Stress! Stress! Stress!
It’s become a common phrase in a student’s life. It’s an alarming trend that’s increasing among today’s Gen Z and Alphas, which needs to be addressed and approached in the right way. Why is this happening? Let’s try to understand.
We know educational institutions offer degrees by providing an environment to learn. But for every good thing, there’s a residue or leftover, like we know medicines cure our ailments but also have side effects, right? Similarly, educational academies offer wonderful degrees, but what about the unwanted heap piling up in students?
Of course, no educational institutions would intentionally add stress to students, but they are unintentionally adding unwanted stress to the students on the other side. The majority of students feel that the major hindrance in their academic performance is stress and anxiety as the top factor.
A survey conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research found that nearly 12 to 13% of students are suffering from stress and anxiety-related issues. One more report by UNICEF says one in seven students between the ages of 15 to 24 experience severe attacks of anxiety and depression. Around 500 Japanese students below the age of 20 kill themselves each year. Every September 1 (or the start of the school year), the teen suicide rate tends to occur three times higher compared to any other day.
There are still more statistics to it. For all these stress factors, definitely the school or college academics, coupled with other factors, play a role. If you look at the students in the age group of 16 to 18 years, for these students, they get messed up in social networking, coupled with body adjustment to adolescence.
For age group 19 or above, there’s more academic workload, and they understand household financial situations, then again socially they have to be more responsible, living away from family for higher studies.
Apart from all these, the students have very limited timelines and more activities to complete within the time frame. All students may not complete the same activity in the given time; each student has their own pace in doing things. So when we set a time limit, obviously, the student starts feeling pressure, stress, anxiety, and so on. This again impacts their resting patterns. Inadequate sleep and still, the activity seem pending. While this is going on in the midst of it all, the body asks for rest due to fatigue and a restless mind. But, to our disappointment, a student cannot give in, and indirectly feels pressured. And let’s not forget about exams – midterms, finals, semester exams – they seem never-ending!
For American middle schoolers, 61% of teens admitted feeling a lot of pressure to get good grades. In contrast, 29% feel pressured to look good, 28% need to fit in socially (28%), and 21% feel the pressure to involve themselves in extracurricular activities and be good at sports.
Ideally speaking, schools should be places to help students deal with stress. Stress is real. Gone are the days when people were quick to dismiss stress as a normal ritual of passage. The over-competitive environment of competitive exams, the demands of coursework, the extreme tuition fees, and the general feeling of being away from family and friends for long periods of time are all designed to filter the most flexible student in the class, and the one who cannot overcome these factors undergoes stress.
Unfortunately, in a ranking system, there will always be those at the back of the line. Recognizing that stress happens and is rarely preventable is a big step toward helping address it.
This article of mine is not complete, but rather, I’m able to show a few incidents, but there’s still a lot more. It’s a small attempt to shed light on how our young minds and hearts are in a state of stress. How our young minds are struggling with all these issues and yet trying to cope with all these things to survive and strive for a responsible life in society.
Let’s try another small article on how we can help our young hearts lead a less disheartening and stress-free life. You can point out some pointers or feedback on how we can overcome these things. I will try to incorporate them in my next attempt and could help a few students out there.
