Self esteem can affect anyone throughout their life and during the most important years you are in school using a positive reinforcement method. 

If you get a good grade on a test it sends a euphoric feeling boosting our self esteem. A bad grade on the other hand can also deflate our self esteem causing us to not believe in ourselves. 

School isn’t the only thing that teenagers have to balance during their day to day lives. A lot of students are in school sponsored activities whether it’s a sport or a club, some students are working part time jobs, and some are balancing all three. 

Self esteem affects performance in all aspects of school, activities and work. Grades in school can be a positive or negative booster for our esteem.

“When I have a good grade I feel good about how much I study and how much effort I put in,’’ PLHS Junior Kileigh Wirth said. “But when it’s bad I feel less confident because I feel like I need to study more and I’m not putting in enough effort.”

Some classes come easier than others and everyone learns differently. Using strategies catered to you will help.

“The easiest way for me to study is to make flash cards or a quizlet and study it until I can say the answers word for word,” Wirth said. “That’s how I know I really know the material and I understand it.” 

Balancing school and work is a common thing among students all across the globe. Trying to balance these things can be very stressful and it takes a toll on us when we aren’t completing every task well. 

“School can be a very stressful place for me,” Junior Alexander Lane said, “From waking up at 6:20 to getting ready for school and then working till 10 after school it becomes to be a lot and every day the stress piles on”

Test grades are the most important grade of that unit. Having this be the most important grade the outcome can boost or deflate our self esteem.

“ [grades] can motivate a student or it can make a student feel defeated,” Physics teacher Christan Jarabe said, “Students that use it as a motivating factor will find different ways to do better on the next test to improve their grades.”

High school and grades are a very little thing in life as a whole but how we learn to deal with defeat and accomplishment is the real life lesson.