With the ending of the first term of the school year, pressure to excel in classes has increased substantially. Given these circumstances, there has been a drastic increase in worrying study habits regarding students.
While learning the values of hard work is extremely vital for high schoolers, the line between being “studious” and seeking unhealthy academic validation has become extremely blurry.
In recent years, the term “academic validation” has been used to describe a student’s dependency on their grades to dictate their happiness. This mindset is unfortunately very unsustainable. With changes in classes, teachers, and learning environments, it’s a fact that students will not always be able to easily achieve straight A’s. Having a dependency on something so fleeting is very detrimental to students’ well being.
Unfortunately, social media platforms have a habit of encouraging these behaviors. Numerous “study motivation accounts”, while originally intended to serve as a positive resource for students to improve their study habits, glorify unhealthy practices that pressure students to neglect their mental wellbeing in the name of academic success. While encouraging students to stay on top of their schoolwork isn’t inherently bad, romanticizing studying until morning hours, skipping meals, and surviving solely off of caffeine is harmful for obvious reasons.
This doesn’t mean that students should neglect their studying altogether, but prioritizing a balance between schoolwork and mental health is extremely important for students to succeed. While it’s easy nowadays to fall into the trap of academic validation, it’s crucial for students to recognize the difference between healthy and harmful habits. At the end of the day, academic achievements do not define a student’s worth as a person, and one bad grade is truly not the end of the world.