Lists for valedictorian are scrutinized weekly, outfit choices are agonized daily, and grade books are opened hourly—but schools are meant to be a placid environment to learn, however students are left feeling that the only point in life is to get good grades and trade those grades for a better future. Very often though, this obsession leads to stress and breaches of academic integrity. As a result, schools need to cater toward student stress management because it impacts many aspects of livelihood.

An investigation was conducted in the halls of the edifice called Brooklawn Middle School in order to identify  how stress affects  education and the reasons for this stress. According to Verywell Mind, in an article called, “What is Stress?”, stress is defined as a response to a “...state of tension” (Scott). This is bad because high levels of stress, like the amounts seen by school children today, lead to chronic issues. Past research indicates that stress affects a majority of students. On the observation, out of fifteen total classes, roughly sixty-four percent had students presenting stress. The students in these classes sat with their heads between their hands, with frowns on their faces as they stared at their computers, or remarked on the amount of stress that these assignments were giving them through chats in their Chromebooks. Moreover, grades were a prime issue across the board, with 92% of comments relating to checking grades. According to one student, getting a bad grade led to him remarking, “My parents are going to kill me” (Observation). The peer pressure between different students as they showed grades to one another, and parental pressure in the form of expectations seemed to have the most visible impact of stress in action. It mimicked a dissonant dance of dread, where grades turned into the ominous music playing at the back. Throughout the investigation, stress negatively impacted all students recorded, in stark contrast with the idea that stress motivates students to work harder (Observation). Furthermore, in cases where students were stressed, they would deviate off task, working on other assignments to procrastinate an assignment that they were scared about submitting (Observation). The students were stressed because they were worried about grades, the things that society deemed were necessary for a proper life later on. Therefore, this stress is a direct result of society’s pressures on students, spiraling out of initially intended ideas.
Subsequently, further data was collected to understand how pressure affects academia. Alexandra Robbins, lauded for her investigative journalism book, The Overachievers, states that stress “...contributes directly to young adults’ paralyzing fear of failure…it is also believed to be a major factor in the 114% suicide spike factor in 15-19-year-olds” (Robbins 1). The fear of failure, a formidable foe, can fester and directly impact creative fields, harming the workforce. Thomas Edison reportedly went through hundreds of lightbulb ideas before landing on the final design. The fear of failure pushed by society today would force students to stop innovation immediately, affecting the entire world. To add to this, the study, “Can Negative Emotions Increase Students' Plagiarism and Cheating?”, wrote that stress “...does translate into increased plagiarism and cheating among students,” because these students felt that they needed to (Curtis). They did not consider the moral implications because they thought the system was unfair for letting one grade define a person’s entire trajectory in life. Equally important, a different study conducted by the American Psychological Association titled “Teen Stress Rivals that of Adults” concluded that, “23% of teenagers skip meals due to stress,” an alarming statistic (Bethune). This quote highlights the proclivity of stress toward chronic problems. Skipping meals deprives bodies of basic nutrients impacting mental performance. High achievers especially revel in the feeling of having control over their lives, especially over their grades. Students without the proper coping mechanisms can feel like their autonomy has been taken away from them, which explains the prevalence of eating disorders among this population to feel control (Sundquist). Eating disorders could translate to even bigger problems down the road. Peer pressure for grades, can cause stress leading into a process addiction for good grades. When interviewed, one student with extremely high grades, described the experience of opening Genesis (an online gradebook) as, “...a dopamine hit. I crave the A’s more and more because it’s the only thing telling me that I am worth it. The time that I’ve poured into academics has distanced me from my friends but I don’t care anymore. All I care about is the A” (Interview). This quote parallels how many addicts think of their addiction. The person interviewed has removed everything else in their life to focus on academics, because of the competition aspect. In an environment where students are judged by their grades, the rise of grade addiction will undoubtedly grow in future years if proper measures are not taken. As addictions are terrible things that turn people into shells of their previous selves, this new epidemic must be stopped in its tracks. Brooklawn utilizes an Advisory without a proper curriculum to keep all the teachers on the same page, students especially do not appreciate this as shown by the 98% of respondents who said that Advisory was not helpful regarding stress in a survey (Survey). When questioned, students at Brooklawn believe that Advisory is insufficient as “Advisory usually assumes that everyone has perfect families with parents who support their children, however, this is not always the case. Additionally, my teacher never knew what was going on!” (Interview). There is also not a plethora of training programs to educate teachers on stress, making students largely underserved.
With the multitude of raised concerns about stress, research is leading toward special solutions for these situations. Standardizing grading systems and assessments across similar courses in the nation ensures that no students feel like they have to work harder to get a similar grade to their peers in classrooms with other teaching styles. In the case of the student cheating because they felt they needed to, a smaller amount of more rigorous rather could be assigned. A large amount of work gives the illusion that students will need to spend a lot of time, overcomplicating matters. In the same Stanford article, the researchers also concluded that mindfulness techniques, and catch-up days where no new material is introduced are the best ways to center students (Donald). A perfect compromise between all of this data for Brooklawn would be to change Advisory to have a set curriculum utilizing mindfulness techniques by training teachers, having a short lesson with interactive components, and leaving the rest of the period for students to do as they please within reason throughout the school. Moreover, in the article, “Importance of Free Time for Students”, the Arthur Morgan School talks about how their students have a free period during the school day to catch up, mitigating how these kids feel about a complete day (“Importance”). Leaving the rest of the period to the students themselves additionally helps to develop time management skills throughout multiple iterations. Later on, assemblies for adults involved would help with educating families and educators in the same capacity as students. A majority of humans who derive their stress from school have their lives dictated by the adults around them, only by changing these adults’ mindsets can a student’s trajectory be set on track. In a survey, when asked what Brooklawn students would change about Advisory, the responses paralleled what the evidence states (Survey). This signifies that students know what options would work better for other people in their position, yet do not have the tools to change current ones, making education for adults imperative. By lessening the injustices that a student believes is inherent in the system, stress is lessened, helping students and educators achieve their goals.
Overall, educational institutions need to start implementing measures to protect their students from the horrors of stress that could follow them well beyond academic study. Schools should start teacher-led curriculum-based focus periods, leaving a free period for all the time after. This will lead to a future with individuals properly taught to deal with their pressures and emotions. Better education will only lead to more students understanding the value of true learning, and they will be able to foster new generations with the same mindset. Now lyrics relatable to teens everywhere can start to sound more like;
“And I feel smart when I pay attention like a dart! Parallel parking? Well, let's just start listening!”

