10 Reasons Teens have so much anxiety today.
By UncategorizedAt The Learning Consultants, we spend a great deal of time obsessing over academic content. Whether it’s AP Calculus, physics, AP Lang/Lit, or others, we work very hard to be prepared to effectively teach our students a variety of subjects. Although helping our Fairfield County students to master academic content is central to our mission, I am discovering that emotional challenges – some blatant, but far more are subtle – can be a massive headwind for an increasing number of students. Particularly in Fairfield County, where we are surrounded by hard charging, type-A parents and students, anxiety issues are exploding in frequency. We at the Learning Consultants see first-hand how these issues can negatively impact students’ high school years. I meet students for the first time and am struck by the big dark circles under their eyes, the avoidance of eye contact, and the refraining from engaging in back and forth discussions as they sit back in silence. These days, especially when working with high school juniors and seniors who are in the heat of their college process, my first objective is to try to take the temperature down in terms of stress and to let them understand that they’ll be okay regardless of what might happen on their next AP Mircoeconomics exam. Once they feel an emotional connection and they realize that I am an ally and am in their corner, not another voice telling them that they need to excel or else, they relax and at last are able to think and engage in a more open and unrestrained manner. And this is where the real learning begins.
The article below by Amy Morin discusses teen anxiety, the exploding incidence of high school students afflicted by it, and how it might be affecting their high school experience, academically and socially. This topic is so relevant these days, and I don’t see this trend reversing any time soon.