Do schools put too much stress on students? Absolutely! The purpose of school is to prepare us for the “real world”, but it could be argued that the real world is rarely as stressful. For example, when one has a career, one tends to have a primary focus. However, in school, one has several areas of focus in which one is constantly being scrutinized through activities such as exams.
Exams involve studying countless pages of information at the same time for multiple subjects. Having to juggle all of this at once is somewhat excessive. This approach to learning does not necessarily lead to positive results in the long term. To date, I remember very little of what I have been taught in the majority of my school subjects. This is not because I do not pay attention, ignore the work, refuse to participate, or have severe memory loss. I do well in school and I am willing to learn.
Instead, failure to remember what I have learned occurs because I have been taught to memorize information so that I can ace a test.
A great deal of pressure is being put on students to achieve high grades, while the actual education of students has become a secondary priority. Most students do not truly interpret, understand and engage in what they are learning. The primary objective of a student has become the acquisition of high marks in order to impress colleges and universities. This is not the fault of students, but rather the education system.
