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Questioning about is homework good or bad for student achievement
Finland education system vs american
Stress causes and effects on students
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The world of a student is a very complicated place with either two options: a relaxed childhood filled with quality learning and experimenting, or one that is so demanding and exhausting that students cannot handle it anymore. Presently, the deciding factor for which path students will travel is the conditions and environment provided to students by the previous generation. For example, Finland is one of the most successful countries in creating proper educational settings for students to excel when it comes to world competition. The policies created by Finland’s government and its authorities are more than suitable to extract the most potential out of students without the negative side effects. Finnish students receive the benefits of more breaks throughout the day, decreased amounts of teaching, less busy work, and almost no testing. Meanwhile, in the United States, stressed out students are overwhelmed with the amounts of exams and standardized tests they are forced to take and are falling behind with the amounts of homework assigned, which in many cases has no real value. The environment is almost at a brain-numbing level where some students work more hours in a day than adults. United States policies are trying to supplement the fact that they are falling behind educationally with increased amounts of work for students to complete, but evidently this is a strategy that takes away from proper development of American children. School-related stress not only has a severe impact on students' health, but also takes a toll in how students perform academically. Student pressure and stress has numerous amounts of causes, leads to health problems, and contributes to decreased academic performance. There are, however, many sol...
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...ner, Jerusha, Denise Pope, and Mollie Galloway. "Success With Less Stress." Educational Leadership 67.4 (2009): 54. MasterFILE Premier. EBSCO. Dec. 2009. Web. 9 Feb. 2014.
Freeman, Andrew. “Finland’s Education System: 10 Surprising Facts That Americans Shouldn’t Ignore.” TakePart. Participant Media, 14 Aug. 2012. Web. 13 Feb. 2014.
Galloway, Mollie K., and Denise Pope. "Hazardous Homework?." Encounter 20.4 (2007): 25-31. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. 2007. Web. 9 Feb. 2014.
Redding, Alexis Brooke. "Extreme Pressure: The Negative Consequences Of Achievement Culture For Affluent Students During The Elite College Admission Process." Journal Of College Admission 221 (2013): 32-37. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. 2013. Web. 10 Feb. 2014.
Weissbourd, Richard. "The Overpressured Student." Educational Leadership 68.8 (2011): 22-27. ERIC. EBSCO. May 2011. Web. 11 Feb. 2014.
From the beginning of high school, students strap on their seatbelts and prepare for one of the most vigorous races of their lives – becoming successful. With the rare occurrence of a break, kids are expected to keep on driving as fast and as powerfully as they can in order to get into a “great” college, which would be followed by graduate school and then an actual job that would make a lot of money. In American society, common values include working hard, determination, and being so productive that free time is not even a question. However, this philosophy is taking a major toll on American college and high school students. For at least 40 years, America’s future has been steadily growing unmotivated, tired, and hopeless due to the overemphasis on performing well in school. This phenomenon is appropriately expounded in William Zinsser’s “College Pressures”, which takes a look at the top four sources of tension that cause these feelings of dejection and agitation. After reading this article, I came up with a few solutions to this national problem. It is time to switch the harsh, over-encouraging green light of education to a comfortable yellow one. In order to make this ideal transition, directors of education across the country need to primarily reduce the amount of out-of-class assignments, lighten the grading system, and incorporate days in the school year that allow students to express their thoughts about school and provide useful feedback.
In Frank Bruni’s response to “Overloaded and Underprepared,” he discusses the expectations of many high school students throughout their career which people view as a “perfect society.” Today, society has high expectations of high school students, which causes students to become stressed due to extracurriculars, jobs, and other organizations they are involved in. Throughout the response, Bruni shows disappointment because of the lack of sleep students receive each night and the stimulants students use to fulfill their goals which helps Bruni get his main idea across effectively.
Minkewicz, Robyn, and Kathryn Minkewicz. "How Stress Can Effect Academics in Multiple Grade Levels." Telephone interview. 12 May 2014.
The “push to be perfect” (Thomas) is at an all-time high. Pressure for perfection from peers, parents, teachers and coaches is so unreasonably high that many students don’t think that they will ever be able to achieve it. A student feels that it is impossible to get good grades, be athletic, in multiple organizations, and most of all appear to be happy. Students have turned to cheating, drug/ alcohol abuse, and even suicide to try and cope. They are competing with friends for top spots, and believe that if they don’t beat them, they are a failure. Not only other students, but parents play a big roll, too. Their own parents and the parents of their peers will compare kids. New Trier High School’s Jim Conroy said that the biggest problem about pressure comes from the parents who compare (Robbins). With all...
Moreover, there is a strong psychological connection between one’s perception of themselves, and their strengths and weaknesses (Hubbard & Blyler, 2016). Since the human body instinctively reacts to anything perceived as a threat with the fight or flight response, it does not discriminate between an individual’s perception of an event, and the actual event that occurs (Bhattacharya & Bhattacharya, 2015; Grison, Heatherton & Gazzaniga, 2016). Therefore, something as simple as the fear of failing a test can provoke the same stress response within the body as encountering a bear. Indeed, conclusions established by Hubbard & Blyler (2016) indicated a significant relationship between stress and poor academic performance finding increases in absent mindedness, hyperactivity, and most importantly; difficulties with attentional control and working memory. In a similar study, Bhattacharya & Bhattacharya (2015) observed reductions in the effects of stress when students exhibited positive self-perceptions and confidence in their academic abilities. Combined, these studies suggest that the much of the stress associated with academics can be minimized by simply acknowledging its existence. By first recognizing the biological symptoms of stress, this author has begun to understand how influential the mindset and perceptions are for increasing academic
Since the release of the report by Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) in December of 2010 many in the government and community are searching for ways to reform the American education system to give American students the greatest opportunity to succeed. According to the report, American students are not testing as high as other nations in the world (Duncan, 2010). There are many contributing elements that have brought America to her knees in the education system, however, the obsession with standardized testing is found to be one of the most influential downfalls.
