Academic validation: Essential or Detrimental?

 

By Ethan Li

From a young age, most of us have believed that good grades lead to a good life and better grades to a better life. But more often than not, many who believed in such claims suffered more than they gained. The pressure they carry is set by what is now considered acceptable in society which wears out their mentality. When those burdens overflow, our feelings can boil over like a pot of water on high heat, succumbing to the immeasurable pressure and stress laid upon us by others or even ourselves. This is where academic validation can turn deadly, poisoning us from the inside out. 

Academic validation can be defined as feeling achieved or appreciated when receiving praise in school. While it can be a good motivator, constantly seeking academic validation can become mentally exhausting. Often, it can lead to purposefully overworking yourself to feel that rush of serotonin wash over you when you get good marks. 

This sort of validation can be a good driving force to motivate us to study, but only to a certain extent, some people have gone mad for not reaching their academic goals. I can also say from personal experience that striving to always outdo yourself will inevitably turn stale and that same blissful feeling won't feel the same. People will also raise their expectations over time and your own goals, likewise. So, it is unavoidably impossible to always keep up with mounting standards, especially when we humans are not built to become omniscient or excel at everything. Therefore, to prevent ourselves from overworking, certain limits must be placed. Particularly, not forcing ourselves to study when feeling tired or just when we can't take it anymore.

It’s also important to not romanticize academic validation too much, putting it on such a pedestal that it becomes your entire life. This can cause school to impact personal relationships and such, firsthand experience indicates this well. I once had a friend who did this exact thing and when I achieved a higher grade than them, our relationship soured. They also had a not-so-good relationship with their family members, chiefly their parents as they would shut themselves out from the outside world, becoming secluded, almost hermit-like.

Just to reiterate, academic validation can be good in some ways, but can also lead to a dangerous path of mental demise. Remember, it is always important to keep a work-life balance.