Stress and school, two things that go hand-in-hand, where a students grades are not good enough and the school keeps bringing on the work. Parents keep pressuring students to try something that would be “beneficial” to life, but yet they can hardly understand what is going on. At Tahoma High School, students are falling behind all because of the grade pressure brought with 8 classes. This 2017-18 school year has given students a challenge to keep up with their grades in order to pass the school year.

Do you ever feel like that whenever you wake up there just ends up being a huge weight of stress on your shoulders? That you are dreading going to school all because you don’t want to have more work piled up? Or hoping that even though you didn’t study for that one math test you forgot about, that you you would pass it? Every student has gone through it at least once. And Tahoma High school is no different.

This year, Tahoma School District has added two more classes to the everyday student schedule, so instead of 6 classes we have 8. The reason why is so that every student can get all of their credits done without having to go to summer school because every year the amount of credits we need changes for every graduation year. For example, those who are graduating in 2020 have to have 11 elective credits in order to graduate plus whatever amount of science, math, language arts,and fine arts credits you have to have get. So, it makes sense why they added those two extra classes, but do they understand how much work that is? Yes, adding 20 more classes that are “no homework” classes should make it easier, but that just means that those who couldn’t finish homework that is due that day would do it in that class and may end up doing their work at home. This could just mean that they have to be more organised, but then you have to think about the life that they have outside of school, Tahoma students are also being pressured outside the classroom.

I asked Tahoma students in a Google Form survey two main questions, “Do your parents care about your grades?” and “Are you taking any AP classes?”. 90.4% of students said that their parents care about their grades all while 1.8% said no and 7.8% said maybe. Those who said yes all gave a very similar response “they want me to graduate” or “they want me to get into a good college,” which makes complete sense. They are your parents, so yeah, they want you to have good life.

When replying to why she choose “maybe” sophomore Caroline Binder said, “My parents know that I’m the person that’s hardest on myself, so they don’t want to add the extra pressure on to me since they I know I’ll already be managing myself and striving for the best.” Though senior Jaxon Reynolds is one of the only students that bring up a deeper reason why most students want good grades, “because they want me to graduate and succeed in life and they feel that if i don’t take  high school seriously then I’m not gonna take college or a career seriously after I graduate.”

Yes, the main reason why good grades are highly recommended is because of college and getting into a good one so people are more likely to get a job. For example, Harvard a great law school, only accepts 6% of students who apply and you have to a have a GPA of 4.1 to be considered. While for the University of Washington has an acceptance rate of 45% but you have to have a GPA of 3.6 to be consider. So this just adds even more pressure on students, and with how difficult it is to get into Harvard and then the tuition to pay for it, it requires students to try harder classes to make their transcript look better than anyone else’s.

AP classes are the worst classes if you hate homework or the best classes if you want your transcript to look super pretty. These classes are highly encouraged throughout your time at high school, nearly everyone in Tahoma has taken at least one class of either Pre-AP or AP class, whether that would be a higher math or AP Human Geography. A sophomore Carolyn Crowder said “the one reasons why I’m taking AP Euro is so I can become an AP Scholar.” 

Some people are taking multiple because they want to be an AP Scholar before their high school education ends, which is worthy of respect, but why take them if you won’t take them in college for your major? For example, unless you want to be a historian, I don’t think AP European History will help you in life, but if you want to take it, go for it but ask yourself this, “does this class prepare me for a similar class in college?” if it’s a no to that question then why waste your high school time to take it when your not interested. Go for a class that you like not one that looks pretty on your transcript.

Now, Tahoma is all about being “Future Ready” but, only the CTE classes actually help you with getting a job or at least give you an idea as to what you should do in the real world. In the past, the counselors of the school were supposed to help you with your classes and what you should do for your future, however, that would require you to come to them, not them come to you. Yes, Tahoma has those two green days a year, to give students an idea. However many students thing that it is a day for skipping, and those who are juniors and seniors like to just leave if they are able to. Few students actually take the green day seriously, the only other option for students is to ask for a counselors help to either change your schedule to something more interesting or to help you sign up for scholarships.

Counselors are meant to help students though a sophomore Emiri Nishizawa, said “whenever I email my counselor, it takes them about a week to reply, that’s why I never go to my counselor.” this might be a problem to those who really need the counselor’s help. Maybe they can improve with trying to check their emails more often, because a lot of students find it easier to just email the counselor rather than just go to them.  

Tahoma is a great school, there is no doubt about it ,but in order for it to be a great school, students are put under pressure 24/7 to not only pass but to achieve higher than anyone else. Is it possible for Tahoma to lessen the workload and make it more noticeable for students to see what scholarships they can apply for?