By Shan Yonamine

s.yonamine@trojantimes

With constant emphasis on graduation and college being thrust at high school students, it’s easy for them to become obsessed with letter grades, percentages and test scores. An environment such as this causes stress and unhealthy amounts of self-induced pressure. In this big numbers race, students lose sight of the knowledge and wisdom they can gain that will prove more valuable to them later than the marks they received.

“60 percent (of this year’s seniors) indicated that they wanted to go to a four-year school and 22 percent said they wanted to go to a two-year school,” stated College and Career Counselor Denise Yamamoto. With a total of 82 percent of students from MHS alone planning to enroll in college, it’s no wonder that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to be accepted.

This growing level of competition makes it seem as though colleges will only accept “the best.” For this reason, students induce pressure on themselves that causes them to do drastic things to get an A. “I’ve talked to so many students that forego sleep for turning in certain assignments and … now that because people are trying to get that high GPA … taking multiple (Advanced Placement) classes is not uncommon anymore,” stated Yamamoto.

With thoughts of the future looming overhead, it’s understandable that grades become students’ top priority. “Students put a lot of pressure on themselves for their grades and their test scores because that’s what colleges look at,” stated Counselor Jennifer Yoshizawa.

The view that grades are important is not necessarily invalid; a certain amount of pressure has the potential to evoke a sense of drive in students. “(Pressure) helps me as well because if I wasn’t pressured, my motivation to do well probably wouldn’t be as high as it is now,” stated Junior Karolyn Lam.

However, emphasis on grades becomes negative when taken to the point of obsession. Students think that grades alone will stick with them throughout college, when in reality, the knowledge gained in high school will prove even more useful. “Retaining the material learned in class would be more important (when students) had to use what (they) learned later on in the future,” stated Lam. Yoshizawa agreed saying, “Once (students) find a job and a career the kind of grades (they) got in high school are not going to be important, the grades … are going to open doors for (them), but actually learning the material is what’s going to get (them) far in (their) future,” stated Yoshizawa.

When students move on to a higher education, retaining lessons from high school makes adjustment to all aspects of life simpler. Many students are enrolled in college preparatory or AP classes simply to build their resumes. If students really focused on the material covered rather than just cramming the evening before the College Board exams, they would realize that the knowledge they gained will carry over to college. This does not exclusively include the subject but also the classes’ pace and the style of the teacher.

High school is only four years out of a student’s life and it’s important to make them enjoyable and worthwhile. “I always tell students that you only have one high school experience and this is it right now do make the most of it you know whether it’s being involved, whether it’s you know making a change do something that you’re going to be proud of so you can look back on these high school years and think fondly of MHS and the memories that you had while you were in here,” stated Yamamoto. To do this, students need to put forth an effort to really absorb things they are taught in high school. There can be a happy medium between focusing on grades while not overworking oneself.

Students should make their objective to learn not to exclusively get good grades, but to really learn the subject at hand. After all, the knowledge gained will stick with students forever whereas grades are only temporary.