Anecdotal reports from educators, combined with a surge in prescriptions for such medications as Ritalin and Prozac, suggest that students are experiencing increased stress in the classroom. At the root of the problem, some researchers suggest, are schools that primarily rank students based on their test scores.
Common responses to "exam stress," as Hayes characterizes it, include disturbed sleep patterns, tiredness, worry, irregular eating habits, increased infections, and inability to concentrate."
Our educational system is now relying more than ever on standardized tests that compare students to one another as the dominant assessment instrument. This tendency has forced teachers at all grade levels to "orient students to performance goals and comparative standards of excellence instead of internal mastery goals," says Scott Paris, a professor of psychology at the University of Michigan. The emphasis on external goals, Paris suggests, has created an unhealthy classroom scenario in which "standardized tests provoke considerable anxiety among students that seems to increase with their age and experience."
How Does the Brain React to Stress in the Classroom?
Stress is the body's general response to any intense physical, emotional or mental demand placed on it. A student's reaction, for example, to a teacher's reminder that a final exam will be presented next week, may induce stress that triggers the sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous and endocrine systems, according to Nicky Hayes, editor of Foundations of Psychology. Common responses to "exam stress," as Hayes characterizes it, include disturbed sleep patterns, tiredness, worry, irregular eating habits, increased infections, and inability to concentrate.
In addition, researchers studying cognitive impairment report decreased memory capacity in stressed individuals. Studies employing Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) technology also indicate that chronically stressful conditions correspond with selective atrophy in the human brain.
Where is stress processed in a person's brain? Researchers have demonstrated at least three separate brain regions that play integral roles in the way someone processes stress in the form of fear. The prefrontal cortex, which specializes as a cognitive and emotional area, is thought to participate in the interpretation of sensory stimuli. Thus, it may be the site where the potential for danger is first assessed.
A second area involved in processing fear is the amygdala, which resides in a "primitive" area of the brain called the limbic system (that includes the hippocampus). Both the wider and more generalized limbic system and the smaller, more specialized amygdala are areas where anxiety is initiated and routed.
The third area, located at the base of the brain, is the hypothalamus. This area, in response to signals sent from the prefrontal cortex and amygdala, coordinates the release of hormones that drive a person's motor responses to perceived threats.
In particular, the stress signals originating from the limbic system and other cortical regions cause the hypothalamus to secrete a corticotropin-releasing hormone. This liquid protein prompts the pituitary gland to emit adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH). In turn, ACTH causes the adrenal gland to release corisol and, in so doing, prepares the body to defend itself.
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