Everyone experiences stress on a daily basis. Whether the stress comes from picking an outfit or choosing the right college, it has an effect on people. High school students have many difficult decisions to make throughout their four years. In fact, stress on students has increased due to parents pushing kids harder, stricter guidelines to get into college, and ‘high stakes’ testing in schools.
Parents are pushing their kids harder now than ever. Over the years, parent’s expectations have increased, therefore increasing stress on their children. For example, a seven year old boy was left in tears after both parents criticized how he was playing his soccer game. Dr. Henry Goitz says “parents who push too hard …show more content…
However, the ability to actually take in information diminishes after just half an hour. For example, a person can study for three hours and retain the same amount of information as someone who studied really well for thirty minutes (Edelstein, Daniel). The American InterContinental University says “Even if you are diligent and disciplined, you have a breaking point.” This means that even when someone thinks they’re studying hard, their brain is actually too tired and fatigued to remember things. Parents should encourage short breaks in study time to increase efficiency and the amount of information …show more content…
‘High stake’ tests include SAT’s, ACT’s, EOG’s, and other standardized tests. These ‘high stake’ tests require many hours of studying and a large amount of stress on students. Researchers at Cornell University say too much stress can cause students to “choke under pressure”. This means after the great deal of stress the students go through, they can forget the information and perform poorly on the test. ‘High stakes’ testing is not a good way to tell what a student has learned.
The ‘high stake’ tests do not show what a student knows. These tests cause a great deal of stress on the students and teachers. One example is that teachers have to ‘teach to the test’. This means teachers only teach to prepare students for a standardized test at the end of the course. The center for public education says that “standardized tests reduce in-depth learning and critical thinking for memorization of facts for multiple choice.” There are better ways to see what a student knows than a generalized