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More than ever, validation is critical in our
education system. Western society is experiencing a dramatic rise in chronic
anxiety that is limiting the
ability of students to cope with circumstances we met with temporary worry. The
American College Health Association found that
undergraduates experienced “overwhelming anxiety” from fifty percent in 2011 to
an astounding sixty-two percent in 2016. Hospital admissions for suicidal
teenagers in many demographics has doubled over the past decade.1
The National Institute of Mental Health reports that anxiety disorder is the most prevalent mental
health disorder in the United States encompassing one-third of the adolescent
and adult population. They found that approximately thirty percent of girls and
twenty percent of boys, or nearly seven million teens, had a depressive episode
that significantly impaired their mental function. This is likely a low
estimate since only about twenty percent of young people get treatment.2
Furthermore, it embraces both college-bound and those that are not, and is
prevalent in all demographics: urban, suburban, and rural communities. Several
are on your class rosters.
Counselors are reporting
that young people these days are less resilient than their parents'
foundational years, overwhelmed, not developing the coping mechanism to deal
with an assortment of stimuli in their lives such as talking in class, sitting
near the front of the room, taking a quiz, coming to school, walking home from
school, or eating in public. Nevertheless, there are several well-publicized
issues confronting them such as unsafe neighborhoods, domestic abuse,
undocumented family members, awareness of dangerous intruders entering schools
with weapons, and the range of calamities that flash across the screens of
their devices all day. It is an overload, enhanced with schoolwork and managing
their social-media identity. Like you, there were issues in my adolescence that
made me anxious, but nothing as frequent and widespread as American teens are
facing today.
In addition, while many
parents are very nurturing, they are also setting lofty standards that lead to
perfectionism in children, and with it the ongoing need to improve their
portfolio for college admission. Extracurriculars are beneficial, but to set
themselves apart and embellish their transcript, the student will jam up their
schedule, for instance, and enroll in an additional Advanced Placement course
while balancing sport and community service responsibilities. These
participations are not bad in themselves, but are an overload, setting in motion
a never-ending nervous cycle initiated before high school, increasing as the
student approaches his/her senior year when the application process supersedes
coursework in priority, becoming insurmountable with forms and essays. There is
always a feeling that they are not measuring up, a sense of inadequacy that
initiates and sustains anxiety. The mindset of one
scenario would be the crescendo of disaster after getting a mediocre or bad
score on a quiz: a low grade for the marking period, the semester, the year,
and then a low grade-point average, ruined transcript, denial from the number
one college choice.
I observed throngs of
seniors succumbing to the pressure, displaying burnout and discipline issues
months before their commencement, especially after receiving an acceptance
letter (some in November). Realizing
they cannot contend with the problems created by the oldest members of the
student body, schools sometimes graduate seniors weeks before the school year
ends, often coinciding with the culmination of the Advanced Placement Exam
schedule.
It is not just parental
expectations that enter the equation but the inclusion of iPhone and similar
devices. What was once a diversion with video games decades ago has become a
full-blown preoccupation with online venues that are nearly as addicting as
drugs or gambling, a preoccupation initiated as early as fifth grade. Anxiety existed before
Instagram, but the effect is intensified because the texting and posting occur
around the clock as teens are checking on their peers, judging their self-worth
online, wondering if their appearance on another's timeline will be validated,
if they are invited to a party, or how many likes they get on Facebook. Because
of the enormous emphasis on physical beauty, students incorporate Photoshop to
alter personal photos to maximize their exposure on all sorts of online venues
to be perfect before the world – a risk because of the potential cruel reviews
for the community to see.
Social exclusion is
particularly painful. Online bullying on Instagram and Snapchat is ever
pervasive, to the point where many skip school to avoid further shame and
ridicule. In other words, the assaults are not occurring just in school but in
their homes, on those small screens, even while sitting next to their parents,
unable to break away from the continuous noise of the online community.
