The Pros & Cons of Growing in a High Performance Culture

posted on Nov 11, 2019

Life thrives in social relationships. And when it comes to children, school is one important place for young children to socialize. Young kids absorb everything that they receive from the school environment. School culture exposes them to beliefs, perceptions, relationships, attitudes, said and unsaid rules, and much more. This exposure impacts their social patterns, thinking, and unspoken behaviors. All this is expected to make these young kids learned and socially developed individuals who are capable of taking the nation forward with values.

Having said that, one prominent aspect that’s gradually emerging in the current education system is the ‘High-Performance Culture’. What is this high-performance culture, and is it really good for the growth of children? Let’s have a look at various facets of the so-called high performing culture in this article below.

What is the high performing culture all about?

High performing culture, as the name suggests, lays a lot of emphasis on the outcomes. In layman’s language, the high-performance culture requires that each and every student performs nothing less than excellent and ranks on top in every area, from sports to social skills to academics, especially in terms of the marks and grades they obtain in their reports.

Pros of adapting to a high-performance culture

A strong school culture forces the teachers and students together to rush farther and faster for accomplishing higher grades exceeding their potential. When they succeed in their effort, they experience a higher level of satisfaction, which serves to uplift their confidence and triggers growth and motivation in studies. The students thereby turn up performing really well in academics and continue to soar higher and higher academically, as well as in the extracurricular spheres. Hence, if deployed properly, a high performing school culture can aid in students’ learning, fulfillment, and well-being.

Cons of a high-performance culture in schools

High-Performance Culture focuses primarily on performance. And performance is measured through scores and grades. It is this aspect that ends up putting too much pressure on the young minds to perform rather than driving them by their curiosity to learn.

When expectations appear way above than what the child can achieve, they are exposed to constant pressure which leads to stress. It may increase their inclination towards adopting unfair means like cheating. This stress can cause mental illness and depression among children and can affect their well-being in other areas as well, which are of utmost critical.

If goaded too much to achieve nothing less than the best, children in their playful phase begin to deal with ‘Performance Anxiety’ much the same way as professionals do. This affects the self-expression ability of children, which often makes them draw themselves from play and free-time activities which are indeed vital for kids. Children might develop into ‘bookaholics’ similar to ‘workaholics’ and start feeling lonely and depressed. They may even face sleep deprivation as a result of stress and pressure.

The society is living with acceptance of ‘High-Performance Culture’ irrespective of the fact whether people like it or not. Hence, in such a society, it is very natural to start comparing children with those who are doing better. However, we, at Gurukul The School, believe that this is indeed a wrong practice as it generates a very high probability for children to experience the fear of losing social respect while withstanding comparison of performance with other children. This may damage their self-esteem and children may start running away from school and studies.

At Gurukul The School, one amongst the leading CBSE schools near Crossing Republik, Ghaziabad, we firmly believe that the true meaning of education can only be achieved when we replace the high-performance vis-à-vis pressurizing culture with a growth-driven, self-paced learning culture. It is because of this that we have introduced a concept in our school where the teachers appreciate the ‘efforts’ more than the outcome. This gives our pupils the feeling of being respected for their efforts and enhances their confidence to perform even better the next time. This motivates them to be honest in sharing their concerns and making more efforts. The learning and development at Gurukul Crossings depend on the ‘efforts’ instead of just the ‘results’. Learners at Gurukul The School experience a true sense of accomplishment and this is indeed what the young generation needs to thrive in the highly challenging times of today.