In life, all sorts of amazing people walk the earth: people with strengths and flaws, people with talent and people who inspire. There is individuality, but in school, also a sense of constraint; students cannot just fit into certain moulds.
We feel pressured to do well, achieve good grades and understand everything. Then there are the tests.
Imagine doing well on a subject, finishing all the homework and seeming to understand it, but then comes a final test. You are put under a great amount of stress, you worry, forget everything and then your overall grade is lowered by the final score.
Some students work well under pressure, while others do horribly, and there is nothing wrong with that. Yet we continue to allow tests to determine much of a student's grade.
In addition to the pressure of fitting in academically, there is also a social image to keep up with. Our society enjoys categorizing each other as one of two types of personalities: introverted or extroverted.
A school is a social environment and a place where students are constantly surrounded by others their own age. Not everyone flourishes with so many people around. Some students are not as social as others and feel more comfortable in small crowds.
Adjusting to a social life comes easy for some, but for others it can be a struggle. Maybe they feel more comfortable being around people, or maybe they just do not care. For some students managing a social life can be the most challenging aspect of school.
With constant pressure to fit in, a lot of us feel like we need to look and act a certain way. A fear of being bullied or outcast is also a factor. For some, it is an uncomfortable feeling to hang out with people they do no relate with.
High school is probably most notable for having stereotypical cliques. In the movies, students belong to one group or another. If they are a nerd then they cannot be friends with a popular kid. If they play sports then they are automatically dumb jocks, and so on. And yet we tend to forget that most of us do not fit into those stereotypes.
A school is a place where students are supposed to make most of their friends. As kids in preschool and first grade, we did not judge people in our class, and most of our friends were chosen by our parents.
Friendships and relationships come with pressures and distractions; there are moments when you are especially close to someone and worry too much for them, including the stress of having to keep them safe or take care of them. Fear of losing a friendship, a friend slowing down in school work or fights between friends or partners can weigh down on a person, causing their school performance to suffer.
Friends play a large part in our lives and will influence us during our lifetime. It is good to start off with nice, steady friends in first grade; those kids can become best friends throughout their lives.
Macy How is a grade nine student at École Côte-du-Soleil.
