In the novel, Overachievers: The Secret Lives of Driven Kids, author, Alexandra Robbins, argues that it is not good for the students to be under an extreme amount of pressure in school and I certainly agree with this statement. Parents are often the ones who place an excessive amount of pressure on their children to succeed, even starting before they are born. This pressure that parents place on their children can lead to immoral behavior, such as cheating. The overachieving students may come across as perfect on the outside, but by having so much pressure placed on them to be perfect, they may get into a mindset where they focus too much on comparing their standardized test scores and GPAs with other students’, causing them to be left feeling
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Starting from when their child is only two years old, some parents will do anything to get their children into an elite pre school because they believe that it will ultimately lead to an Ivy League acceptance letter fifteen years down the road. The pressure put on children by their parents can start as early as before they are even born. There are many private preschools that will accept students as young as two years old, so parents start searching for ways for their children to be accepted into these schools years in advance.As I was reading this chapter in the novel, I was thinking that these parents are determined to try to get their children into elite preschools. How can that help their children down the road? Then I realized, that these parents have their motives due to the belief that if their child attends a prestigious, private preschool, then that will open the doors to their life. “Proper pre schools are seen as feeders to elite kindergartens and lower schools. Those elementary schools in turn are viewed as crucial gateways toward top private high schools that send large numbers of students to highly ranked universities.” (Page 108.) Many parents have such high expectations for their kids to succeed, that it will result in their children doing just about anything to meet those expectations, even if that means cheating. …show more content…
They constantly question whether their SAT scores are high enough, if their GPA is up to par with the other students, and if they have enough extracurriculars. They often believe that if their peers GPA or SAT score is higher than theirs, even only by a fraction of a point, then they are inferior. In the novel, CJ, a junior, and her classmates just received their SAT scores and have started a comparison frenzy throughout the school. “SAT scores were all the juniors were talking about. To C.J., it appeared that her peers were satisfied with their scores-until they asked someone or someone asked how they had done. Then, suddenly, their own numbers were not good enough.” (Page 322.) This quote demonstrates the fact that students feel that they are defined by their test scores and they measure their academic capabilities. C.J. and her classmates feel confident in themselves, until they hear that someone did better than them. The SAT, as well as any standardized tests, are said to measure students aptitudes and predict how well they will do in college. However, this is not an accurate indicator at all. SATs are not representative of the students day to day performance in the classroom. Instead, they show the students ability to bubble in a correct answer choice in the matter of four hours. For this reason, over 850 colleges and universities in the United States have
Starting from when their child is only two years old, some parents will do anything to get their children into an elite pre school because they believe that it will ultimately lead to an Ivy League acceptance letter fifteen years down the road. The pressure put on children by their parents can start as early as before they are even born. There are many private preschools that will accept students as young as two years old, so parents start searching for ways for their children to be accepted into these schools years in advance.As I was reading this chapter in the novel, I was thinking that these parents are determined to try to get their children into elite preschools. How can that help their children down the road? Then I realized, that these parents have their motives due to the belief that if their child attends a prestigious, private preschool, then that will open the doors to their life. “Proper pre schools are seen as feeders to elite kindergartens and lower schools. Those elementary schools in turn are viewed as crucial gateways toward top private high schools that send large numbers of students to highly ranked universities.” (Page 108.) Many parents have such high expectations for their kids to succeed, that it will result in their children doing just about anything to meet those expectations, even if that means cheating. …show more content…
They constantly question whether their SAT scores are high enough, if their GPA is up to par with the other students, and if they have enough extracurriculars. They often believe that if their peers GPA or SAT score is higher than theirs, even only by a fraction of a point, then they are inferior. In the novel, CJ, a junior, and her classmates just received their SAT scores and have started a comparison frenzy throughout the school. “SAT scores were all the juniors were talking about. To C.J., it appeared that her peers were satisfied with their scores-until they asked someone or someone asked how they had done. Then, suddenly, their own numbers were not good enough.” (Page 322.) This quote demonstrates the fact that students feel that they are defined by their test scores and they measure their academic capabilities. C.J. and her classmates feel confident in themselves, until they hear that someone did better than them. The SAT, as well as any standardized tests, are said to measure students aptitudes and predict how well they will do in college. However, this is not an accurate indicator at all. SATs are not representative of the students day to day performance in the classroom. Instead, they show the students ability to bubble in a correct answer choice in the matter of four hours. For this reason, over 850 colleges and universities in the United States have