Siddhanth Kumar is a 7th grader at Bedford Middle School.
He has loved geography since he was a toddler, and last summer won the 6th Grade National Geography championship.
He also researches American history, and collect currencies from around the world (144 countries, and counting).
He also loves journalism, and hopes to pursue it as a career. Sid writes:
Last month, the Westport Library welcomed Jennifer Wallace. She is the author of the book “Never Enough,” which talks about the serious dangers of “toxic achievement culture.”
Toxic achievement culture is when students have grades as the only focus when it comes to school.
I agree with her for the following reasons:
- It puts a lot of pressure on students at a very young age
- It limits them from making friends
- It burdens them from doing after school activities of their choice
It puts a lot of pressure on students by making them feel like if they do not get the “perfect” grade according to their family’s standards, it will make the student feel like a failure. He or she will have to deal with at some point in time that they brought shame to their family, especially if it is a prestigious and popular family.
Siddhanth Kumar
The next reason is that it limits them from making friends. At times parents believe that schools were created for children to solely achieve top grades. Over the years, kids who have been only focused on grades have been made fun off, teased or even bullied because to other kids, mainly popular ones, they seem asocial. Making friends is a very essential life skill because it helps one find a trusted person in school of their age that they can go to for any problems.
The last reason is that it burdens them from doing any after-school activities of their interest. Having good grades comes with a lot of work which might include stuff such as homework, academic bowls and even certain tuition classes. That is very stressful, especially considering the aftermath which can include lack of sleep or not being able to eat on time. Imagine just being all day long with the books, to fulfill your family’s dream. Being indoors 24 hours a day and 7 days a week means a lack of fresh air and oxygen, which is the main ingredient to us so that we can breathe, and stay healthy.
To summarize, I agree with Mrs. Wallace because toxic achievement culture puts a lot of pressure on students, it limits them from making friends and it burdens them from just being “kids.”
I think as an alternative that the state and school system should ban homework because it is a component of this huge issue that is troubling many children. Kids are not machines by juggling school, a lot of assignments and after school activities.
Kids are humans and humans deserve their Happy Hour, and homework gives a lack of that privilege. They can also limit tests as preparation for tests can cause unnecessary stress to the average student. The result can be very stressful as grades are a hot topic, and in some families getting scores such as a 98 can be not perfect for several families.
Nobody is perfect, because we each lay claim to our unique selves.
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