Why Do High-Achieving Students Still Feel Lost?
There are a number of factors that can get in the way of capable students—even if it doesn’t look like it.
Too much choice is one problem. Because each subject is enjoyable they struggle to choose as subject choice options narrow towards the upper years of school. Too many options can make decision-making harder, not easier.
But there are other issues more problematic for students in competitive environments. Between the ages of 14-17, students are also becoming their own decision makers both because of pressures put on them and those they put on themselves. They are in a formative state of development. A great article on this story comes from Linda Gottfredson called Circumscription and Compromise here. During this time, external voices—parents, peers, and society—are circulating at the same time that personal voices are not yet fully developed. Students are listening, and trying to forage for the most suitable or likely route for themselves.
But it is a condition of vulnerability. Poor confidence or misinformation can be particularly damaging for those students not sure of who they really are. Coupled with the structural pressures that define the school journey—exams, personal statements, UCAS/university application processes—external pressures can be loud, sometimes too loud, and overshadow everything else.
Of course, not all students struggle with this system and there are benefits to having firm structures: managing mass applications, focusing interest, engaging motivation.
But for some, there are struggles growing in the underbelly of a stellar academic record.
Take the notion of identity.
In my book The Creative Voice, I interviewed Dr. Pulford, former Head of Counselling at Cambridge, who said that the most common question asked of him by his students was, “Who am I?”
The pressure of excellence, while motivating for some, can have a psychological toll. This is particularly true of girls from privileged backgrounds. In a fantastic paper by Lapour and Heppner, here, there is clear evidence of the pressure of excellence and its impact on the developing mind. It triggers a need to constantly perform which can lead to anxiety, mental health issues, and even physical health challenges like eating disorders or substance abuse.
Having been both a student in this system and an educator within it, I can tell you: academic pressure isn’t going away anytime soon. With rising school fees and expectations for results, pressure often becomes part of the learning process. And it is not always bad: pressure can motivate and guide students. It can even help learning.
But it also risks creating fragile identities based solely on achievement. Resilience is not automatically built into a system that privileges standards of perfection only. And there is little space for individuality or nuanced expressions of success: you are either a good student or you are not.
But the answer, in my view, is not so far away. A little support in self-celebration can be revolutionary.
I feel strongly, for example, that learning should be joyful and that nuance in identity development can be introduced to schools and student journeys early enough to help.
What is your voice? Tell us. Surely, harnessing the student voice gives space for expression by definition.
It is ironic that the top universities are looking for exactly that in applicants: not what is the school’s expectation, but what is your passion? What fires you up? Why?
We need to be building school attitudes that foster this excitement.
The joy of being oneself and discovering yourself in the world.
