Middle and high school students are under more stress than ever before. The last "State of Our Nation's Youth" report, a periodic study conducted by the Horatio Alger Association, stated that the number of U.S. high school students who experience academic pressure increased by 62 percent over a seven-year period even though performance improved only modestly. The survey also showed that the number of students who spend more than 10 hours per week doing homework rose from 12 percent to 21 percent over three years.
Increasing Concerns About Academic Stress
In her January 3, 2011, NPR article entitled "What's New in High School? Stress Reduction 101," Tovia Smith explains how a growing number of parents and administrators are becoming very worried about the high-stress learning that their teenagers typically experience in school. The 2010 documentary The Race to Nowhere, produced by California parent Vicki Abeles, presented numerous stories of students suffering from burn-out from high achievement expectations and yet still reaching college without the needed skills.
According to the NPR article, some schools are experimenting with turning down the heat on students. A few have taken such measures as eliminating advanced placement classes, reducing the emphasis on textbook learning, and administering fewer tests. However, others worry that such measures are too extreme and will hurt a college bound student's chance of competing for spots in the nation's best colleges. Many schools and parents are focusing, instead, on giving students the tools for coping with the constant demands of school. This might include more counseling, yoga classes, breathing techniques, or designated homework free days.