As I conclude this series of blogs regarding education as a civic issue, I hope I have been able to highlight facets of the public education system in the United States. I had intended to research and portray issues with the direction of the system currently and how we value it in our community. It was my hope to highlight these underlying issues of the role of the education system from assessing students to valuing our teachers, so that we can learn from where we are struggling. I wanted to challenge the current style with which our students are learning and being taught so that moving forward, we can begin to help them get a better education and become better leaders. With that, I wanted to focus on the culmination of stress and pressure across the whole educational body. Students and teachers bear the greatest levels of stress and pressure in school environments, and it is a growing problem.

Students across the nation are experiencing greater levels of pressure and stress to ensure that their academic performance is the best. A little bit of stress can be a good thing. This is the level of stress where students are feeling tingly in their stomachs which can then be focused into increased energy that can then help students on tests or presentations. However, the experience of stress described by students nowadays is not the same. We all will feel pressure in our daily lives, but there is a different kind of issue brewing with this. A Pew survey found that 70% of teens categorize anxiety and stress as a “major problem” among their peers (Flannery). There is also research showcasing that academic pressures are at the top of concerns for students with 61% reporting they face the greatest stress to achieve good grades (Flannery). These could be tossed up to several academic factors such as growing up in the increased age of standardization and monotonous homework, but it can also be attributed to issues of technology and social media. Both nonetheless, play a great role and prove inhibitory to student’s successes.

Growing up in the age of the No Child Left Behind and Every Student Succeeds Act, this generation of students has constantly combatted standardized tests at all grade levels. Repetition of this has instilled a great ideology of standardization and rising to the top. This has further placed pressure on students to ensure that they are rising to the top. As they moved to high school, they were introduced to AP level classes that continued this tradition of rising to the top and challenging oneself. Fundamentally they do challenge students. Yet, there is a misconception that students have to take the classes, and they must always receive an A in them as well (Walker). Instead of creating an environment where education was valued, it shifted to a competitive mindset of who can acquire all of the knowledge of the test. As students wanted to excel, so did the teachers. Teachers wanted to ensure that their students were performing with their best potential especially since those scores would be used as a reflection on the teacher. This created a cycle of stress revolving from teacher to student. This then further detracts from the role of education and shifts the meaning to testing. Even with great performances on the tests, students still suffer through great stress. Students that have been performing well and attending high achieving schools have been added to the “at-risk” category in regards to elevated chronic stress levels and general health and well-being concerns (Wallace).

As I mentioned earlier, we are also the generation that have grown with great exposure to social media and technology. Of course we all know of studies of stress and anxiety from these tools. The general concern from this source of stress is that it translates into the educational environment which then inhibits appropriate performance academically. Students may get distracted on the devices and stress accumulates from the lack of work being done. Furthermore, students get distracted by unrealistic expectations that they feel they must perform such as acceptances into prestigious colleges (Wallace). This places elevated pressure on students to keep performing until they get there, and if they don’t, then it won’t be significant. These mindsets are detrimental to the well-being of students, and it must be changed. The initial goal in educating our students are to allow them to become passionate that they want to learn for the sake of interest and curiosity. However, these principles are being challenged as we produce stressful environments through comparison, competition, and standardization. We must call out this issue and address it. It will be challenging, but it will provide a better educational environment and future for students.

Works Cited:

Flannery, Mary Ellen. “The Epidemic of Anxiety Among Today’s Students.” NEA Today, 18 June 2019, neatoday.org/2018/03/28/the-epidemic-of-student-anxiety/.

Walker, Tim. “Schools Look to Parents and Communities To Help Reduce Student Stress.” NEA Today, 5 Apr. 2018, neatoday.org/2016/09/16/reducing-student-stress/.

Wallace, Jennifer Breheny. “Perspective | Students in High-Achieving Schools Are Now Named an ‘at-Risk’ Group, Study Says.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 26 Sept. 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2019/09/26/students-high-achieving-schools-are-now-named-an-at-risk-group/.