While I don’t have the most representative perspective on the difficulty and volume of work that is given to Malden High School students, I have had the opportunity to gain some insight through my interactions with my fellow students. For the most part, it seems that the work is reasonable, and while people are quick to commiserate, there is nothing prohibitively difficult.
But while I was browsing the web last night, I came across an article that outlined a very different experience from the other side of the country. In Silicon Valley, where business tensions run high and competition is fierce, those same characteristics have been transplanted into the school systems. This has lead to a drastic increase in the stress of students even as young as 10 and 11 years old.
One of the reasons that is attributed to this stress is the constant pressure to get into a prestigious college, and to follow in the footsteps of their parents, and here I see a similarity arise. While Malden doesn’t have billion dollar companies and top universities next door to the schools, there is still a pressure on students to improve themselves and to maximize their potential. This most often manifests itself as an external pressure to get into college, brought on by parents, adults, and students alike.
In the middle of it all, it can be hard to step back and see the process, and the pitfalls that it contains, as it truly is, but in reading this article, I felt that I gained a much more complete view of what happens to so many students in the pursuit of higher education, and brighter futures.
I would advise everyone to read it, and see for themselves.
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