A Toxic Academic Culture by Tiffany Gee Ching

A Toxic Academic Culture by Tiffany Gee Ching - May 2019 Scholarship Essay

I love my hometown of Fremont, CA. It is clean, safe, diverse, relatively affluent, and green. However, one thing has disturbed and saddened me for a long time. That is the toxic academic culture of stress and competition, especially at the high school level.

I am a proud graduate of Irvington High School, class of ‘15. I loved my time there. I was challenged by my teachers; I had so much fun with my friends; and I got to see the country and push myself in competitions by joining extracurricular activities. While I ultimately enjoyed all the activities crammed in my schedule, there was a darker side to this busy, nonstop life.

Like many of my peers, I felt immense pressure to do a lot of things, and do them well. Taking AP classes, participating in multiple clubs (and filling officer positions), supplementing classes with outside tutoring and acing standardized tests were the expectation. I remember regularly staying up until three or four in the morning trying to complete my work, even pulling all nighters on some occasions. I still fell short of some of my brighter peers and got a few Bs in my weaker subjects, which made me feel inadequate and ashamed. When it came to college application and decision season, I felt overwhelmed by the discussions among students and parents about colleges acceptances, waitlists, and rejections, amidst gossip and opinions about how each other felt and who deserved, or did not deserve, a certain result.

My school was featured in the New York Times on January 2, 2016. This was not a cause of celebration - the article was titled “Is the Drive for Success Making Our Children Sick?” It reports how professor and pediatrician Stuart Slavin found from his testing on Irvington High students that “54% showed moderate to severe symptoms of depression” and “80% suffered moderate to severe symptoms of anxiety.” He had conducted his testing in the spring of 2015, when I was a exiting senior. I was not part of the testing, since this was undertaken during the school’s AP testing period and I had signed up for three tests. The article conjectures that Dr. Slavin’s results underestimated the severity of the issue, as students in AP classes often take on heavier workloads and hectic schedules.

After this report came out, my school’s administration attempted to remedy the situation. I remember that my class was led to the theater see the film showing “Race to Nowhere” about the toxicity of the high-stress academic culture, that a comedian was brought in to speak about his perspective on education and success, and that the school announced changes such as requiring the no homework policy on weekends and more events and discourse around mental health and psychological well-being.

After almost four years since I left Irvington High, very little has changed. I know this because of my little sister, who spent the last four years at the same school in the same overwhelming atmosphere. I know this from speaking to my former teachers, who lament that the academic culture is continued because of a lack of cooperation and willpower from many important players - teachers, parents, and even student themselves. Many teachers disregard policies such as no weekend homework in order to keep pace with the dense curriculum, and are encouraged by parents in doing so. Many parents continue to send their children to tutoring center after school and on the weekends, as well as sign them up for activities that would boost their resumes and college applications. Students compare and contrast among each other, fueled by a silent yet aggressive competitive spirit.

Given a 10k grant, I would like to invest it in this problem. I think the root cause of this issue comes down to education and conversation. I believe that people are unaware of the extent and effects of academic pressure and stress. Or, they choose to disregard these implications in favor of perfect grades, prestigious colleges, impressive resumes, and bragging rights. As a former student at Irvington, I suspect that many ambitious teens are afraid of appearing weak and falsely believe that they are alone in their struggle, thus refuse to share their feelings with others. With part of the money, I would like to do more systematic surveying on this phenomenon to uncover and implement the most effective solutions. I would also like to host a series of events and gatherings in the schools and the community. These would ideally be in different formats such as lectures, roundtables, fairs, potlucks, but with the common purpose of conveying the urgency of addressing the hyper-competitive atmosphere that adolescents continue to exist in 40 hours a week.

The issue is certainly complex and a beast to eradicate. However, I truly believe that such a grant could make a huge difference for my hometown and the future generation.