Stop stressing and start living
It’s post-test day. The room is tense with anxiety, the small airless glow around the computer screen suddenly sinister. With bated breath, the Tech student nervously refreshes the WebCT page. His GPA hangs in the balance, and with it, a prospective job, an entire career, a whole life! One click and…visions of future dumpster diving and cold nights in cardboard boxes…nothing.
Darn TA’s. Slacking off on grading again. Maybe they posted them in the fractional second since he last checked. Another click. Nothing. Click. Clickclickclickclickclick…and so the afternoon rapidly dissolves in a haze of furious clicking and not-so-silent fuming at innocent WebCT.
Of course I’m being ridiculous and exaggerating out the wazoo, but like any good lie, there is a grain of truth in this. Tech students are highly grade-conscious, and academic matters are at the top of the stress list. Which is completely understandable. This is, after all, Tech, and we don’t exactly have a reputation for being a college of slackers, unlike some backcountry school that will remain nameless here.
The classes are hard, the workload brutal, the professors either speak a different language or they may as well be and the subject material looks like it belongs to the nth degree of impossible most of the time. For some, every test grade is a critical point, each letter difference the dividing line between a shot at graduate, medical or law school and the late-night staff at Wendy’s.
Even the most easygoing of us who think ourselves above the petty grade race are not immune to a little worry and hyperventilation, and I have to admit, I am far from innocent in the department of grade stressing. Integral calculus and systems physiology and Kierkegaardian essays are bound to make anyone a little crazy after a while. At Tech, anxiety about grades is not only understandable, it’s expected.
So what’s wrong with it? People deserve to complain and worry a little, especially here. And stress can be a good thing, motivating students to study harder and cram in that critical extra forty minutes of quantum physics. However, more often than not, the degree of grade consciousness among Tech students turns into an academic hazard.
Students get strung out on all-nighters and double shot espressos, drift into semi-conscious drooling over thick piles of books and struggle to concentrate in classes and tests the next day. The result? Poor grades, high stress, more drooling and less sleep all over again. It’s a vicious cycle.
Grade anxiety and its attendant effects have the ability to negatively affect all areas of life. Academic—reference the vicious cycle, health—clinical studies have proven the harmful effects of caffeine-induced insomnia, social—“let’s convert our potential energy to kinetic energy” is not a good pick-up line, but it is a cue that it’s time to step away from the chemistry. Yes, you, with the organic homework over there! Just put it down, nice and easy.
All of this bothers me somewhat, considering that my first impression of Tech students did not include an obsession with grades and Starbucks addictions.
When I first arrived on campus last fall, what struck me most about the student body was how friendly and interesting everyone was. People had random conversations with strangers about sports and music, and seemed to understand that there’s an entire world outside of Tech, grades and jobs. Now, everywhere I look, people have their heads buried in textbooks, discuss differential equations problems during lunch and only spend time with their friends in study sessions. Granted, it is midterm season, but that doesn’t mean we all need to turn into stressed-out library zombies.
Instead of being grade-conscious, why not try being more life-conscious? As in conscious of the fact that there is much more to life than this endless cycle of classes, tests and grades and later on, work, deadlines and salaries.
Find something you love and stick with it. Pick up that new hobby or sport you’ve always wanted to try. Have a conversation that does not include the words “class” or “study.” Waste time hanging out with friends doing nothing; it will be much more enjoyable and memorable than arguing with your professor about a grade change. Ditch the laptop or, if you must, bring it with you and go outside, bask in the sun, enjoy the blue skies and warm weather. Spring break is just around the corner, and even though it will be a tough couple of weeks until then, hold on to your sanity and realize that grades are not the end-all, be-all. Instead, live it up.
