Countering the Stress and Anxiety of Modern Learning

Matthew Howell, a school principal, wrote this piece in 2017 about helping students cope with high stress and high expectations, with three ideas: authentic goals, curiosity and less standardization. A new section after the original text brings the data up to date and suggests steps for schools and families.

Helping students cope with high stress and high expectations by Matthew S. Howell

Early in my career as a principal I came across a student in our hallways that did not look well. The blood was gone from her face and she looked ghastly, standing at her locker, binders in hand, Chromebook under her left arm, musical instrument in its case lying at her feet. The bell had rung; she was late, however she was not in a hurry to make it to class. I stopped and asked if everything was alright, and her eyes immediately welled up with tears.

As she began to cry our guidance counselor came around the corner and saw us there. She interceded and asked the young lady if she wanted to go to her office so they could talk. The student began to sob uncontrollably as they turned to walk down the hall.

I closed the locker that was left ajar and offered a few words of support. I knew my counselor would let me know what going on after she made an assessment. A short time later we met to debrief. “Is everything alright?”

“Stress” the counselor told me. “She had gotten an eighty-eight on her algebra test, and the winter concert is coming. She has several projects due by the end of the week and her parents are after her to practice harder for her travel soccer team.  She is afraid that she may not make honor roll this marking period too.”

Unfortunately, this is an all too common scenario. As educators, we are witness to students who are coming of age in an era of information overload.  Students are often overwhelmed, anxious and restless. It is not uncommon for learners to be overscheduled as they try to navigate a do-it-all society with do-it-all perfectly expectations.

In a 2015 study conducted by New York University, nearly half (49 percent) of all high school students reported feeling a great deal of stress on a daily basis. The source of these feelings were attributed to grades, homework and preparing for college.

This negative mindset is often associated with attachments to specific outcomes which can be at the root of these overwhelming feelings. Students often have clear-cut determinations about what it means to be a success or a failure, yet they are unclear about what brings them happiness or peace of mind. The associated anxiety can lead to thoughts of self-doubt, fear, and in the case noted above, students who are literally petrified.

The reality is that this is often the norm. While the manifestation of the root cause may vary based on the individual, the driving factors are usually very similar. I have not found a cure for this particular societal ailment; however, I would like to share three things to help students who are struggling to cope.

1.) Authenticity is Key  

Unmet and unrealized expectations have serious implications for a student.  When a goal is not complete, an achievement is not reached, a certain status is yet to be attained – it is often considered failure. For some the setback is genuine because the target was determined by the individual. The due course of the process allows for evaluation and adjustment. This indicates an authentic goal that is intrinsically motivated.

Unfortunately, students often operate under expectations that are not of their own design. What’s worse is that the same learner may have little or no awareness of what their own essential desires and goals are. For these students, whether they are high achievers or struggling learners, goals are foisted upon them.  

Teachers can encourage students to identify their authentic nature. Allow them to remain in a state of process rather than a firmly wired pattern of starts and stops. Give your learners space to consider how certain tasks feel for them and create evaluative assessments that give pause for self-reflection. Wondrous things can happen for a person when they are able to draw direct correlations from what they do to who they are in the world.

2.) Curiosity is Essential  

Beyond challenge, beyond rigor and assessment, beyond mastery and development, lies the true key to learning which is curiosity. With information at the fingertip and answers to questions seemingly accessible at the touch of a screen, the foundational element of curiosity can be lost for a student.  

Modern education espouses a belief in the cultivation of lifelong learners, but that often equates to an individual who is able to gather information and synthesize concepts.  Of course these are processes that are essential to learning, but they are not the seed of inspiration and creativity. If you want to help develop a lifelong learner, allow innate curiosity to thrive. Support your students in a manner that allows them to freely pursue understanding without the stress and anxiety of attainment. Spark the flames of curiosity.  

When fostered and protected appropriately, curiosity can be the impetus for a never-ending pursuit of knowledge. Educators can develop this in their classroom by encouraging imagination. Students should be encouraged to seek connections between topics.  Spend time teaching the skills associated with question development. The old axiom holds true; the person with the best question is the smartest person in the room, and great questions are born from curiosity.