How to Deal With StressMany students go to school full time, and hold a part time job to earn money for school. Most students have about four classes, and each of the teacher’s of these classes gives an average of about an hour of homework each night; that averages out to four hours per night of homework, plus a part time job. School causes a lot of students stress because there are so many things to do, and so little time to do it. Stress is a normal part of everyone’s life; and is not a disease. It is not necessarily good or bad; however, reactions to stress can be harmful. Lack of time puts the stress on many students, and causes students to often procrastinate because they are constantly trying to meet deadlines and they don’t have the time to work on their assignments. Many students feel their grades are important; they need plenty of time to work on their work so they can do good. I can relate to them because if I get a low grade I get disgusted because I put a lot of time and effort in doing that assignment. But I think that a lot of the stress from school is caused, not only by the teachers, but also from the students to do well. Students put too much stress on themselves. A student just has to learn to manage their time well and just do as good as possible. Stress management involves the effort of that student to make emotional and physical changes.
Jones, F, Bright, J, Clow, A (2001). Stress: myth, theory and research. Essex: Pearson Education Limited. p. 10.
...ife and we all thrive under a certain amount of stress. Deadlines, competitions, examinations, confrontations and even our frustrations and sorrows add depth and enrichment to our lives. Our goal is not to eliminate stress but to learn how to manage it and how to use it to help us. Feelings of stress and anxiety are inevitably going to develop in students. Teachers should be able to identify symptoms and sources of stress and anxiety in students. They should be aware of various strategies that can be applied to minimize the detrimental effects of stress and anxiety. Their focus should be on the development of coping mechanisms in students so that they are able to channelize their stresses and anxieties productively. Every teacher is required to find the optimal level of stress for each student which will motivate but not overwhelm individual for maximal benefit.
Counseling Center for Human Development. Coping with Stress in College. U of South Florida. 3 Dec. 2000. http://usfweb.usf.edu/counsel/self-hlp/stress.htm
Many students who feel the pressure to succeed at the high school level have an unhealthy amount of stress. Students who feel this have been cheating, pulling all nighters, becoming depressed, and seeking relief in drug use, and self mutilation. On average in a recent study at Illinois high school students spend 3.07 hours of homework each night on just homework not including extra curricular activities(Jerushapope,2). Also in this high school students reported getting 6.8 hours of sleep each night, but 34.6% reported getting 6 or fewer hours of sleep(Jerushapope,2). Most high school students spend 2 hours of extra curricular activity each night thats not including homework so after those activities you have to come home and do homework and then you will not have a lot of time to sleep. Also most kids do not get a lot of time to spend with their parents during the weeknights. Some kids cannot even make it to the dinner table because they have so much homework and that is not healthy for the parents and their childs relationship. In ...
Driscoll, Emily. “Stress in College: What Causes it and How to Combat it.” Online posting. 31
Academic stress is very common in student’s lives. Many students assume that making the academic experience their first priority now, will increase the chance of success in the future. School is an important aspect in most teenagers lives and by being so important a teenager can become depressed very effortlessly at school or because of school. Academic stress can take complete control over a student’s life, sometimes leading to depression. At school this may lead to poor attendance, a significant drop in grades or even annoyance with schoolwork, in a good student. There are many studies that have been performed to prove the correlation between responsibility in school and academic performance being the cause to academic stress. Just like there are numerous causes to academic there are also numerous cures, such as changing mind set and behavior. Academic stress is something majority of students in school can relate to and the cause of it can be something small as a bad grade on an evaluation, It will enforce the student to try harder in the future but it will for sure cause some sort of stress, even if it is for a moment. Stress from school can be one of the most essential causes of teen depression.
Are the new standards and expectations the world has for teenagers really creating monsters? The amount of stress that is put on students these days between trying to balance school, homework, extra curricular activities, social lives, sleep and a healthy lifestyle is being considered a health epidemic (Palmer, 2005). Students are obsessing over getting the grades that are expected of them to please those that push them, and in return, lose sleep and give up other aspects of their lives that are important to them, such as time with friends and family, as well as activities that they enjoy. The stress that they endure from the pressures of parents, teachers, colleges, and peers has many physical as well as mental effects on every student, some more harmful than others. The extreme pressure on students to get perfect grades so that they will be accepted into a college has diminished the concept of actually learning and has left the art of “financing the system” in order to succeed in its place (Palmer, 2005).
A big cause of academic pressure relates to students having poor time management. Students have to take into consideration the course load verse the time available as a stressful factor in academic pressure. My perception of course load positively correlates with exam stress and academic pressure. Problems with this stressor can also lead to all different kinds of side effects including depression which can contribute or interfere with effective study habits and as a result weaken academic achievement even more. Problems associated with this stressor can even lead or affect a student’s future. The competition for grades, and maintaining good grades and academic achievement not only can affect student’s career choices but can even create financial problems as a result of paying for tuition and expenses anyway even after not performing well academically. Weather you perform well or not, academically performance can affect students who are planning to apply for admission to graduate school while they struggle to excel. The same is true for those who need or are seeking scholarship funding or have no other choice