Academic pressure and burnout are extremely common; the more push a kid has to deal with the more likely they are going to break somewhere down the line.
Grades often define a student by making their academic performance into a metric of personal worth. Students whose grades define them equate their intelligence and potential with letter grades. They base their whole life on a single letter they got on an assignment or quiz. Grades mean a lot, but it shouldn’t drown anyone’s self worth. A 2026 report indicates that 83% of teens now cite academic pressure as a major source of stress.
“I don’t necessarily think my grades define me, if their bad than I do feel bad. My parent’s only pressure me to have C and above but even doing that is stressful; with all the work we get from all teachers combined. I try to cope with the stress by trying not think about it and just sleeping,” Kaylee Margritz said.
Senior year is a heavy year in every student’s life because everything comes piling down. Most students experience high levels of stress from academic demands, scholarships, college applications, and navigating to adulthood. The motivation plummets fast for most to the point it has a name: “senioritis.” It’s hard to jumble with especially if you have a job and extracurricular activities and pressure from the ones around you.
“My parents are constantly on my back about assignments and college, and it ends up feeling like they’re adding fuel to a fire I’m already trying to control. I have my to-do list, extracurriculars, and future plans all mapped out, but their constant Baffin makes me feel like they don’t trust my judgement. Honestly, it’s super frustrating and stressful. I start to doubt myself, even though I know I’m on the right track,” Senior, Valerie King said.
“I feel like their projecting their own anxieties onto me, and it’s exhausting to vibrantly reassure them and myself. To cope with that I often have some alone time and do something I enjoy just until I’m able to cool off and calm down. Oftentimes, If I ever need to talk to someone about it, I usually turn to my friends who understand that kind of pressure,” King said.
Parents have a heavy leash on their children’s academic stress. A lot of parents want their children to achieve in life and push them early so they can be prepared for the “real world,” but they don’t take into consideration that they could potentially break their child before the world does.
“Most of us teenagers have parents that want us to succeed in everything because they want us to be successful in life but the weight of it all can be so much at times. I am a constant state of tiredness and anxiety because I feel as if I need to complete everything,” Asaiah Burse said. “To cope, I just try and do thugs that are relaxing to me.”
