Harbor School Addresses Student Stress Issues in Schools with Film, Discussion

Harbor Country Day School exposed the stresses and pressures students face in schools today, an issue that plagues the educational system, through showing Race To Nowhere, a film aimed at addressing these issues. While the film brought out a large audience, the discussion with a panel of educators, psychologists and more provided detailed analysis of the issues. 

Issues discussed involved today’s students attending schools becoming a factory to produce professionals instead of allowing students to find who they are as individuals. These issues have many roots, from the use of standardized tests to family pressures, societal standards, college anxiety and much more.

These stressors and pressures prove to be unhealthy to today’s students.

“There’s an acronym that’s used in 12 step programs called H.A.L.T. – Hungry, Angry, Lonely and Tired – and I think our children evidence this to us but I think us as parents and as educators sometimes we want to ignore it because we bought into the very paradigm that’s supposed to produce happy, successful children,” said Beth Forhman, Director of Family Therapy at Bio-Behavioral Institute. “The key to happiness and success is not getting a 4.0 average or taking AP courses or winding up going to an Ivy League school that there’s so much else that gets neglected in children’s development we worry about this, we worry about formulas that we believe to be tried-and-true.”

One comment that garnered applause from the audience and the panel was from mother of three and former AP English teacher Destine Wahib when she asked if “there was a way of criminalizing standardized tests.”

While Head of School of Harbor Country Day School Chris Pryor said after the film and discussion that he wouldn’t refer to standardized tests as criminal, he did say they weren’t enough and don’t provide a proper assessment of all students.

“Standardized tests certainly provide a quality assessment tool, but its just one piece of the entire assessment of the child,” Pryor said. “Standardized assessments have their place but we can’t put all of our eggs in that one basket and we also have to look at what kind of student they are, what are their passions. These are all things that are truly important.”

Many of the standardized tests which came under fire in the film and discussion after were those instituted in the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, an act proposed by the George W. Bush administration that instituted standards-based education reform, where high standards and measurable goals were believed to have the ability to improve the educational system. Since the inception of mandated tests, educators and others involved in the educational system have voiced concerns of the troubles they have caused.

“When you’re mandated to standardized tests in order to asses faculty, in order to maybe receive funding in some way or another, you’re not going to be teaching creatively, you’re going to be drilling facts because you want them to do well on the tests,” Pryor said. “I really think sometimes we really have to back away from those tests and teach those 21st century skills – creativity and collaboration and analysis, critical thinking skills that are going to help these students in the next 50 years. I do think some of the creativity is being pulled out of schools.”

College pressures and the pursuit of attending a school labeled “the best” has also been labeled a disruptor to the way kids view and receive formal education today.

“There’s an incredible interest and fixation of the top 100 schools in this country, we love talking about those top 100 or Ivy League,” said Gregg Glover, Associate Director of Admissions at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. “There are over 4,000 institutions in this country and most, over 50 percent, accept every student that applies. There’s so many great places out there, so have the conversations with your kids about finding something that fits.”

This focus on the pursuit of a top college is a concern of Wahib.

“I hope they [schools] move away from concerns about college and move toward the very young child and try to change education from the bottom up,” Wahib said. “I’m hoping that there’s some community focus that will come out of this that leads to individualized learning plans.”

Wahib went on to question the curriculum students have to wait for college to learn.

“In high school, where we have four years of trapped audience, provide courses in education,” she said. “Why does an American have to wait to go to college to take foundations of American education? Why can’t it be offered in high school?”

While much of the discussion focused on how the educational system can make education tougher for students, Head of School of Portledge School Steve Hahn said stressors could be alleviated through less focus on education while home.

“I think it’s really important to separate home from school so that when kids are at home they’re not being judged by what’s going on in school and you have a home life,” he said. “It’s okay to fail in schools, it’s actually quite healthy, we learn a lot from that, but it’s not really okay to fail at home. I think that parents really have to attend to their responsibilities, trust in the schools to do the best job that they can.”

While many issues were discussed, only one clear answer was given: focus needs to shift from the student body to the individual student.

“I don’t have the overall answer, the one big answer that’s inside the educational system, but what I do know is that we’ve got to treat people like as individuals and look at particular skills that students have and continue to foster those skills,” Pryor said. “We’ve got to know who our kids are and we’ve got to teach the critical skills that are so important."