With mental health challenges on the rise for students—and Covid-19 exacerbating the situation—many have pointed a finger at how students throughout the country compete against each other for a variety of honors, including most prominently chasing admission to prestigious colleges.

It’s not new to note that this competition is often for extrinsic reasons—out of a desire to be the best for its own sake, not for the intrinsic value of the experience students will get to enjoy—and creates an endless cycle of competition for its own sake.

People from the New York Times’s Frank Bruni to Harvard’s Michael Sandel have offered observations on the current system and raised questions about how healthy this is—for the individuals themselves as well as for society writ large.