In the late hours of the night, MVHS students can be found hunched over worksheets, notes and textbooks with the glowing grey illumination of the open ChatGPT window. Frantic messages are exchanged between friends: “Can you send me the homework?” gaining responses such as, “Just ask ChatGPT.” Whether it be on tests, assignments or homework, students are doing the extreme just to secure an A in a class, creating an environment where the sole purpose of attending school is to get good grades rather than the intended purpose: to learn.
Junior Aashka Nadathur attributes this to the unique, academically oriented conditions at MVHS, where the responsibilities of students are so demanding. The rigorous nature of MVHS forces students to balance homework, extracurriculars and sports. Because of these conditions, students feel as though they must turn to any method to at least complete their assignments on time, inherently deprioritizing truly absorbing the information.
“Kids my age sometimes have to resort to methods like copying or AI just to go to sleep early or just to be able to do something with their family,” Nadathur said. “I think that some kids don’t even do it because they want to, but because the workload is so heavy.”
Along with the academic pressure prevalent at MVHS, peer pressure is equally widespread in classrooms. English teacher Doug Leresche notices students neglecting their own learning necessities out of fear of judgment by their peers. He acknowledges that different students may require diverse and uniquely tailored teaching methods and resources to succeed, but may find it difficult to advocate for the resources they need. In a literature class, he explains how some students may require audiobooks to further their understanding of the text and improve their overall knowledge, yet almost no one will volunteer to use an audiobook if their peers are not, perpetuating a stigma that learning in “untraditional ways” is strange or worthy of judgment.
Additionally, sophomore Saharsh Nangunoori has observed his peers referring to those who are consistently putting in effort into their academics as “tryhards” — something that would typically be considered a compliment but carries a negative connotation — causing students to deprioritize learning in order to “fit in.”
“If someone is actually paying attention to the teacher, doing whatever the teacher told them to do, they’re learning stuff, they’re being on time, they’re using their tutorial time wisely, then those people are seen as ‘nerds,’” Nangunoori said. “And I don’t think that’s really true, because doing the work is for the benefit of yourself, not for others.”
Nangunoori believes parental pressure can also act as a deterrent in students’ learning, as grades are heavily emphasized by most parents. He attributes this parental pressure to the environment from which most immigrant parents came. Especially in India, where Nangunoori was born, extracurricular activities and essays don’t contribute to the college application process, so the weight of one’s college decisions relies on grades and standardized test scores. As most MVHS parents originate from South Asia or East Asia, it’s important to recognize the rigorous, grade-focused curriculum that they went through. He worries that these differences in viewpoints regarding school cause more pressure for students.
“Their parents see schoolwork and academic work from one point of view, while the child themselves sees school from a different point of view,” Nangunoori said. “The student is the one who’s experiencing everything and living all these moments, while the parents are the ones who are getting passed on information, and so I feel like there needs to be more clarity.”
With all of these pressures, MVHS students go through the motions of school mechanically rather than gathering knowledge to further their curiosity and ideas, and Leresche worries this can have debilitating effects as students leave high school. He believes that students’ reliance on grades to guide them may leave them lost, as that is the only thing students have depended on throughout their high school careers. Their confidence in their own ideas will shrink, as they never used the opportunities presented, such as asking questions in class or using tutorial time wisely, in school to build those individual ideas.
“I would argue that’s why so many kids are going to college and then straight to grad school now. They think, ‘Well, what now? Easy, I’ll go and get a master’s in something,’” Leresche said. “You just keep working so you can have a path in the future, until someone tells you ‘this is where you should go now,’ and then you just go and do what they told you to do. It’s not like kids can’t function out in life, but their confidence in their own ideas and dreams and abilities isn’t there because they’ve been so dependent on other people for reassurance or for a grade.”
Nadathur agrees, also believing the true high school experience is narrowed in this unique environment. With a sole focus on grades rather than learning the information, the classes that students are truly passionate about may be cast aside for what looks better on a college application, hindering students’ abilities to learn further.
“Students need to think about what classes they actually want to take, what is important to them, what experiences they want to take out of high school,” Nadathur said. “The reason we come to school every day is to learn, and if you’re not enjoying what you’re learning, your entire experience at high school is going to change the rest of your life.”
Leresche emphasizes the importance of being OK with imperfect grades in your classes to make room for improvement and true learning. He hopes that, with enough conversation, the high-pressure environment of MVHS can destigmatize pathways, including the community college route. He explains how the benefits — including not having to take AP classes and paying for AP tests, not needing a 4.0 GPA and not having to write college essays, as well as a guaranteed spot at a UC when you leave — could help students prioritize their learning opposed to their grades. Most MVHS students who are narrowly focused on attending top universities view the community college pathway as taboo, an attitude that Leresche believes needs to change.
It could be argued that grades should be valued more than learning because good grades provide opportunities to advance learning into adulthood, such as access to the educational resources of top universities. However, Leresche, Nadathur and Nangunoori illustrate that the emphasis on grades may become a dependency, and instead stunt growth and achievements as time passes. High school is meant to prepare students for life, and all the challenges they may face, and students can only be prepared
“Life is not biology or AP Calc or engineering,” Leresche said. “Life is taxes and bills and jobs and responsibilities and time management, as well as making smart choices about what you do, where you go and how you do things.”if they are given room to fail. The emphasis on grades enforces the idea that students should never fail, which will damage their careers in the future.
