Every. Single. Test. I see peers going up to each other, comparing test scores, answers, and grades. It’s a serious problem—you can’t answer with “well,” “I’m happy with it,” or even “good enough” (trust me, I’ve tried). The specific grade, down to the exact percentage, or people aren’t happy. It supports this air of competition: “wow, I can’t believe [person] got a B. I got an A. Ha!” And I’ll be honest: I’m guilty of this too. I’m not proud of it, but there have been times where bragging about grades just feels so validating. These academic comparisons, while some may argue are beneficial because they encourage students to do their best, work hard, and aim for the stars, are actually extremely harmful; comparisons promotes unhealthy competition between peers and high levels of stress.
Granted, academic competition has its strengths: students are given external pressure to study, get good grades, and succeed. Having others for accountability is a form of validation that works for many. Competition gives people a reason to push themselves, to do just that little bit better, to do better than past tests. It also allows students to make connections if they need help on a concept, assignment, or project.
However, knowing others’ scores also means students are comparing themselves to them—which is fine normally, but eventually snowballs into unhealthy levels. Constant comparisons to peers eventually reduces everything students do to needing to be “better” than everyone else. It leads to overworking, high levels of stress, poor mental health, and depression. Students become so focused on how well their classmates do that they ignore the reason why they want to do well, whether it be for themselves or the future. Not only that, this academic validation makes a student’s life revolve around school, not allowing them to nurture their interests or form hobbies (www.centerforcommunication.org). Besides, with all the pressure to do well from other sources like social media, parents, and colleges, students don’t need more people making them feel they must do well or they are failures.
Instead, schools and classmates should be helping their peers, not pitting them against each other. Schools need to exacerbate that grades are not defining factors of success, and classmates need to stop facilitating this pressure. Knowing someone did much better on a test you struggled on can be harmful to self-worth and mental health. Stop asking people how they did on assignments, tests, and projects—your classmates are friends, not food.