Get Going Workshops

by Joanne Levy-Prewitt

Teaching Students How To Manage In A “Culture Of Stress”

Several years ago I attended a counselor conference at a small liberal arts college in Southern California. The president of the college remarked that one-third of the students at his college had been diagnosed with psychological disorders including anxiety, depression and eating disorders. He said that the percentage of students who were on medications increased every year.

Then he turned to us, the counselors and educators, and with a straight face, asked whether we knew what could possibly be causing so many students to arrive at his college so troubled.

Civil unrest would be the best way to describe the audience reaction. One counselor resolutely stood and within moments became our ad hoc spokesperson. She said the inherent stress of the college admissions process induces fear in the hearts of college-bound high school students.

At that moment, I wondered if we weren't all horribly naive; it seemed that colleges were conveniently shifting the responsibility for the kids' mental health to parents and schools, and parents and schools were blaming the growing figures on the colleges' decreasing acceptance rates.

Our students are caught in the middle of a complicated academic culture that pushes high expectations, yet abdicates any responsibility for the high stress it induces.

Maria Pascucci, founder of CampusCalm.com, was faced with her own unmanageable stress in college. Pascucci was a classic perfectionist. A straight-A student in high school and college, she was unwilling to acknowledge that a B was a good grade, too. In college, after finding herself unprepared for a final exam, she ran out of the classroom and had her first full-blown panic attack. After graduation, she battled depression and stomach problems before concluding that her perfectionism was controlling her life and damaging her health. She started CampusCalm.com so that high school and college students could learn strategies for managing stress.

"My goal is to tell kids that you don't have to be perfect," Pascucci told me in a telephone interview. "You don't have to get straight A's to be successful. I want kids to come to my Web site and see creative ideas and ways to lower stress. Kids sacrifice sleep, exercise or healthy eating. I don't want kids to go through what I went through."

Pascucci's Web site emphasizes "personal well-being" and features a free bi-weekly "e-zine" with tips for managing stress. CampusCalm.com also has articles addressing the psychological price paid by overachievers. One article, called "Stressed-Out Students: Take 10 Steps Toward a Healthy 2007," features tips such as allowing time for sleep, exercise and adequate nutrition, as well as trying to align personal goals with personal happiness. She says that young adults should be grateful for their healthy bodies.

While I agree with the counselor who eloquently said that colleges should examine their own practices for the solution to students' mental health woes, I also know we live in a culture of stress, and complicated though it is, college admission is not the only source of anxiety for our young adults.

I'm not ready to give up on colleges that emphasize business rather than education. I do believe that the more consumers pressure colleges to emphasize education over magazine rankings and human character above a long resume, the more honest the admission process will become. But, like Maria Pascucci does through her Web site, I think we better serve our students when we teach them coping mechanisms to handle life's stresses. When we see a healthy balance of both, I think students will meet the high academic expectations with confidence, rather than fear.

COPYRIGHT 2007 JOANNE LEVY-PREWITT