Nowhere is competition more pronounced than in our modern school system.

For example, today’s high school students are competing against each other for coveted scholarships and spots in college.

While competition in the American education system may be disputed, it sets an academic and financial springboard for success in college and beyond.

As AP testing unfolded over the past few weeks, many students experienced the anxiety of standardized testing. According to Denise Pope, a Senior Lecturer at Stanford University, “the number one cause of visits to the Vaden Health Center is now stress and anxiety.”

Some say that with an increase in high pressure classes, along with even higher expectations, the amount of anxiety resulting can lead to a decline in a student’s well being, and overall a deterioration in student performance.

However, the benefits of taking competitive classes, such as Advanced Placement Courses, far outweigh the negatives.

Competitive courses, such as AP and Dual Credit will end up saving money for students in the long run. If credits transfer over, students could potentially have the opportunity to bypass certain classes, which could, in turn, translate to less money being spent on tedious prerequisites.

While schools across the United States are starting to transition further and further away from awarding the title valedictorian to high-achieving students, this competitive accolade, and others like it, can often fuel a high performing student’s drive for success and even further push them to be advantageous in their high school career.

Though many question if encouraging competitiveness throughout the school system is favorable, when applying competition to the world of academia, one can see how it is indeed constructive and will be vastly beneficial not only in one’s high school career, but later on in life as well.

Our View represents majority opinion of the editorial staff of the Cedar Post.