This semester, I have checked PowerSchool nearly every day, and I will be checking it even more as finals season approaches.

It feels addictive. 

Every time I pick up my phone, I feel the need to check my grades. Has the math test grade been put in yet? Did my teacher finally grade our group project? I check it in the morning, I check it at night. I even check it on the weekends, on the very off chance my teacher was grading on a Saturday night.

Most South students can relate to this compulsion, as 70 percent of students at South check PowerSchool daily, of which, around 16 percent check five or more times a day, according to an unscientific survey conducted by The Oracle. This is concerning as 81 percent of students find grades to be a major source of stress, according to The Oracle survey.

Students should not be have access to their grades multiple times a day, they shouldn’t even be allowed daily access. It is suffocating.

Constant exposure provides students with unhealthy validation or uneeeded daily stress. 

With validation, student become distracted from their personal lives, using the letter grade on the screen to determine their self worth, rather than preserving themselves by their interests and personalities. But, on the other hand, students who feel uncomfortable about their grades are regularly subjected to reminders of how they are not performing well enough, according to arbitrary numbers. 

It gets worse when the accessibility of PowerSchool breeds comparison among classmates. Since grades are updated in live in PowerSchool, students immediately see test, quiz, and project grades updated in PowerSchool, classmates often feel the need to ask about how classmates performed on the assignment to affirm their own score.

This game of comparison and public shaming creates an uncomfortable environment, where learning is no longer about learning, but rather, a game where everybody is trying to reach a high score of points.

Not only do students who check PowerSchool daily face constant pressure about grades, as students who chose to ignore the app still face added pressure from their parents, since parents also have access to their grades at all times. About 53 percent of students find it stressful that their parents can constantly check their grades, according to The Oracle survey. Even students who manage to avoid the constant pressure of grades still face questions or criticism from their parents due to PowerSchool’s accessibility.

This burden elevates grades to a disproportionate level of importance, overshadowing other meaningful aspects of life like hobbies, relationships, and good character. Constantly having grades visible online overemphasizes the idea that grades are the ultimate priority, rather than encouraging students to focus on their personal lives.

Although PowerSchool is embedded in South’s administrative system, assisting with tracking attendance, scheduling, and more, making it unlikely and unpreferable to remove as a system, there are still other ways to find peace beyond grades.

Even with the day-to-day pressures of PowerSchool, students can still change their attitudes towards grades. Deleting the PowerSchool app off your phone or limiting how often you check your grades is a great step towards regaining a sense of self-worth that isn’t tied to your grades.

Grades aren’t everything. 

When you look back to high school, you don’t want to remember all the times you were stressed about grades, but rather, all the memories you made. 

Don’t let PowerSchool dictate your life. Take control back by existing beyond the dictations of superficial PowerSchool numbers.