Opinion

Dependence on gradespeed extend into obsession

Think back to the beginning of the week and how often you checked your gradespeed account. Perhaps it was only once in the five days or once each day, that is perfectly understandable. Now, if you checked after every test, every class or every 10 minutes, you may have a problem. And if you have the website bookmarked on your phone, there is no doubt about it. You are a gradespeed junkie.

Gradespeed has transcended from a useful tool to check grades and monitor progress, and turned into an absolute obsession. If a school computer could regurgitate the most visited website when asked, it would scream “gradespeed.kleinisd.net.” More often than not where there are multiple students on school computers at least one of them is on gradespeed.

I understand trying to keep up with your grades after all that is the point of the website and grades should be taken seriously, however there comes a point when it becomes unhealthy and overly obsessive.

I have seen students literally refreshing or re-logging into their account 10 minutes after they checked it. Odds are the grade that was there 10 minutes ago remains the same.

Truth be told, teachers have other classes, sometimes even different subjects with completely different assignments to grade. Therefore they cannot possibly grade an assignment or test that was turned in the period before. Not many teachers have the time to do so, especially if they have an average class size of 25 to 30 students. Furthermore, they do have lives of their own and need a break from pouring over countless tests, quizzes and daily assignments.

To stop being a gradespeed junkie try diminishing the amount of times you log into your account. Start off with at least one less log-in per day and decrease by the same amount until you get to one or two log-ins per day. Also remember that grades, although they are important, are not everything so do not freak out too much. As long as you try your best there should be no constant worrying.