- I have a tendency to second guess myself, especially when it comes to writing. While I am happy with the final project, I still constantly think what can I go back and change. I guess if there was something I need to work on, judging by this project, is having more confidence in my writing. I will admit the peer review process helped with this a lot but even with that I was happy the instructor also responded and gave some suggestions to better my paper. This is also directly related to course outcome number eight, in that the peer review process did help me assess my own writing.
School-time Stress
Stress is something that most people have to cope with on a daily basis, but school seems to add another level of stress that most college students, especially freshmen, have to handle. There are many types of stress that are unique to school, such as bullies and homework. While having to cope with these daily causes of stress some younger college students have to be able to also learn to handle many outside sources, such as work, that many people already out of school have also. Positive ways to manage stress can range from easy techniques, for example breathing exercises, which require minimal effort to extreme techniques, such as moving to a new school, which may be needed to relieve severe stress. Unfortunately, students have dealt with stress in the past with negative to tragic results, like the Virginia Tech or Columbine massacres, that not only hurt the student under stress but others around them. College students and professors alike should learn to recognize the signs of their classmates and colleagues being overstressed because there are many different ways to cope with stress.
According to the American College Health Association they state “stress as the number-one impediment to academic performance” (Abrams, 2007), in their national college health assessment. The main academic cause of stress to college students is the feeling of being overwhelmed due to increased class work (Ross, 1999 p2), this is due to daunting deadlines and more homework than the student thinks they can handle. There is also a helpless feeling associated with the workload the student is under like no matter how hard he or she tries there is no end to the homework. Another cause of stress, partly associated with homework, is sometimes plans have to be changed due to the student may need to meet deadlines leading to a feeling of being alone (University, 2005). Students can also be pressured by a high academic demand; either by themselves or their parents, leading to stress due to getting grades on their work that is below standard. As the school year moves on it can at times seem like there is no end in sight causing more anxiety as it seems the winter or summer break will never arrive (Abrams, 2007). With this though another deadline presents in the form of final exams, with some of these exams being a large part of the final grade a student can achieve in the given class. All of these sources of stress seem to build up and cause increasing frustration, but there are some positive ways to handle this stress.
Being educated in some easy and positive ways to relieve stress should be the goal of most college students. According to Elizabeth Scott M.S., a therapist and life coach who runs stress management workshops, some of them are as simple as taking a power nap, this is also useful because it also improves productivity especially if the student is sleep deprived due to stress. Another method of stress reduction is exercise, as it is a healthy way to calm most people, and easy to work into a busy schedule since riding a stationary bike while studying or something similar is possible. Listening to a music, watching a television program, or reading a book (for enjoyment not school work) are also good ways to cope with the stress and take to help students break tasks into more manageable time frames (Scott, 2007). Another good way to handle the stress of school life is set some priorities and work at a set pace to accomplish tasks in the order of importance. It may sound silly but a good diet also helps manage stress “Pack a nutritious lunch -- don't make breakfast three cups of coffee and two chocolate doo-wahs out of the vending machines -- eat your veggies” (Glesner Fines, 1999), this also improves your over all health. In some more extreme cases of stress when it comes down to a person or place causing the problems it may call for some more drastic solutions, according to Kevin Caruso. Some of these are changing the students schedule as to avoid the cause of stress altogether. Other even more extreme may require the student to change their living arrangement by moving. Finding someone to talk to, such as a friend, family member, or a therapist about what is causing stress is also helpful in some cases (Caruso, 2007). Unfortunately there are also some negative ways students have discovered to handle the stress they are under.
Kevin Caruso also states “Stress isn't inherently bad. It causes you to respond to events, to rise to the challenge, and to better yourself. But too much stress can be catastrophic” (Caruso, 2007). By catastrophic the author is referring to stress leading to suicide. According to Ashley Engar “The second-leading cause of death in college students is suicide (Engar, 2004), this leads many people to believe that the high stress and anxiety causes many college students to attempt suicide. Some people do contest this as directly being related to stress caused by school especially since more college-aged young adults who are not in school commit suicide than those who are in school according to Brown University Psychological Services (Brown, N/A). The reason the number is lower is that school offers a support system for students who are in trouble and they can go to seek help as stated by Stayner Landward (Engar, 2004).Another negative way to handle stress in recent years has been school violence. These tragic massacres most are prone to point out were just evil acts by evil people and had nothing to do with the stress they were under (Shapiro, 2007). While others point out that if someone would have just taken the time to see the stress these students were under something more could have been done to avoid them (Yang 2007). On the other hand people, such as me, believe it is something more in the middle that causes this, while yes these students were under great stress, is it really enough to cause such a tragic event.
Since no student is effect by stress the same way another student may be it is hard to tell what each person may do under the pressures of school. If college students and their teachers learn to recognize the signs of someone under stress these tragedies could be avoided in the future. Things students should look for in their own live are headaches, feeling over anxious or having problems sleeping. Also things you can look for in others are they being bullied at school and look like they are taking it personally. Do they appear to be alone a lot or looking like they may be lonely (Yang, 2007)? In conclusion if students and teachers alike learn to look for these warning signs or others tragedies like this can be avoided in the future.
Works Cited:
Abrams, M. (2007) Managing stress in school. The
Caruso, K. (2007). Suicide and stress. Suicide.org. Retrieved
Engar, A. (March 26, 2004). Non-Student suicide rates higher than those in college. The Daily
Glasner Fines, B. (1999). Law school and stress.
Ross, S. (June 1999). Sources of stress among college students. College Student Journal. Retrieved July 20, 2007, from <http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FCR/is_2_33/ai_62839434/pg_1>
Scott, E. (June 21, 2007). Top 10 School Stress Relievers for Students. About.com. Retrieved July 9, 2007, from <http://stress.about.com/od/studentstress/tp/school_stress.htm.>
Shapiro, B. (April 25, 2007). Virginia Tech was an act of evil not a “tragedy”. Townhall.com. Retrieved July 23, 2007, from <http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BenShapiro/2007/04/25/virginia_tech_was_an_act_of_evil,_not_a_tragedy>.
Yang, B. (2007). A solution for someone like Cho Seung-Hui at Virginia Tech massacre. Health Articles Directory. Retrieved
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