ACADEMIC VALIDATION : Every student’s energy drainer
ACADEMIC VALIDATION
Hello guys and welcome back to another episode of Feels.Inc.
Today’s episode will be all about academic validation, the monster that literally damages the mental health of students whose lives and success is literally based on their grades and their symbols shown on their report cards at the end of each term/semester.
As we all know, Cambridge results are out and there has been a mixture of emotions the past week. Some people passed and there were tears of joy and praises and some didn’t do as well or didn’t really get what they wanted to get. Currently I got my IGCSE results and others got them as well. This has made me realized how grade and symbol oriented we are.
Let’s rewind to when we were in nursery school up till, let’s say grade 7, let’s be honest with each other people, we did not care and understand what school was actually about. I personally did not even know that at primary level there was something called a syllabus. To be absolutely honest with you guys, it was the best time of my life. Most of ya'll’s might argue and say how do you know you’re not even old enough to say such a statement. I am saying this because all I knew was that all had to do is be in the top 5 in my class. Did I care about finishing the syllabus, revising and getting an A, NO! I have seen so many memes and sayings that state that the more you know the sadder you become and in my case its true. Ignorance is bliss.
Now rewind to form 1. Everyone is new and we are in a new environment. At this stage, we are taught that your grades determine your importance in society, especially at school. I don’t know about you, but the at the school that I was at in form 1, that was now everything was. The ones who did well in a specific month would get awarded a merit inform of the whole school during assembly and tell who doesn’t want to get recognized by the school as to be one of the best, no one. But then the problem with getting awarded was, once you are the best, you need to maintain your position and continue on being the best at all times so that you avoid humiliation and disappointment.
This beast started affecting most of us in around form 3 where we would be put into classes with our combinations; sciences, arts or commercials. People say life starts at 40, well I personally think that life starts at form 3 for a student. This is the stage where you are expected to thrive since you are being given and taught subjects that you’re good at. At this stage life starts becoming tough because as we continue on, tests become harder, information builds up and the ones who adapt quickly thrive and the rest are just spectators. The pressure will be real for sure because that time would be the time to prepare for public exams such as IGCSE’s. the strong will survive and the weak will die [ not in literal sense ]. It is even worse when you are in an environment where academic excellence is the only way you are seen as to be human o treated with respect by both pupils, teachers, and family. It is the worst.
The more and more I think about this time period, I find it to be really funny. Why? Well, mainly because although we were all stressed and had to do so such so as to achieve our goals, it was also the most dramatic time in my secondary life. The drama would come from all different directions and those who get too consumed into it crumble and get destroyed by their own decisions and action.
Exam stress is real people. Especially when one feels like they are not even ready at all. People change at this time and we find different coping methods that, in most cases will hurt us emotionally, or mentally if we get too sucked into the unnecessary drama. Now that I look at it, I also had my moments when I got sucked into a wormhole of drama that I could have avoided [ if you wanna get to know the story comment below].
Like in every struggle there is always light at the end of the tunnel. No one is perfect and there will be people who are better than you in way. Most people compare themselves with other people and this is the thing that hurts us the most. I have been told that at the end of the day, what is most important is YOUR progress and performance. The only person who you should be trying to compete with is yourself and becoming the best version of yourself in any sector.
The real reason why academic validation kills us continuously is because we expect ourselves to be something that we aren’t. we expect ourselves to be strong at and be good at things that we aren’t the best at and neglect the things that we are actually good at because person A doesn’t do those things.
Focus on yourself and try to compete with yourself and do your best. 10 years from now the symbol or grade that you have right now will not matter at all, keep that in mind.
Aim for the best, know what you want, do the things that will get you there and be grateful for what you got. This is what matters the most.
I hope you guys enjoyed this post.
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