Editorial

What is Achievement?

By the Editorial Board

Word Count: 562/500-600

Achievement can come in many different forms. One person’s achievement can be another person’s failure. An individual’s view of achievement is bounded by their own personal goals.

Teenagers especially strive to do well and reach high levels of achievement in school. In the modern day high school setting, competitiveness is at an all time high. Unlike the past, mediocre grades are no longer considered acceptable. Being a student today, is not the same experience as being a student in the past. High schools are overcrowded with overachievers who view anything but As to be failing grades. Worth is defined by the prestige of the college that an individual attends or their GPA and SAT score. Previous generations took the SAT once to get into college barely noting their score. The mere action of going to college was impressive. Now, students pay thousands of dollars for SAT tutors, college counselors, AP review books, and other study materials.The work  throughout these four years is all leading up to the college decision. The college that a person attends often seems to define the student’s value, how smart they are, whether they are good enough for an “Ivy League.” The college obsessed frenzy has taken root in high schools across the nation. Although being driven is a praiseworthy quality, the pressure to achieve drives people to make unethical decisions. Some students use cheating as one method to accomplish good grades, promoting others to cheat as well in order to participate in the “competition”. Every teenager is affected by school related stress at least once during their high school career. The education system is driving kids to risk their health to get the score they want.

Achievement extends past college as well, with people always concerned about what others are doing with their lives. Jobs, salaries, and families are constantly being compared. There is always pressure to do more than you are already doing; make more money, get a better job, live in a nicer house. For some, achievement is bounded by the “American Dream” a concept that varies from person to person, but generally includes a college education, well-paid career, and family. For others, diverging from the typical “American Dream” and making a name for themselves is the ultimate goal. Rather than attending college, they hope to pursue their talents, such as music, fashion, or other artistic abilities.  For them, success is established by a positive response to their creative productions. Columbia High School (CHS) encourages students to focus on school, but allows students to take alternative future paths when necessary. From CHS, comes doctors, teachers, lawyers, as well as sports players, musicians, actors, and producers.

The idea of achievement also extends to progress. CHS has faced difficulties and has met success since 1814. Although we are on the way to becoming a diverse and welcoming place for students to be educated, there are issues that we have not yet defeated. While some subjects at CHS, such as mathematics, are notorious for their difficulty and high level opportunity, other subjects fail to come up to par. There is also a selective inflation process that allows students to do well in a class with one teacher, and receive a lower grade in the same class with another teacher. It is necessary that these problems are met with solutions, and fortunately CHS is always looking to improve.

Columbia Highschool

Photo Credit: Joel Weinberger