Can Stress be Good?

I know that many children experience stress when it comes to taking an achievement test. Some with good reason.  

Years ago a primary-age student came to us to take her first achievement test.  Her parents arranged for her to have a private exam. For the first half of the exam things seemed to progress normally. After the break, the student re-entered the testing room and was very quiet.  Soon she began to tear up and sniffle.  By the end of the test she ran out of the room, hugged her parents, and cried.  

Here’s the story behind the story.  Her parents, like most, wanted her to put out a good effort so that her results would reflect what she had learned the previous nine months.  I think they also saw her performance as a reflection on their teaching and parenting. They said three things which set her off.   

The first was that if she didn’t pass the test, she would have to go to school.  While some kids might consider this a reward, a way to put some space between themselves and an overbearing parent, that wasn’t true in her case.  She desperately wanted to be home-schooled.  Secondly, they told her they would be sending her to the private school where the teacher who was giving the test taught.  And finally, they said the examiner giving her the test would be her new teacher.  In her mind this would be sheer torture and it sent her over the edge. Were they really going to send her to school?  No.  They just overdid it. They stressed her out.   

Keep in mind that a certain amount of stress is necessary in life for anything to happen.  A few generalities that all kids, home schooled or otherwise, realize (or should realize) by the end of high school:  If getting good grades are important to you, you’ll need to study.  If you want a raise where you’re working and the possibility for one exists, you’ll need to work hard to get noticed. If it’s absolutely essential to get to that appointment on time, you’ll need to leave early.  

Likewise, if grades aren’t important, don’t study.  “F’s” are fine.  If you don’t care about keeping your job, don’t show up for work.  And if that appointment isn’t important, sleep in… 

Stress, in and of itself, isn’t the problem.  It’s the level or degree of stress that you have to watch.  The thing about stress is that when there is too little of it, the results will not be productive. We’re likely to go to sleep. When there is too much stress, the same will also be true.  We may have trouble concentrating. Sometimes we completely shut down.  

Keeping the level of stress balanced when it comes to preparing your child for his or her achievement test is the key–not too much, but not too little. 

Thanks for reading!

Curt Bumcrot, MRE 

For the month of January, our achievement test options are discounted. Only one more week to take advantage of discount pricing on achievement testing. To take advantage of this offer, you simply need to registrar and pay for testing this month. You may schedule to test anytime in 2021.

Beginning February 1st, prices go up. 

To take advantage of this offer, go here.