The Pressure to Excel: When Success Feels Like Survival
“To tie your worth to achievements is a recipe for suffering.” ~Brad Bizjack
Children don’t just learn mathematics, science, and languages in school. They also learn what success feels like, what failure means, who they believe they are, and sometimes, whether they think they belong.
When I was in primary school, my school introduced academic streaming. If there were four grade seven classes, the highest-performing students were placed in the first stream, followed by the second, third, and fourth streams based on academic performance.
On paper, it made perfect sense. Students would learn alongside peers of similar academic ability, and …