Essentially their entire
social life is played out by what transpires on those screens all day and all
night, thus not able to distinguish between the real and online realms of their
existence, never building a healthy self-concept through face to face
interactions and other social venues. Anxiety becomes the norm and young people
are harming themselves at an increasing rate by cutting, a physical procedure
that engages the endogenous opioid system to cope with the anxiety. Self-harm has become the secret, compulsive outgrowth of
the depressed teen in this generation.3,4,5
Anxiety is exasperated by
divorce, poverty, sexualized and violent television, as well as cost of
housing, health insurance, and skyrocketing living expenses.
Philip Kendall, author and director of
the Child and Adolescent Anxiety
Disorders Clinic at Temple University comments:
Anxiety is normal and all of us have experienced it to
one degree or another, but it can be inhibiting and quite detrimental when it
is irrational and maladaptive. It may have a physiological basis and for some,
it is in their heads. Kids diagnosed with anxiety disorder are not the ones
that necessarily disrupt your class but are nevertheless suffering internally.
Anxiety is a
gateway to further mental health problems, later depression, some substance
abuse, some suicidal ideation, particularly if it is not treated early in life.
Educators tend to accommodate anxious kids (turn in a paper rather than give an
oral report) which does not help the child overcome anxiety. My finding is that
children overcome anxiety by teachers creating environments that build skills
so that they gradually expose the anxious student, test out their catastrophic
thinking, and find out it is not as bad as they thought.6
If our youth are experiencing overwhelming
anxiety as written in The
American College Health Association 2016 report, we must
contend with a new mental health crisis in our classrooms and the consequential
interference transpiring in student brains as we transmit content. Imagine
trying to concentrate in a classroom when you are paralyzed by feelings of
inadequacy, consumed by perceptions of your dumb persona, worried about the
next attack on your appearance, unable to assert yourself as a cool person.
Therefore, how important
is validation in our modern educational system? I believe validating and
empowering young people is a crucial element in their mental and emotional
development that can counteract those inadequacies. The participatory and
collaborative classroom offers a range of affirmations that build student
confidence amidst peers, minimizing competitive and pejorative comments, and
creates camaraderie and tolerance.
Consider, too, that the
bar is higher because we live in an information explosion era that wants our
nation to bolster productivity in the highly competitive global marketplace,
with vast resources that are no longer restricted to libraries but instantly
available on the Web, accessible to everyone, and along with it, the urgency to
produce a more literate and creative youth right down to children in primary
school.
There was one Advanced
Placement course available when I attended high school but thirty-eight are
offered today across a variety of disciplines! The perception is that
competency in the three R's: Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic is old-fashioned,
not enough to accommodate the skill set needed in the current global economy –
students must be exposed to the sophistication of university-level subjects,
and school districts (as well as The Educational Testing Service) are following
suit, encouraging students to enroll in these high gain courses. The exams are
challenging and require a dedicated and organized teacher to meet the needs of
teenagers to assimilate the vast knowledge base and skills associated with the
nationally devised syllabi.
The American
student
Emotional maturity has declined, and well-advertised societal ills
coupled with enhanced curricular demands are creating elevated levels of
anxiety and depression in a segment of our youth population. Studies have
examined the emotional development and learning styles of children over several
decades. Here are some findings:
1. The High School Survey of Student
Engagement (HSSSE) discovered in their 2009 report compiled from 42,000
students that fifty percent pondered dropping out, did not like their teachers,
and did not see value in their courses. The researchers concluded that overall
"two-thirds are bored or essentially not connected to school."7
2. The Interpersonal Reactivity Index,
administered annually to college students since the late 1970s, reveals a
significant increase in narcissism and a decline in empathy.8,9
3. A fifty-year examination of college
age students administered the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
(MMPI) revealed that eight percent of college students who took the test
between 2000 and 2007 scored above the usual cutoff for clinical depression
compared to one percent of those who took the test between 1938 and 1955.10
4. Nearly 33% of the students in a midwestern
state's college system reported clinically significant mental health symptoms
over the previous year on the 2015. Health counselors reported, too, that almost
ten percent seriously thought about ending their life and over one percent
(2,000 students) attempted suicide.11
It took me a few years to recognize that teams
and classroom leadership opportunities tap into a student's phenomenal
reservoir of spirit and drive. For that reason, I share several anecdotes that
were instrumental in shaping my pedagogy. I observed how teachers generated
attention, sometimes overheard students discuss how my colleagues operated, and
conferenced with them to discover methods they found effective when
transmitting content. Professional periodicals in my discipline had many
helpful suggestions and maintaining a journal as ideas crossed my mind helped
to appropriate innovations that often proved successful in both the management
and attentiveness of my charges.
