Evan King
With the recent induction of the National Honors Society members, more
students have visibly become mentally exhausted due to the amount of time and work
they put into their applications and volunteering, while continuing to work at school and
attend clubs. At the same time, the early action and early decision deadline for college
applications has just passed and quarter one is ending. Lack of communication between
teachers, club administrators, and students has caused a snowball effect of stress for
those trying to excel in all that they take on. Other students continue to exert minimal
effort, seemingly dissuaded from working by the stress of their peers
As I approached one student, Brendon Dong, to ask him about his level of effort,
I found an immediate answer. Brendon slept on the desk in front of him while the rest of
his class worked on the assignment he already finished. After rousing him from his
sleep, he informed me that he still needed to complete work for his AP Physics class
and showed me his loaded schedule. Brendon, among other students, aims high and
takes on much more than his classmates at the expense of his wellbeing.
Students like Brendon and his group of friends intentionally didn’t pursue the
National Honors Society in order to have time to do other things. That is not to say that
these students don’t put in enough effort, but that not enough programs exist to
acknowledge these high achievers without putting them through more paperwork and
community service among other things.
Though I am not on the same level as my classmates who work many times
harder than me, I feel that I receive recognition for my academics as frequently as they
do. Our school holds a breakfast for high scoring students each year, but students that
take on less and have more free time can receive the same acknowledgement as those
who work far harder than them while maintaining the same number grade. Other
schools across the country such as Lake Dallas High School have even less frequent
ceremonies, one student, Jared Alberts, stating “I can’t remember anytime they did
that.” With this lack of credit for their efforts, it shouldn’t be a surprise that some
students choose to fill their schedule with study halls and avoid clubs entirely.
The reason that Ryan Mullin works hard despite the lack of esteem, is that he
feels satisfaction in the community service that he does for boy scouts and in making
music for the various bands he is a member of. In order to help those that don’t feel the
same way, and allow themselves to work below their potential, there needs to be some
incentive whether in the form of ceremonies such as the one present at Colonie, or
something more tangible. This effort to show appreciation for those making a difference
in the school community through academics and extracurricular activities has some
prospect to encourage those not working at their maximum potential to do so, and to
reassure those who already are.
While I personally do not feel that people like myself that do just well enough to
succeed require motivation, I have witnessed others fail not because they couldn’t do
more, but because they could see no reason to try their hardest. This is the fault of the
school for not trying to provide more evidence proving that working hard will help these
students, and instead stating that students should work hard as if it were a belief.
