Is School: Good Or Bad For Children

Each day school children learn valuable skills and lessons from their teachers as well as through interactions with their peers. Although school, undoubtedly,

Students today spend the majority of their weekdays at schools which can result in stress due to many factors. It is important for students to learn to cope with pressure because it is an important skill for overall health. Grades can cause stress and anxiety in many ways. For example, a student that is receiving “bad” grades can have stress because they feel pressured by the teachers or parents to get better grades, and the student may feel that their peers are judging them because of their grades. On the other hand, a student who is receiving “good” grades may feel stress due to the pressure of maintaining their grades for the sake of their peer’s judgement and parent’s expectations. Sources of stress in schools include: Teacher Interactions, Academic Stress, Peer Interactions, and Academic Self-Concept (Helms and Gable 6). The manifestation of stress results in emotional, behavioral, or psychological distress (Helms and Gable 6). Grades are a factor in all of the sources mentioned, the student may feel the teacher disapproves of them, their peers don’t respect them, and their self-esteem will be impacted because of poor grades. This can result in behaviour and emotional issues which further the student’s insecurities and can cause psychological problems in the long term. Letter or percentage grades say nothing about these issues, it is very difficult to spot stress in children and the resulting behaviour due to stress can be misinterpreted if the parents and teachers are not made aware. Summary assessments can help detect stress in students, where the student can explain how they are feeling and the teachers and parents can detect high levels of stress. Test anxiety is another manifestation of stress in students today; unfortunately, many schools and teachers face a huge responsibility in which the students must perform well in order for teachers to keep their jobs and for schools to

Education gives common people the means to turning dreams into reality. Education allows common people to open up their minds to various possibilities, that will arise from becoming educated. But, yet there are times where our education systems do not uphold student/learners to a high norm. Although, problems with education systems rarely occur, inadequate performance in school can be feasible if there are issues within the child’s household. Nonetheless, students who face inconsistent dilemmas, fail since they attempt to solve both problems.

Dr. Debra Koss ( child psychiatrist) believes that in our society today teens and parents face more stress and pressures than ever before. When a student acts up the first thought should not be punishment but what is going wrong in this young one’s life and how can it be helped. In Fund du Lac High School three hundred fifty-eight freshman out of six hundred thirty-two participated in mental health screening and sixty-four percent of the students tested were diagnosed with a mental illness. Many factors are contributing to this bad school environment ranging from overworked students, students ridiculing other students and faculty that genuinely do not care about the students. A teacher, who does not take interest in the students and does not do their best to make sure their students succeed, risks destroying their students confidence. 8,300 students drop out on a average day. These students say they drop because they don't feel safe, they can't keep up, they couldn't attend everyday or they did not have the confidence they would finish the class. Students everyday are either dropping out or hurting themselves because of the events that happen inside these school buildings. Forty percent of parents say children experience the most stress from academics. Chronic stress causes a sense of panic which causes more stress. “Despite whatever is going on -if you are a bit depressed, stressed, or overwhelmed you want to put up this positive

Prior to higher education, students attend primary and secondary school for a combined total of 12 years. Educational systems are to ensure the future generation of citizens technologically advanced skills to be productive members of the society. The mission of schools are to create sharp thinkers by means of maximizing their students’ academic and social development (Working, 1906). In focusing on this mission, occasional misbehaviors by the students or school personnel cause districts to investigate violations and mete out punishment.

The true value of education is lost as grades and numbers become top priority. In a spoken word, Suli Breaks shares that students have becomes zombies in schools that run everything in a routine. They lose sleep to hand in assignments and meet the dead-line yet by that time the students are also half dead. The grade is all that the student starts to care about because that is what the school is directing their efforts towards. With all of their focus on the grade no one remembers to remember what they learned and apply it in life. Thus, it is in one semester and out the next. In one study teachers witnessed “unprecedented levels of school-related anxiety, stress, and mental health amongst pupils, particularly at exam time”. People may think that only college students do all nighters but it actually is not surprising to find high school and sometimes even middle schools staying up late nights trying to finish up assignments. All of this leads to sleep deprivation which affects the student’s health and in turn propels their stress as time virtually elapses out of existence. Likewise, the school system runs in such a way that mistakes become feared in an unhealthy manner. It is fine to have the fear of failure but one must learn to accept it because once it is accepted, children are not afraid to take a chance at trying something new. Ken Robinson makes the point that “we

