Why does school cause so much stress?

The Hangout School
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The main reason school causes stress for everyone is because it’s something that controls their future. We’ve been taught to pass school so that we can have a better life. The stress can come from multiple parties that are pushing the student to do well so that they can get into the next grade, find a great college, get a degree, find a good career from that degree. Though it has been proven that even if you get a degree from the college in a certain major you are likely to not find a job. I’ve always heard people who are from different generations say that you need to finish school to have a good life. They are correct to an extent. You need to get your first 12 years of schooling. To be honest, School is just another way to make people compete for the highest spot in life. Don’t let them push you to this level. You need to be yourself mentally and health-wise. These are the two things students will throw out the window just to bend over backward to get to a better life.

List of the biggest stresses over school:

  • High expectations from parents - if you come from a family that expects you to get A+ and A’s grade-wise this can be a huge factor in stress. It’s hard to keep up with a facade they have created for you.

  • Passing the Class for Activities - If you are part of a sport, theatre, or any club like that then you are expected to make good grades in order to stay in those groups. This can cause stress for students who can’t keep up normally in school.

  • Making it to the next grade - Passing a grade can be a challenge for those who struggle in school or have lots of pressure from family members. This can be hard on the students which adds to the stress. Especially since a lot of people get slack for having to redo a grade. Everyone learns in their own way some need extra time or even just redo the grade again in order to learn.

  • Good Grades Means Better Colleges - Another stress that piles onto the student is the expectation that in order to get into a great college you need to make the best grades possible. Though there is a good chance that the school you’re aiming for that requires good grades might not be all it’s cracked up to be. There are many ways to get the education you need without having to go to major colleges.

@Discussions
@Students

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There is a lot of pressue and expectations put on students and often they lack a real “safe space” to unwind

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School is only hell while you are still in it. Whenever I am OUT of school, I keep wanting to go back. Whenever I am IN school, I can hardly wait to finish and get OUT.

High expectations from parents: Parents can’t control your adult life. Just wait it out and do your own thing.

Passing the class for activities: It’s been proven medically that the brain is a muscle you have to work out, just like the rest of your athletic body.

Making it to the next grade: You actually have a good year or two that you can afford to be “held back” and still be able to graduate.

Good grades means better colleges: INCORRECT. This is where I put my foot down. Even if you scrape by and get C’s and go to a community college, you are GOLDEN when it comes to getting a college degree. I hate that no one tells you that you don’t NEED to be valedictorian or go to Harvard to get the high-paying job you want. It’s ridiculous. Go to a cheap college, finish your degree, and go get that green.

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These two suck, especially in Korea!

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I’m a sophomore in highschool.

I have all As for the most part.

It’s stressful and I’m burnt out. Homework takes forever to complete and it’s too much I think. I’m taking two honors classes and next year I’m gonna ramp it up. I feel like I have to to get into a good college, an esteemed University just to make ends meet when I’m older.

The American school system is super flawed.

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Expectations and school work is what does it for me. Also being a senior and doing all that fun stuff!

I go to a really good school but it is still stressful but I really love it. Which is one of the main reasons why I want to be a teacher. It’s not a place where there’s a lot of opportunities like honors but it’s small and everyone is very kind and genuine. My parents have never expected anything from us, including grades, and so I’ve never worried about that.

I have had very insecure moments though when I wasn’t at my best/top of the class or making all the “good” comments or remarks and felt very very worthless. Even tho there is no “top” of the class at least at my school, and even though I have good parents, and go to an unconventional school-- there is still that need to be the “best” or “brightest” and most hardworking ESPECIALLY if you feel socially ostracized because if you are the best or brightest you can almost have an excuse. But obviously this isn’t the case, this is all very very subjective. We don’t really have popular people at my school but I found out this year that the people I thought to be popular were all a**holes and I’m glad they’re graduated now.

Learning is subjective and all of that. You also don’t accurately know your own strengths in the class, but you do end up comparing yourself. Tbh, I think that middle school set this up for me, this feeling of needing to be the “best” when they were always comparing you to other students… etc. I think highschool can do this too but in my case, that didn’t really happen.

I really wish we could truly disregard all this and each learn at our own pace and not view ourselves as “better” or “worse” or “behind” or “ahead”. I have less of this thinking now, but there was a moment when I was in my lit class and I felt really really worthless and I felt like I could almost cry and I was grateful for the mask lol. I felt like I wasn’t doing enough, that I was dumb, and that I would never be as good as everyone else in the class. When it’s not that clear cut- especially in literature, a subject I do in fact thrive in. Nobody had said anything mean to me to cause this, and nothing happened it was just a build up of insecurities. Which would have almost caused me to start randomly crying in class which would have been humiliating :sweat_smile:.

I’ve always been a very hardworking person/learner and that causes stress because I always try to put extra effort into each assignment. And in the past, I’ve had trouble forgiving myself when I needed a break and either couldn’t get an assignment in on time (that’s only happened like a couple times tho) or just did it very very last minute and badly… but now I’m better at seeing when I need a break and I can be like, “I did try my best with this, I’m not at 100% Izzy rn, so right now, today, this is the best I can do.”

And this is a hard topic for me to think about sometimes because I want to be a highschool English teacher and our system SUCKS. But I want to do things like give lots of homework because then my students can get more experienced with literature/ more in-depth if we don’t have time in class (cuz that’s what my teacher does and although it is stressful and a lot I love it because it makes me proud of myself when I do it, it makes me feel more educated/informed about something I love learning about), but I almost wish these didn’t have to be graded/grades weren’t important. And there’s a lot of things like this that I try and think about, but idk if I’ll ever have solutions to them. There’s only so much a teacher can do before the system utterly fails them, especially here in America.

Uhh anyway that was my Ted-Talk :sweat_smile: :see_no_evil:

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I was always someone who cared about what people think of me and I became kind of paranoid, I always think people are talking behind my back + I don’t want to let people down so I try to at least have good grades because I’m afraid if I get a low score people are gonna talk about it and make me feel bad
I don’t know if that makes sense

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Honestly? The teachers suck. Because of the education system. And because of the government itself, so is the education system.

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How so?

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In my opinion, the students aren’t being taught the right stuff, which leaves them generally unprepared for the real world, no matter how much school teachers claim school does that for you (spoiler: it doesn’t.)

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I do agree there.
What would you say the right should be?

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Essential things for life, like sexuality, relationships, money, family, essential skills like cooking, being able to pick that the student is actually interested in and basing their classes around said subject or skill set…

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That’s fair, although catering to each individual is probably too much when it comes to basing it on subjects and skills.

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That’s kinda true. It should be more broad, that’s for sure.

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Yeah, exactly. I think schools should teach more about budgeting and taxes.

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Absolutely!

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For me cuz I struggle with concentrating on tasks (my undiagnosed Adhd causes some real problems) and I can’t really do anything about it. Not until I find the right meds at least.

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Yes it dies