It started with the
basics: chalkboard, purple spirit master handouts, an overhead projector, and a
reel to reel film projector (in the AV director's office). But then came the new wave of technology that
some of us were reluctant to use like PowerPoint, online homework services,
computer guided scientific interface devices (pH, temperature, voltage probes,
and much more), VHS, DVDs, Smart Boards, and any app out there. I gradually
incorporated many of them to become a better content area facilitator.
The brain of a child is
capable of an incredible number of tasks that embrace the psychomotor realm,
evaluative and creative thought, interpretive and written ideas, poetic, and
computational strategies. That happens when students, including anxious
individuals, are affirmed as competent, drawn into the process as teammates,
demonstrative and spontaneous because their effort is recognized and valued. I
was inspired, therefore, to structure curriculum and behavior standards to meet
the needs of students in a participatory environment and stipulated
expectations that led to their success as facilitators, leaders, and advocates.
It was with some courage that I departed from the autocratic paradigm (clung to
so fervently) and in a measured manner
let students take the reins, empowered them to run the class as competent
knowledge facilitators. Every child was engaged, and the atmosphere was
purposeful and happy. It was in this scenario that I had energy and joy
throughout the day and school year.
References
1. The American College Health Association
(2017)
Retrieved from:
http://www.acha-ncha.org/docs/NCHA-II_SPRING_2017_UNDERGRADUATE_REFERENCE_GROUP_EXECUTIVE_SUMMARY.pdf
2. Anxiety Disorders, (2016) National Institute
of Mental Health,
Retrieved from
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/anxiety-disorders/index.shtml
3. Underwood, M., Faris, R, (October 6, 2015),
Being 13: Perils of lurking on social media, CNN
Retrieved from:
https://www.cnn.com/2015/10/05/opinions/underwood-faris-being-thirteen-lurking-social-media/index.html
4. Morin, A., (Nov, 13,2017) 10 Reasons Why
Today's Teenagers Are So Anxious, Psychology Today
Retrieved from:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/what-mentally-strong-people-dont-do/201711/10-reasons-why-todays-teenagers-are-so-anxious
5 Retrieved from:
http://time.com/4547322/american-teens-anxious-depressed-overwhelmed/
6. Philip C. Kendall - Child & Adolescent
Anxiety Disorders (2017) The Brainwaves Video Anthology
Retrieved from:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bukC7n7XZxM
7. Surveys of Student Engagement, National
Association of Independent Schools (2009)
Retrieved from
http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news-archive/14593.html
8. Konrath S., O'Brien, E., Hsing C., (August 5,
2010). Changes in dispositional empathy
in American college students over time: a meta-analysis, Pers Soc Psychol Rev.
(2011). May;15(2):180-98.
9. Thomaes S., Bushman B., Orobio de Castro B.,
Stegge H., (2009). What makes narcissists bloom? A framework for research on
the etiology and development of narcissism. Dev Psychopathol. 21(4):1233-47.
10. Twenge, J., Gentile, B., DeWall, N., Ma, D.,
Lacefield, K., Schurtz, D., (2010). Birth cohort increases in psychopathology
among young Americans, 1938–2007: A cross-temporal meta-analysis of the MMPI, Clinical Psychology Review 30 145–154
11. Herzog, K., (May 12, 2016). Anxious? Deeply depressed? More college
students saying yes, Milwaukee-Journal Sentinel.
