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.