Engrade is self-described as a “free grading program that enables teachers to post assignments and grades for parents and students.” During the first visits to Engrade, all seemed well. What’s wrong with your teachers conveniently posting your grades online? It turns out, a lot.

I’ve seen through personal experience that Engrade, when checked regularly, adds considerably to the ever-present stress to succeed academically at WHS. It also contributes to the overemphasis we as a school place on the importance of grades.

I had my first experience with Engrade at the start of my freshman year just 15 months ago. At this point, the site was essentially meaningless to me. Only one of my teachers posted to it, and the class wasn’t very challenging for me. Therefore, I was never too concerned about the depicted grades going up, nor did I frequently check them.

This year, Engrade began to take on a much more prominent role in my life. At the start of the 2012-2013 school year, it became mandatory for all teachers to post scores on Engrade.

I found that with the presence of six classes of grades, this once meaningless website became a staple of my online routine. At first, all seemed great. Scores I was concerned with were accessible online days before I could receive them in person. Unfortunately, I soon found out there is too much of a good thing.

I first became alarmed with my grade-checking habits in the beginning of October. At this point, I realized that I was wasting the precious time I had to do homework by checking scores I already knew. Still, my habit was not of much concern. Yet.

I continued to check my grades online more and more often. From five to 10 to 15 times a week, and beyond. At a certain point, I realized the amount I was checking Engrade had become ridiculous, but that didn’t slow me down one bit.

Finally, the inevitable occurred. One late night check from the mobile application revealed a shockingly low score. Suddenly, Engrade had done harm. Of course, this poor performance stressed me out far more than it should have. One bad quiz wasn’t going to kill anybody. It wouldn’t block me from achieving what I want to accomplish in life. Yet, I still lost sleep that night, thanks to the wonders of Engrade.

As I’ve seen myself grow increasingly dependent on checking Engrade, the effect it has on my life has become unnerving. After taking a quiz or test, I now find myself nervously scrolling through this once friendly site. If your habits are at all similar to mine, now is the time to draw the line on checking your grades.

There are a number of reasons I think this site’s role in our school is too great. Perhaps it is time for Engrade to go all together.

First of all, is high school really all about grades? Let’s all try to look at this issue with perspective. Yes, grades are important, but they aren’t everything. We as a school need to take a deep breath more often and keep academics in perspective. Engrade is certainly not helping us do this.

Second, if you do poorly on a quiz or test, do you really want to know right away? Sometimes it’s best to not see just the score you got without any other information. Perhaps the entire class did badly on the quiz that you can’t believe you failed. Engrade makes it very difficult to take one’s grades in context.

Third, do you want your parents seeing every grade you get with no context at all? Guess what? With Engrade, they can. Yikes.

Lastly, is the stress caused by checking grades online worth it? To me, it’s not. My knowledge of the grades I have is not going to make the score I earned magically rise. It’s pointless to get wound up over a result seen online. There is simply nothing to be gained.

Engrade provides unnecessary stress to students who have enough on their plates, placing further value on grades that are overhyped in the first place. So, is it time to give Engrade the boot? It’s certainly a discussion worth having.