How did I do on that recent math test? Is my English paper graded already? Are any new grades added? All of these important questions can only be answered in one place. Powerschool.

To most high school students, grades are the most important aspect of school. Grades and GPA play a huge role in determining colleges and the future of students. In fact, good grades is the only reason why many students spend hour after hour every day doing homework, studying for tests, or typing up lab reports.

However, is there a line between caring about grades and obsessing over them?

With the online Powerschool, students have the ability to check grades whenever they want. Powerschool instantly updates grades whenever teachers record them, causing Powerschool to be the fastest way of finding out about new assignment or test grades.

Especially after taking a test or turning in a major assignment that I don’t feel too good about, I always want to know the grade of that test or assignment as soon as possible in order to stop thinking about it.

Sometimes, I am even tempted to check Powerschool every single hour of the day.

Unfortunately, as important as grades are, constantly checking them will accomplish nothing. The saying “what’s done is done” is absolutely true for school assignments. After a test or major project is turned in, no amount of checking Powerschool will ever change the grade for any assignment.

The purpose of education is never simply to get good grades, education is meant for students to learn. Powerschool does not show what students did wrong or what students can do better, and therefore students have no way of improving simply by using Powerschool.

So instead of obsessively checking grades that can not be changed, students should try to focus more on doing well on future tests and assignments. Whenever I understand all of the questions on a test or turn in a project that I work really hard on, I feel much more confident and don’t feel stressed about my grade.

Powerschool is simply a very convenient resource for students and parents to use to stay up to date as well as calculate GPA, but obsessing over Powerschool does nothing more than increase stress and decrease concentration.