2 April 2018
Demand of High Grades
An average person between the ages of 6-18 wake up and go to school, but how do their academic grades effect them inside and outside of the classroom. Students everyday go through stress from their parents demand of high grades. From the demand, students have a lot of stress inside and outside the classroom. The demand of higher grades can affect one’s education, their mentality, and one’s health.
The Demand of high grades may seem like it will help one’s education but sometimes it doesn’t due to cheating. Cheating is a worldwide problem and the reason behind most students cheating isn’t because they don’t care, it’s because their parents want them to get a high grade no matter the educational integrity. In an article written by Eric M Anderman he explains in a quote why students cheat, “cheating became a thing due to students just wanting the grade more than learning the concept” (Anderman). And since most parents want their children to get a good education, students more just want the high grade without putting in the time and effort. Also, when students are doing poorly in a class they focus more on trying to bring the grade up than learning the concept. In the article, it also states how students always try to get out of a test from this quote “If you were to ask a student “what is your goal in taking next week’s chemistry test?”, the student should be able to tell you what she wants to get out of the experience” (Anderman). But due to the knowledge of this cheating crisis, schools and school districts can now detect cheating by comparing test scores, In the book “Cheating” by Patty Josawvel, she explains in the book how they find out schools are cheating or not. She also explains in a bar graph how 28.1% of teachers agree that students cheat due to parental pressure (21).
Now cheating might bring a student’s grade up but how does it affect them mentally? A student can become more stressed than ever from demand of high grades. When students need to keep high grades and are getting to the end of a semester or trimester school can become more stressful and difficult. In the article “Pressure for good grades often leads to high stress, cheating professors say”, Eric Roberts says “There is an oversupply of student honor code violations” (Palmer) that basically means that due to the stress, students choose to cheat. Due to stress in the classroom, it can affect a student outside a classroom too, and could keep a student in much one would call a “bad mood”. Stress could destroy a student’s learning ability due to only focusing on the bad things.
Stress from demanding high grades is one thing but the high demand of grades could possibly destroy one’s health too. The stress can make one lose sleep, hurt social life and could make one feel more depressed that usual. Some teachers try to make kids feel better about themselves by saying “a grade is just a letter” but in reality, students know that is not true. Grades could hurt social life due to you not being able to leave your home due to bad test scores and poorly trying on classwork. And to a student, social life matters, just like how one would include that part in one’s paper about demand for high grades. But that’s what one gets for waiting till the last minute to write an essay. Laziness also plays a factor into one not doing well in school. But that’s for a different day.
The demand of higher grades shows one that it could affect them due to them cheating more just so they can get the grade without putting in. And how stress can play a huge part into why it’s difficult to bring up one’s grade due to other things on their mind and just school not being #1. And also how asking for high grades can affect ones health negatively by making someone depressed, making them sleep deprived, and destroy a social life. So the demand for high ranking grades can more hurt someone’s future than help them.
Works Cited
Anderman, Eric M. “The Demand for High Grades Motivates Students to Cheat.” Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, Gale, 2018. Opposing Viewpoints In Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/UACACA407135209/OVIC?u=scottsdale_hq&sid=OVIC&xid=91433e25. Accessed 2 Apr. 2018. Originally published as “Students cheat for good grades. Why not make the classroom about learning and not testing?” The Conversation, 20 May 2015
Ornish, Dean. “Guest Column: How To Stress Less.” Newsweek, 14 Aug. 2006, p. 60. Opposing Viewpoints In Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A149212638/OVIC?u=scottsdale_hq&sid=OVIC&xid=55d9a456. Accessed 2 Apr. 2018.
EDWARDS, CLIFFORD H. “GRADE INFLATION: THE EFFECTS ON EDUCATIONAL QUALITY AND PERSONAL WELL BEING.” Education, vol. 120, no. 3, 2000, p. 538. Opposing Viewpoints In Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A61691565/OVIC?u=scottsdale_hq&sid=OVIC&xid=914a0a39. Accessed 2 Apr. 2018.
Patty Josawvel- Greemhaven Press/ Thompson Gale-2008