As the first semester of the 2024-2025 school year comes to an end, many upperclassmen find themselves reflecting on their time and experiences at NDB.
Nowadays, students are under immense pressure from family, friends and teachers to perform well. To teenagers, one slip-up, one C, or one less extracurricular is a chance at ruining future college acceptances. Because of this, students tend to focus more on achieving all A’s over a well-rounded high school experience.
Junior Margaret Blanchard notices this shift in perspective in her own life as well as through her friends
“I have a friend who’s choosing to miss prom to study for AP tests, which I think is really upsetting. But you know to each their own” Blanchard states.
She also explains the “road to nowhere” which negatively impacts individuals who constantly strive to be perfect.
“But then at a certain point, it’s like…if you’re always just striving to be the best in everything…it’s not really fulfilling. So I think it teaches the wrong values…that…success that can be measured in this way.”
Senior Janet Dong also emphasizes the importance of staying on top of work throughout high school as this can help manage social life with work.
“[F]irst…really organize your high school [career]. [For example] don’t be like me, because now I have 40 hours to do because I [was] procrastinating my whole junior-senior year.”
Dong is also planning to apply to colleges with art programs, thus putting more pressure on her to complete portfolios for admissions. She recommends having an organized balance throughout high school to better prepare students for the future.
One of NDB’s alumni, Trisha Garud, is studying Government and Art History at Georgetown University. She reflects on her time at NDB and explains her perspective on handling school.
“I think just depending on the student, … teachers might place a lot more expectations on them. There is the expectation from your peers…family and teachers to do at least a C as average.”
Garud also mentions that by focusing on homework over experiences, students weaken their time management skills, which can overall lead to a lack of unpreparedness for real-world issues such as work, college and more.
By prioritizing academics over social life, students are placed at a disadvantage from learning organizational skills, emphasizing the importance of a healthy balance between fun and work.
