About 200 years ago, there was a region in present-day Germany called Prussia. At this time, Prussia had just lost to Napoleon in the early Napoleonic Wars. The Prussian emperor blamed the defeat on the soldiers’ ability to think for themselves. Thus, the Prussian Model of Education was born. The system was created to stop people from thinking for themselves and raise mindless, obedient soldiers. The goal of the system was to train a generation of loyal, literate citizens prepared for war. This system is what our public education system was based off of.

Every single day children go to school, they become less intelligent. While school can make you more academically intelligent, it diminishes your creative intelligence. It teaches students to think a certain way and go down a certain path in life. The purpose of school is to prepare children for the future. They’ve failed. The traditional public school system is built around a rigid model of memorization and standardized testing, which fails to prepare students for the complex challenges they’ll face in the real world.

Why should a student’s worth and intelligence be based on their ability to memorize information? School is no longer about learning, but about grades. Students are more inclined to cheat just to get these good grades, due to social and academic pressure, than to simply do their best on the assessments and learn from their unsatisfactory results. These assessments also do not prepare them for their careers and simply provide them with unnecessary stress and anxiety.

The weight of homework, exams, and grades can feel like a heavy load, triggering feelings of anxiety, depression, and burnout. A study by Stanford educators found that fifty-six percent of students surveyed cited homework as a primary stressor in their lives, contributing to migraines, ulcers, and sleep deprivation.

Forty-three percent viewed tests as a primary stressor, with thirty-three percent naming pressure to get good grades as theirs. The National Education Association (NEA) recommends students spend 10 minutes per grade level each night on homework, making the maximum amount two hours. However, for students taking Advanced Placement courses, it can be expected to have at least one hour of homework per night for each class taken.

Additionally, when surveyed, it was found that regardless of APs taken, students still had an average of 3.1 hours of homework each night, exceeding the recommended amount of time put in place by the NEA. Some of the best educational science available shows that excessive homework is of limited benefit and in fact harms children’s health and well-being.

As a community, we can work on ways to improve students’ mental health and reduce some of their stress. First off, society and families should stop putting so much worth into grades and academics. Every individual is different and their worth should not be measured by numbers on a screen.

Many students struggle at academics, but excel at their passions. Students’ self esteem should not be shattered by things that won’t even be beneficial to them in ten years. Another method of assisting students would be to end “perfect attendance” From time to time, we should all acknowledge when we are at our limits and need to take a break. “Mental Health Days” should be implemented for students to rest, when they feel overwhelmed and need a day to reset. This day can be used to catch up on schoolwork and studying or simply just to relax and remind students that before academics, their health and happiness always comes first.

The current education system, rooted in historical models designed to create obedient workers rather than independent thinkers, is no longer suited for the challenges of the modern world.

By prioritizing memorization, standardized testing, and academic performance, we risk stifling creativity and causing unnecessary stress, anxiety, and burnout in students. It’s crucial that we shift the focus of education from grades to prioritizing mental health of students and their learning. By embracing alternative approaches like reducing academic pressures and offering mental health days, we can create an educational environment that truly supports the well-being and growth of students.