When a child gets into a kindergarten, he isn’t aware of what is he going to deal with rather than experiencing the vibes of new clothes, new books, new friends and experiencing school for the very first time. It all starts with fun-filled learning. These days, every kindergarten schools and day care centers are well equipped to make children learn academics as well as extra-curricular activities with the same zeal. Kids are being prepared for a way long education and career ahead right from their early schooling. The main motto is to learn little things, a mix of curricular as well as co-curricular activities, side by side and excel in everything. Not every child can grasp everything at the same pace, rather it depends on their understanding as well as their dedication and interest in a particular thing. The competition starts right here.
Peers don’t only mean your friends, but it also involves family, relatives or any group of people around you. Peer pressure is of two types – Positive and Negative. In the positive part of it, children are influenced by their friends, family or anyone around them, to engage in new activities or excel in their grades, skills, etc. The negative side of it is when one is demoralized for whatever choices he or she has and can lead him or her into depression because of the thought of not being up to what they should be. It can be anything related to the way they dress, the choice of food they have, their grades which are lower than other, etc. The evaluation of grades and comparison of students based on grades is one of the most talked topics as there have been so many cases of suicide attempts because one couldn’t score well in their exams. Here we talk more about it as it has become one of the major concerns. Peer pressure for marks builds a negative effect on a child’s mind and can lead him into depression and make him totally under confident.
These days, grades have become an important aspect when it comes to schooling. Children are evaluated and given grades, based on which they are judged to be of a certain level of intelligence. Being between peers where everyone might score different marks and different grades, and the ones with higher marks are praised and appreciated whereas others are looked down, there is a kind of psychological pressure built in the minds of the students. When they do not open up about it and get completely frustrated with the thoughts piling up, they are forced to take the wrong steps at a certain point in their life out of frustration. Children get easily demoralized when they are compared to others around them. Rather parents should understand that every child is different and they have different kinds of skills, likes, and dislikes and that these grades are not worth your child’s life. If a student is poor in studies, there can be various reasons behind it and there is a need to know the root cause and try to solve the problem.There is a need to know that marks are a temporary way of evaluation for academic purpose and nothing else. It is not that one shouldn’t strive for grades and should not expect their children to excel. But the point is, one should not be pressurized by keeping their focus completely on marks. If a child has some other skills, he needs to be appreciated than just spreading negativity in his mind for his marks. When it comes to the friend circle, there is a need to teach the kids since the beginning that grades are just a means of evaluation. There is a need to teach them to respect the scores of every student and the skills in which every student is an expert and not be judgemental about it. There is a need to change the mindset of the students where they feel the sense of competition and rivalry for other students who score less and they should be taught a new way of looking at scores, where they understand that marks aren’t everything in academics and they need to be affectionate to every other student.Teaching the students to work hard for gaining knowledge is good, but they shouldn’t develop a negative thought to underestimate the other students who might be scoring less than them. This mindset needs to be changed to keep the students content and not develop any negative thoughts. The thought of comparisons needs to be eradicated between students and motivation needs to be encouraged wherever needed. If students are taught to go to that extra mile to achieve the knowledge that is important rather than comparing their knowledge with others based on marks, they will gain the appropriate knowledge as well as be content without any peer pressure or underconfidence because of their scores. This can help develop a positive and healthy environment for students in the schools and save children from suffering. One should always be an encouragement to a child and never be a pressure.
