Early Action on a Lifetime of Stress

Early Action on a Lifetime of Stress

School stress is an everyday problem, even now young teens have more stress than adults on an average 5.8/10 point scale compared to 5.1 for adults. Schools need to realize forcing something into someone’s brain doesn’t make them know it or love it; Meaning they won’t actually absorb the information given. Schools are taking learning education to a different level these days. Teachers and guidance counselors are trying to make students find out what they want to do with their life after high school before these young teens even know who they are as a person.

Although school has always been stressful for teens and children but even more nowadays with the young diagnosis of ‘anxiety’ and with the teacher piling on all this work. “About eight percent of teens suffer of a diagnosis of anxiety” according to the National Institute of Mental Health and is only getting worse.(Dwyer). Having high expectation rates and including sports for some kids really pacts on the stress. Due to high school staff with making kids feel pressured to find out who they are, what they want to do with life, and what’s ‘successful’ at such an early stage of life. Even at the young age of 7th grade so that would be around twelve- oldest thirteen, kids think that they need to take these AP courses to get into a better college which of course AP courses do help significantly with getting into a good college but if students can’t take all the courses why set them up for more stress?

Nowadays schools are putting way too much pressure onto the students. These teens are now thinking that they aren’t good enough to go to college, or even graduate. Students gathered in a room answering questions from Dr. Mollie Marti got asked “Are you scared everyone is going to find out you’re not good enough”(Marti,Never Good Enough)? As one girl said yes another raised her hand, soon enough every single student in that room of amazing universities stated they felt stupid, incompetent, and fraudulent in their academic lives.”

Students who take the PSAT, SAT, SAT Subject tests, ACT, IB and AP exams usually suffer from the stress overload causing unhealthiness in their lives such as anxiety; or they’ll be studying so hard they forget the last time they ate because these numbers on a test define who they become as people. As you know these SAT scores get you into the college of your dreams, but instead of having the school help us deal with the stress that comes along with all these practice exams they tell us ‘it will be over soon and you’ll be thankful’ or something in terms with that. Teachers, principals, guidance counselors should worry about our well being along with the scores we get to show how great of school you attend.

As many people know the school system in changing to the common core. Common core may be a way to educate kids ‘faster’ but are these young kids who are third graders now ready for this change, ready to be rushed and become more fast paced when they don’t even know the first assignment? Kids who usually love reading, come to school learning a new way of math now are calling themselves ‘stupid’ from failing test grades. Because of these pre-assessments and mid-way

assessments and end of the year assessments. That is a lot of assessing. Kids are taking these tests on things they haven’t even learned yet, things are getting harder and harder everyday. “I know how it’s affecting them and I am doing the best that I can to make this as painless as possible on them. Today, my third grade son came home an angry, discouraged kid because of school,”stated an angry mother, unhappy teacher on a blog Mrs.Momblog. There are thousands of comments of mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles even grandparents; showing the same reaction towards the stress put onto their small children taking in so much stress.

Stress for kids/teens is an everyday thing in today’s society and with the high anxiety levels that can lead into depression, not feeling good enough to get into the college of their dreams. If someone had/has a child who was so discouraged with themselves because of how people pressure them to do something, wouldn’t they take a stand and help their kid every way they could? So why not do it now and help your child take a breath and relieve this stress?