Mental health and progress reports
Los Alamitos High School’s 6-week progress reports spark discomfort, anxiety, and conversation with the student body.
Progress report provided by Sofia Youngs, with grades redacted for privacy reasons (Sofia Youngs)
October 10, 2022
LOS ALAMITOS, CA — Students have expressed their discontent with the recent release of six-week progress reports, citing inaccuracies in grades and GPA and reactions from dissatisfied parents.
The progress reports, which were provided on September 29, reflect students’ development over the first six weeks of school. However, instead of its intention of allowing students to learn how to improve by the end of the semester, pupils are left stressed, depressed, and feeling useless.
“I have a C in my Honors English class… it’s because not all of my assignments are submitted,” a freshman said. Although most faculty members updated their evaluations completely before the progress reports were published, several have only one, two, or no grades submitted to the grade book.
“I just don’t want my parents to be mad at me when they see my grades,” a sophomore said. The expectation that parents set for their children – attaining a 4.0, acceptance into a top college, and being valedictorian – can have a negative impact on student’s mental health and overall self-worth. The drive for students to succeed is not intrinsically harmful, yet many have expressed displeasure with how the current schooling system, as well as parents, pressure them to achieve unrealistically high demands.
In a recent survey of over 200 students, 63.3% of participants expressed dislike for progress reports.
“It gives me a lot of anxiety. I think that the progress reports capture one moment in time, but it doesn’t reflect anything else,” one student who participated in the survey said. Some reasoning behind the dissatisfaction is due to most students having the ability to access Aeries every day. On the contrary, 16.7% of students commented on the benefits of progress reports, and 20% felt neutral about the topic.
“I like to see the progress we’re making between each quarter,” another participant said. Progress reports are not designed to harm students, educators, or family members, yet given the widespread hostility and inaccuracy of the reports, it is questionable if they are genuinely necessary for our current educational system.
