Expectations or Requirements: Does Panther Creek Hold an Unwritten Academic Code?
Some students at Panther Creek believe that academic standards are higher and imperative at our school as opposed to another school.
High schools have high expectations for their students, which include leading a balanced life of competition in both scholarly and extracurricular activities. Panther Creek students have excelled in both thus far, and have maintained a 95.3% graduation rate – one of the highest in the state. In the midst of such academic success, Panther Creek was awarded the Real DEAL Award in 2008, an award that deems Panther Creek as a school that has “taken a role to empower teachers and encourage student success.” But when does encouraging become enforcing? So that the criteria can only be met by those who are academically gifted? “Panther Creek values high expectations” is what is stated on the Panther Creek website, yet the question remains, does it expect high academic competition? If so, can it be seen as a positive influence or a negative one?
There are close to 2,580 students enrolled in Panther Creek, and that population is subject to rapid growth in coming years. With such an immense population, many students are finding it practically impossible to compete in class ranks or in their grade point averages. Getting all A’s and B’s wouldn’t put you in the top tenth percentile: in this day and age, one would need to take mostly AP- and honors-level courses and get straight A’s to even be near the top hundred. Academically gifted students automatically have the advantage, while the others struggle to reach the top half. Some may argue that this competition motivates students to excel in all areas of life, while others argue that it can put too much pressure on the students. We had PCNN reporters ask for students’ opinions on this question.
Junior Doc Agrawal believes that there is nothing wrong with academic expectations: “We have more people striving for AP and honors classes, and they are definitely succeeding at achieving these expectations.” When asked if Panther Creek has made him more academically competitive, he said, “Yes, because when you’re placed with motivated students in this competitive environment, you find yourself wanting to achieve a higher grade or a higher GPA.” Junior Will Lee believes that he’s also become more academically competitive. He explained, “The competition here has definitely motivated me more. Most of my friends here are also naturally competitive, and Panther Creek gives them that extra push.”
Some underclassmen, however, have reported feeling that academic success in such a competitive environment isn’t unattainable at all. Freshman Riya Anand believes that Panther Creek sets reasonable expectations, and if one is struggling to meet its expectations, they are simply not taking advantages of the opportunities that Panther Creek offers. She elaborated by saying, “People who take advantage of these opportunities and put time and effort into their classes, will excel. The people who don’t take advantage of these opportunities end up not meeting these expectations and not succeeding.”
Although there are some students who agree that the high academic expectations are attainable, there are also some who would disagree. Senior Mark Johnson said, “Yes, they promote academic competition, and they may be attainable to most students, but they are hard standards to meet.” Mark doesn’t think of himself as academically competitive, saying, “I never paid attention to my rank. I just gave my best effort and went from there.”
Students like Will Lee and Doc Agarwal believe that this “academic expectation” is a positive, because it will push students to exceed their own expectation. Yet others, like Mark Johnson, believe these expectations are unattainable to most students. Which is it? PCNN wants to hear what you think, so take the poll on the sidebar and let us know!
