The Pressure to Excel

While reading up for my post this week at the Global Business Watch blog, I came across this article on the Washington Post.

What the article basically says is that according to the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, American kids in high school and in college are resorting to “smart pills” to cope with the pressures of academic life. These pills contain amphetamine as their main ingredient, and they help students maintain their concentration, focus, alertness and short-term memory. The pills themselves are not really harmful, as they are drugs originally prescribed to treat people with attention-deficiency disorder and related ailments. It is reported that approximately 2.25 million kids of that age have taken a smart pill at least once.

The article blames society’s overemphasis towards academic excellence. To quote:

Why should we be surprised? This generation is the one we have pushed to get into the best high schools and colleges, to have the best grades and résumés. Computer nerds are culture heroes, SAT scores are measures of our worth and the Ivy League is Valhalla. Hermione Granger in "Harry Potter" is a heroine despite being such a goody two-shoes that she doubles up her course load with a spell that allows her to be in two places at once. This is the kind of focused overachievement that is addressed by smart pills.

It has been eight years since I last stepped inside the halls of the university I graduated from as a student. I still visit from time to time when I feel like walking around the academic oval. But despite the years that have passed since my college days, I do not truly consider myself that far estranged from the rigors of student life. The late night bouts, sleeping at 4:00 AM after working on some paper or project and waking up at 7:00 AM to get to class, the vigils at the library, the graded recitations – these are memories that are still vivid in my mind. Kids today have it easy, in a way; when I was still a student, computers were not yet widely-used, the Internet was just about to boom and typewriters were still used to write papers.

I tend to agree with what the article says, that there is too much emphasis on getting in the renowned and respected colleges, and once there, on aiming for a cum laude. However, in the case of education in the Philippines, there does not seem to be any choice. If a high school student does not work his or her behind off, to study on his or her own if the school he belongs to professes all the deplorable lack that marks the Philippine education system, then he or she will not be able to get into a good college. Sadly, many companies still look down on applicants who did not graduate from the top universities of the country, more so on those who did not graduate at all.

But as the elders often say, there is no better teacher than life itself. A good education may give one a good start, but in the end, one’s education can only get one so far. Attitude and old-fashioned hard work still counts.

The article mentioned in passing that these smart pills may find their way soon in the work place, where competition is merciless and the corporate-ladder climber is always on the lookout for an added edge. I have been there, so I know how it feels.

In the end, the question we will all be asking when the burnout sets in, the question I find myself asking every now and then, is: is it all worth it?