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Wayland Student Press

The student news site of Wayland High School

Wayland Student Press

The student news site of Wayland High School

Wayland Student Press

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Opinion: Naviance encourages dangerous emphasis on college acceptance

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Across the country, a dangerous amount of emphasis is placed on college admission, detracting from learning in high school. WHS could do more to combat this trend. Delaying the creation of Naviance accounts is a good place to start.
It’s finally time. After months of anticipation and countless trips to the mailbox, the college letter has arrived. With shaking hands, you apprehensively unseal the envelope. You’ve already convinced yourself that the contents of this single letter will dictate the success of your high school career. But does getting into a certain college determine the merit of your time at Wayland High School? The short answer is no.

At WHS, the emphasis on college acceptance has reached an all time high. From day one, everything is about putting together a strong college portfolio and preparing for collegiate admission success. This transfer of focus from high school learning to college acceptance is dangerous.

According to Fifty Years of College Choice: Social, Political and Institutional Influences on the Decisionmaking Process by Jillian Kinzie, Megan Palmer, John Hayek, Don Hossler,
Stacy A. Jacob and Heather Cummings, top colleges’ admission selectivity has been on the incline since the 1980s. This increased competition requires students to spend more time, energy and money on the admission process.

Before this spike in college admission competition, students better utilized high school to obtain well-rounded educations and pursue subjects of interest. Now, students are increasingly using high school to put together strong college resumes. According to a recent USC study, students are passing up on courses of interest to better their admissions success probability.

Students at WHS are following the trend of prioritizing competitively applying for college over all other aspects of high school. Consequently, WHS students are putting less time into learning.

Putting so much effort into college admissions isn’t wise. College isn’t right for everyone, and grades aren’t everything. More importantly, emphasis in high school should be on getting a solid education instead of getting into the ideal college.

This problem extends far past WHS; nonetheless, WHS administrators are partly responsible for placing too much emphasis on college preparation.

At WHS, classes are identified as “college preparatory” courses. Teachers post grades online immediately via Engrade, so students can keep up to the minute tabs on their GPAs. Worst of all, Naviance accounts are given to all students at a premature age.

Naviance is a site that compares students’ grades and test scores to the scores of applicants accepted into various schools. Any stat that is below the average acceptance rate glares at users in red font.

When used in moderation, the site is helpful. It gives students a rough idea of what schools are in reach. Unfortunately, there are many downsides to Naviance.

First, it is rare to find someone who uses Naviance in moderation, as prowling through the colleges is addicting. Many WHS students who use Naviance find themselves hooked and spend their free time comparing themselves to their “dream schools’” accepted students. Using these accounts deducts attention from high school work, and instead causes students to obsess over college acceptance.

More dangerously, Naviance does not account for what WHS students do outside the classroom. Extracurriculars play a big part in high school learning and remaining well-rounded and healthy. Unfortunately, Naviance disregards this important piece of high school, downplaying the significance of putting effort into work that does not boost GPAs.

A good step to restoring value in the worth of a high school education at WHS is to stop handing out Naviance accounts to students so early.

While Naviance is a valuable resource for junior and seniors, there is no reason a student should be receiving an account in January of their sophomore year. At that stage, the GPAs on Naviance are based solely on grades from freshman year.

What matters most is what I take away from my time at WHS. The skills I learn and the memories I make will stick with me forever. The college where I initially apply these skills isn’t imperative.

So lets put away Naviance and Engrade for a little longer. Maybe we can use this time to learn more and make some memories.

There will be plenty of time to get excited about colleges and look ahead to the extended future. But for now, as a sophomore, I’m going to focus on high school and on earning a high school education. Well, at least I’m going to try. Let’s all push the college letters a little further from our minds. We’ll open them when they’re here.

View Comments (6)
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Comments (6)

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  • W

    whs gradAug 19, 2013 at 11:40 PM

    Great article! A refreshing opinion with important things to think about, especially in a town like Wayland. I had friends who were crushed when rejected from their "dream" schools who are now having the times of their lives at their second or third choice colleges.

    School is what you make of it, and how you choose to apply yourself. I hope you choose your post-WHS endeavors not based on status and recognition but on the potential for exploration, diversity, and independence of thought. Learning comes in many forms and from many different people and places outside the classroom.

    As a sophomore in high school, keep being a sophomore. I would agree that Naviance may be a bit more of a Nuisance at this point in time. To quote the great Garth Algar from Wayne's World,

    [youtube 1vaQ-Y6kLOM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vaQ-Y6kLOM youtube]

    Good luck to all!

    Reply
  • E

    evry1whoknowsporterAug 10, 2013 at 8:31 PM

    hypocrite*

    Reply
  • E

    evry1whoknowsporterAug 10, 2013 at 8:26 PM

    Freaking hipocrite

    Reply
  • M

    Ms. SacramoneMay 22, 2013 at 8:33 PM

    Thanks for the interesting points, Ben. I love your idea about holding off on Naviance, and it is something that we in our department debate about a lot. We hear from students that don't want the information (ever), and we hear from students that want it in 9th grade (and parents that want it even earlier, believe it or not) — and everything in between. The real issue is that there is too much emphasis on college in general. In each seminar we hold, and parent meeting we have, we tell everyone that deciding on a college is not the biggest decision of your life, and we ask they not treat it that way. In seminars we also remind students that the data is very limited and we remind students constantly that there is so much more to their high school experience than their GPAs. The sophomore seminars concentrate on the career search piece, but unfortunately, we cannot control where students go on Naviance, and because the culture in Wayland is very college-driven, students are eager to go right to the college info instead. So it is our department's hope that students will continue to listen and believe their counselors and parents/guardians that they will be fine, and they are much more important and interesting than their raw numbers that show on a simplistic graph.

    Reply
  • S

    SeniorMay 21, 2013 at 9:19 PM

    This article is irrelevant since it is written by a sophomore

    Reply
  • A

    A fanMay 21, 2013 at 5:43 PM

    This raised a great point good work Ben!

    Reply
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Opinion: Naviance encourages dangerous emphasis on college acceptance