The Need to Succeed
Adrian Lee
Harvard. Yale. Stanford. 1600. 36. 4.0. With colleges becoming increasingly expensive and less accessible by a larger portion of the population each year, students, such as myself are forced to shoulder greater workloads in high school to compete with others across the nation. College tuition has gone up as much as 500% than it was 30 years ago. So, many of us aim for scholarships to help pay the ridiculously increasing college tuition; some aim to get into the most selective schools, yet other students have reasons of their own. Despite the reason, the desire to be at the top of the academic ladder is a common problem in high schools across the United States. On top of that, it just gets worse every year. The academic competition that is rampant in many schools is the root of many emotional and mental problems. A little competition is always a good motivating factor; however, the enormous amount of pressures students take, whether it be from peers, parents, or friends, is unhealthy in the extreme- especially for Asian Americans. And while academic competition continues to be encouraged, mental and emotional health are ignored - at least within the realm of my personal experience.
I’m an Asian-American student at Westview High School, where I’ve seen many of my classmates take harder classes- not because they enjoy the subject, but simply because they want the AP credit; they want to boost their GPA; they want to be on the same level as their other peers. They would rather suffer all year, pulling all-nighters and indulging in other unhealthy habits, rather than taking a more interesting or easier class schedule. On top of taking a full set of advanced classes, many students enroll in a large number of clubs and competitions. I fall into the same boat as these classmates, and I do so for many of the same reasons. And does it harm my mental and emotional health? It definitely does, and it just gets worse every year.
I'm almost entirely sure that many of my friends and classmates are aware of the toll when they shoulder intensive workloads. But then what do we do with this knowledge? Exactly nothing. I think that the lack of conversation about the topic is particularly concerning because it shows that there is continues to be a stigma related to mental health. Of course, it’s gotten better within the last year: I hear many of my peers coming out to talk about the emotional/mental problems that they are facing. Then, as a community, we can help and provide resources. However, when I took a closer look focusing solely on my Asian friends, I noticed a different story. As far as my experiences go, I have never had a heart-to-heart conversation about mental health with another Asian friend. I thought this was strange, so I decided to dive deeper.
I say this with a bit of hesitancy, but it seems that Asian Americans are suffering significantly compared to other demographics. The problem is not that we are at a higher risk of mental illnesses. It is rather that we are the least likely demographic to be seeking help for emotional and mental problems that we may face. Asian-Americans are 3 times less likely to seek mental help services than other Americans. This problem is rooted in our culture. Asians are stereotypically seen as “economically-stable”, and some of us feel the need to succeed academically to an inappropriate level. A lot of Asian-American children also feel like they must shoulder the burden of carrying the sacrifices their parents or ancestors have made to give them opportunities in the United States. Others could find it hard to talk about mental health to relatives. And the list continues.