3.) Break Free from Standardization  

The more students are asked to complete standardized tasks and assessments, the more internal unrest they will have. Students are naturally intuitive. When asked to complete tasks that are counter to their own internal goals, anxiety and cognitive dissonance can arise. Even worse, high stake tasks that serve no purpose outside of data cultivation are construed as empty and void of purpose.

Educators can design programs and lessons that are free from the negative impacts of standardization. Decenter grading systems by moving to goal-oriented projects without point values. Emphasize portfolio assessments that account for the totality of a student’s efforts. Encourage self-evaluation. Rather than having students submit work in the hope that the teacher will find it acceptable, encourage learners to develop honest standards of self-scrutiny. Ask questions like, what did you get out of the project? How can you see this working in your own life? Where else have you learned similar ideas? Require students to submit these reflections with their final products.

It is great to challenge learners, as a matter of fact, it is crucial to development, but the challenge should not come at the cost of happiness. When the price of academic rigor is emotional unrest and uncertainty then the expense is too high. Finding another approach will ensure that students are productive and engaged in the near and far-term.  

Student stress and anxiety in 2026: what current data show and what schools can do

Matthew Howell’s article above begins with a student in a school hallway overwhelmed by tests, a concert, projects and sports, and it cites a 2015 New York University study in which 49 percent of high school students reported a great deal of stress daily. Student stress and anxiety remain a daily concern for teachers, and newer national data give a wider picture. This section sets out what those data measure, how Howell’s ideas fit, and what a school can do.

What national data show

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey is the main national source on the subject. In its 2023 results, 40 percent of high school students reported persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, down from 42 percent in 2021. Among female students the figure was 53 percent, down from 57 percent in 2021. Among female students, 27 percent said they had seriously considered attempting suicide, down from 30 percent in 2021.

Readers should be careful about what these numbers mean. The survey asks about sadness and hopelessness, which differ from stress or anxiety, and the results cannot be compared directly with the 2015 stress figure Howell cites, since the studies asked different questions of different groups. The CDC summary used here gives no 2023 figure for male students. The direction is also mixed, since the numbers are lower than in 2021 but remain high. A school can reasonably conclude that large shares of students are struggling. Counts from a national survey do not say how any one school is doing, so a school that wants its own picture can ask students and families directly through a short, anonymous survey, and ask its counselors what they are seeing.

How Howell’s three ideas hold up

Howell’s first idea, authentic goals, asks teachers to help students identify goals that are their own and not imposed. A teacher can do this by building short reflection into assignments, asking what the student wanted from the work and what was difficult. The second, curiosity, encourages students to ask questions and connect topics. Teaching question development is practical and costs little. The third, moving away from standardization, is the most debated. Howell suggested goal-oriented projects without point values and portfolios. Teachers and families may reasonably worry that grades and tests serve a purpose, and that removing them can leave students unsure where they stand. A middle course is to keep grading but give students more say in the goals and more chances to revise.

Howell wrote from experience as a principal and did not present research testing these ideas, so they are best understood as informed suggestions and not proven interventions. Even so, several of them are inexpensive to try for a few weeks, and a teacher can judge from student reactions and work whether they help. Giving students more voice in their goals, in particular, fits with the broader social-emotional learning work many schools already do.

What a school can do

• Look at workload as a whole. The student in Howell’s opening had a test, a concert, several projects and a sports commitment in one week. Teachers on the same grade can compare due dates so that assignments do not pile up in one stretch.
• Make sure students know who to talk to. Counselors, school psychologists and social workers are the people trained to assess a student in distress, as Howell’s counselor did.
• Teach coping skills inside the school day. edCircuit’s social-emotional learning guide and its article on student mental health are places to start.
• Tell families what signs to watch for, such as changes in sleep, appetite, mood or school attendance, and when to contact the school or a pediatrician.
• Review how grades are communicated, so that one score does not stand in for a student’s worth.

A student who shows signs of serious distress, or talks about self-harm, needs a qualified professional promptly. Teachers should follow their school’s procedures and bring in the counselor or an administrator at once, and families should contact a doctor or a mental health professional. In an emergency, call local emergency services.

Stress that turns into thoughts of self-harm needs qualified help straight away. A student, parent or teacher can call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, which is free, confidential and open at all hours.

Further Reading

1. USA Today – Teens feeling stressed, and many not managing it well
2. NBC News – Teens More Stressed-Out Than Adults, Survey Shows
3. The Atlantic – High-Stress High School

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