The Effects of Increased Pressure on High School Students

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Adults repeatedly refer to their high school as the “best four years of your life” with students cheering on their favorite football team, bright eyed couples in the hallway, and friends spending time together. However, this generation of students experience so much pressure to do well in school that their worlds revolve around their grades and extra circulars. Along with the increased workload, high schools in 2014 have placed an enormous amount of pressure on admission to colleges and standardized testings. As a result, severe depr ession caused by stress has greatly increased among high school students today. Organizational change should be made to schools to decrease the anxiety of college admission and workload as well as addressing mental health issues; by adjusting their curriculums and excluding high stake tests, schools can reduce stress on students and, as a direct result, decrease depression rates. Depression and stress is a serious problem among teenagers today and continues to rapidly grow. According to Arike Gordon’s article “Stress and Depression; A Deadly Relationship,” stress, the feeling of frustrations, sadness, tension, withdrawal and worry commonly last only a few hours, days at the most. Stress can be caused by many factors, but anything that forces an individual to adjust or situations that put a lot of pressure on a person become stress triggers A little bit of stress is helpful to be productive, however, being stressed for a prolonged period of time, leads to depression. Depression lasts longer and is more severe than stress; extreme feelings of isolation, sadness, worry, hopelessness, withdrawal and feelings of worthlessness, sometimes lasting for years (Gordon, Arike). The effects of depression can le... ... middle of paper ... ... point, the average age of onset being only 14, as stated in Marin Wilde’s article “Physiological systems under pressure.” However, depression caused by pressure from school does not necessarily leave after a couple of months, it follows them to college and reenters their lives at the workplace which can result in physical and mental trauma (Anexity.Org) In conclusion as a result of standardized tests, college admission anxiety,stress from school workload and pressure to do well, students are prone to depression. To create a pleasurable environment in which students don’t feel immense amounts of pressure and are willing to learn, school’s should change the institutional culture to decrease as much stress as possible. By excluding standardized testing, create classes that inform students how to deal with mental pressure and lastly, lower the amount of workload.

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