In a study done about the effects of boarding schools, it was found that at the end of the first year of boarding school, the boarders experienced a lower state of well-being. The students were not accustomed to the higher demands of the schooling, high levels of control exerted over them, and separation from their friends and family. After the second year the boarders were able to adjust and thrive, but after an analyzation of the data, it was found the students that began to develop in the second year were stronger students at baseline. The stronger students had higher scores on standardized tests to begin with. Once they got accustomed to the new form of schooling, it was found these students had more motivation to succeed after they realized what they were capable of in their new environment. On the contrary, the weaker students lost confidence because of the inability for them to do as well. This, in turn, prevented them from adapting to their environment. While in this study the strong students were able to thrive, the pressure and difficulty of the education at these institutions cause some students to develop depression and an involvement with alcohol and drugs. “Behind the ivy walls of the cloistered elite there is at times sadness, despair, even tragedy. There are more than a few prep school students who lead lives of quiet

Today, a school education is no longer an option or privilege, but rather a need in the United States of America. The author of “Against School,” John Taylor Gatto says, “Do we really need school?” (143). What if children will not go to school, then how will they learn to read and write? Education is the demonstration of learning things around us and helps us to comprehend an objective in life. Most people who believe that children need higher education in order to succeed in life. We often don’t understand why we have to go to school every day, but when we grow up we realize that children need to attend the school for a wide range of reasons, for instance; for new experiences, increased knowledge or career preparation. School

School-related stress has its roots in many different places. On a national scale, surveys and research have in fact confirmed that “school-related pressures were the primary source of stress for the majority of younger and older children” (qtd. in Blazer 2). Not long ago, kindergartens were places for children to play and learn basics, like the alphabet, but now all of it has changed to teaching kids about test taking, doing reading/writing exercises, and even homework (Blazer 4). In an article titled, “Success with Less Stress,” Jerusha Conner, an Assistant Professor of Education at Villanova University, and his partners conducted a study to find what students say about the causes of school stress. The research revealed that standardized tests, large assignments, and college admissions were very frequent answers. Exceeding competition has also caused stress among students because they feel the need to build the best résumé, and this leads to over-scheduled days (Redding). The modernization of the Collin’s theory states that, “the ‘overscheduling hypothesis’ embodies a more recent belief that it is the volume of activities that provides a boost in the application process and that students need

Some see school as a fun environment to come to everyday, while others dread to wake up and count down the amount of days until they are out of Hell. The author of “3 Destructive Things School Taught You Without You Even Knowing”, would have picked the second option, based on his article about schools. While there are some good points made throughout the article, to support his feelings, I have to say that he did not convince me.

“49 percent of students reported feeling “a great deal of stress” on a daily basis. Half reported doing three or more hours of homework per night, and 26 percent noted that they had been diagnosed with depression” (Ossola, 1). With all that is expected of students in school, some rules she be changed to reduce these crazy issues. If schools would reduce homework, start school later, changed dress codes, and extend lunches, student would thrive and succeed more in school.

Stress and Test Anxiety in Schools: Are Test Scores Really the Most Important Factor in Education?

Studies have shown that normal kids today have higher stress levels when compared to child psychiatric patients in 1950’s. This is hypothesized to be caused by the increasing emphasis put on standardized tests and using them in school, but what is a standardized test? A standardized test is any form of test that requires all test takers to answer the same questions in the same way, and that is scored in a ‘standard’ or consistent manner. While standardized tests are the most reliable way to measure a student's progress, they are still fairly inaccurate and can be detrimental to the student’s education

According to The Lancet, a peer-reviewed medical journal, schools play key roles in children’s development, ranging from fostering peer relations and social interactions, emphasizing academic attainment and cognitive processes, educating students on emotional control and behavioral expectations, and supporting moral and physical developments. All of these areas are affected reciprocally by mental health, and better recognition of the effects mental health problems cause and the distinctive platform schools offer for access and support to students has led to a newfound importance of mental health

Schools are and will forever be learning institutions, but learning isn’t limited to purely comprehension and fact memorization that can be found in books. Furthermore, knowledge is an unquantifiable metric and similarly, grades and scores have a multitude of factors that could affect the results. This is not to devalue good academic standing but rather raising a question of “Do we want to develop students holistically or