By Cody Goerlich

As long as it has been around, Flower Mound High School has been a unique school. Over the years, it has created a culture of academic excellence and achievement. While this may be good for the school, an atmosphere where your worth is essentially measured by your GPA is very bad for students.

Many students are grouped into classifications of “AP” or “regular” kids based on the classes they take and feel that their identity in school is based on the grades they make. This, of course, is very toxic to their mental health as high school is a “coming-of-age” period for adolescents where students search to find their identity, so it’s very unhealthy for them to learn that their identity is dependent on their class rank or SAT score.

Studies show that teachers have a very significant influence on child and student development, both in terms of learning and overall behavior. It would be much healthier if teachers would try to focus their energy toward each child’s learning needs and to acknowledge what students do right rather than consistently focusing on the negatives as it would benefit the student for years to come.