It’s time for us to understand the root of our academic distress

Stifling competition. Ridiculously rigorous classes. Extreme stress. Piles of homework.

For many students, MVHS is synonymous with these descriptions. In recent years, student distress about the difficulty level of our school has spiraled out of control. In July 2010, a former student submitted an official complaint against a science teacher for alleged teacher misconduct. Numerous alumni who have graduated from MVHS still recall hefty workloads and extreme pressure to produce A’s. And this “distress” has been brought out into the spotlight even more after the recent release of three documentaries, The Lottery, Waiting for Superman, and Race to Nowhere, which seek to dissect the issues behind the pressures of American public schools.

Is there an education problem at MVHS?

My tentative, yet reasonably confident answer to that question, is no. Let me explain.

At first glance, there may seem to be something wrong when there are students suing teachers and peers setting outrageous curves on tests.However, if you consider this an education “problem,” let me inform you about the extreme world outside of our overachieving institution.

Take high school education in China for example. According to a 2009 survey conducted by the China Youth and Children Research Foundation, nearly 80 percent of Chinese students spend eight hours a day in school, and almost 60 percent spend two or more hours a night working on their homework. Also, the success of one’s high school education in China depends almost solely on the dreaded National Higher Education Entrance Exam, a mandatory test given to 9.5 million graduates that determines whether or not he or she attends college. Stress from academics in China has also led to an annual suicide rate of up to 300,000 throughout the Asian nation.

So much for the difficulties MVHS students face.

The other end of the education spectrum is highlighted by America’s own Los Angeles Unified School District. According to 2007 data, LAUSD possesses a 40.6 percent graduation rate, the worst in California, which is ranked 41st in the country with a meager high school graduation rate of 62.6 percent. Recent state budget cuts in education over the past few years haven’t done much to alleviate the problem.

I wonder how those dropouts feel.

By no means is MVHS perfect in the methods of enlightening us students. However, our school continues to post high standardized test scores and nearly perfect graduation rates year after year in a state that’s falling behind the rest of the country in both categories. And although many former students recall difficult classes at MVHS, almost all acknowledge that the school helped them adapt to the rigors of college.

So stop the groaning and the suing. In the spirit of the upcoming Thanksgiving holidays, let’s be grateful for the education we have.