Works Cited

Bethune, Sophie. "Teen Stress Rivals that of Adults." American Psychological Association, Apr. 2014, www.apa.org/monitor/2014/04/teen-stress. ‌

Curtis, Dr. Guy. "Can negative emotions increase students' plagiarism and cheating?" Biomedcentral, BioMedCentral, 16 Dec. 2021, blogs.biomedcentral.com/on-society/2021/12/16/can-negative-emotions-increase-students-plagiarism-and-cheating/. Accessed 10 Jan. 2024.

Donald, Brooke. "Just breathe: Simple changes can reduce student stress and improve learning, say Stanford researchers." Stanford Graduate School of Education, 30 July 2015, ed.stanford.edu/news/just-breathe-simple-changes-can-reduce-student-stress-and-improve-learning-say-stanford. Accessed 10 Jan. 2024.

"Importance of Free Time for Students." Arthur Morgan School, 7 Sept. 2021, www.arthurmorganschool.org/home/importance-of-free-time-for-students/. Accessed 10 Jan. 2024.

Newton, Derek. "Grade Inflation Is Real." Forbes, 28 Sept. 2021, www.forbes.com/sites/dereknewton/2021/09/28/grade-inflation-is-real/?sh=6f53317c7ae4.

Robbins, Alexandra. The Overachievers: The Secret Lives of Driven Kids. New York City, Hachette Books, 2014.

Scott, Elizabeth. "What Is Stress?" Verywell Mind, 7 Nov. 2022, www.verywellmind.com/stress-and-health-3145086. Accessed 9 Jan. 2024.

Sundquist, Jan et al. "School Achievement and Risk of Eating Disorders in a Swedish National Cohort." Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry vol. 55,1 (2016): 41-46.e1. doi:10.1016/j.jaac.2015.09.021