Starving for Validation

 

By Evan William 11 MIPA 3

Some people have a favourite school subject that they’re good at. They’re so used to getting a good score on the subject’s tests to the point where it doesn’t feel special anymore. However, the one time they get an average or lower score, they’ll feel disappointed in themselves. Most of us have been there and there’s nothing wrong with that, it’s a good thing that we have high expectations for ourselves, although it turns toxic if you get carried away with it.

Academic validation is a type of approval or validation that students get from people when they are academically successful. For example, we get a good score on a test that everyone else was struggling with and people start to give you praises for doing a good work. In that situation, who wouldn’t be proud of themselves? Sometimes, students just couldn’t get enough of the euphoric feeling and start getting addicted to it. 

Being addicted to academic validation isn’t fully a bad thing if we recognize our limits. We can’t always be good at everything and there’s nothing wrong with that. Some people take it out of bounds because they feel like without their success in school, there isn’t any other way to get validation from people. Students would sometimes do things that hurt their physical and mental health in order to maintain their high grades, not getting enough sleep from all-nighters or forgetting to take a break to eat and drink are the few examples. When they fail to maintain those grades, they would start to feel distressed. 

We should always remember that getting validation from other people isn’t important and our success in school shouldn’t determine how we feel about our self-worth. Don’t forget to take a break once in a while and spend time with your friends. Who knows, maybe they are just as tired from school as you are.