Mr. Mark's Math Class Info Site Latest update: 20 May 2004

In class today I had a student in tears. (For some reason this happens quite often in my math classes... ten times so far this semester. My record for a semester is eleven.) Why does it happen so often in my classes? After all, I keep a friendly atmosphere... non-threatening, with a lot of laughs from goofy jokes or strange examples.

Today's tears were fallen out of anxiety... my student was very nervous about tomorrow's test, despite nailing nearly every problem in today's review.

It got me to wonder, Why do kids feel so much pressure to succeed? True, I cover a lot of material. True, I challenge my students daily. I've come to learn that student performance is directly linked to teacher expectations. I actually expect my students to learn the material covered in my classes... not just spit out answers that make me happy (and forget it once the unit test has been completed), but to be able to apply the knowledge they've gained in later or unfamiliar circumstances. The bar is set very high in my class, and my students are ingrained to know that.

At the same time, my firmest desire for each student is to give his or her best effort... every minute of every day, whether it's during examples covered in math class, how well a young person might write a poem in solitude, or how much joy they feel when doing something fun.

Some of my students who've cried have done so because they were caught doing something wrong... cheating on a test or not completing assigned work. Some of my students have cried when receiving a lower test score than he or she had hoped to receive. Kids have enough pressure from my own expectations that they shouldn't have to find more heaped on from other sources.

Keeping in mind my desire of one's best effort, today's example of test anxiety is completely unnecessary... it does nothing but hinder a student's performance. So, how do I help remove it?

The first thing that should go is rewards or punishments based solely on grades. A grade on a paper should be reward enough... A's for students who learned the material, F's for those who didn't, and anywhere in between for those in between. To add things like, "If I don't get an A, I won't be able to go out with my friends this weekend," or, "If I get an F, I won't be able to stay on the team," are ridiculous. Did the student give his or her best effort? Reward that, regardless of whether the student scores an A or a C-.

The one that leaves me shaking my head is the student who goofs around with his or her Gameboy, on the computer, or with friends... then the student gets a poor grade... then the parents take away these priveleges because the student's grade went down. This is a prime example of parents who are not involved with their child's education... they don't realize that, more than likely, the very reason the student got a bad grade was because he or she was allowed to slack off when the work was supposed to be done. Taking away priveleges after the fact is just plain stupid. If a student gets a low mark, it is more than likely deserved and accurate to the amount of work he or she did to learn the material in the first place.

Test anxiety, though, falls outside this realm. Where does the pressure come from? "Ten years from now, I want to be a ________. I can be a ________ if I get into a good college. I can get into a good college if I get a good GPA. I can get a good GPA if I get a good grade in math class. I can get a good grade in math class if I get a good grade on this test (and every single one after it). Therefore, if I don't get a good grade on this test I'll never become a ________, and my life will be ruined!"

Think it sounds ridiculous? It happens more often than you'd think. In fact, it happened today.

Then one stops to wonder... ten years down the line? Is anyone doing today what they thought they'd be doing ten years ago? And the number of ifs in that paragraph is almost dizzying. Paraphrasing my dad, "If my aunt had [testicles], she'd be my uncle." Ifs are uncontrollable enough on their own... toss in a string of them and it sets one up for disaster.

A better way to look at life, in my opinion, is to deal with things that are more controllable... options. Try this: "Ten years from now I would be happy doing ________, ________, or ________." This sets up a number of roads to happiness rather than one clear-cut, make-it-or-break-it path. Goals like this make it easier to set up sub-goals, and a pyramid of possibilites exists rather than a string of circumstances. With the number of "first" steps to take becoming a choice of many options instead of just one thing that must be done, a young person faces a lot less pressure.

So, having to do well on a certain test is reduced to just one expectation... mine. The student's life will go on afterward, regardless of whether he or she gets an A or an F, and I realize this. Why doesn't the student? Yes, I'd love my students to succeed, but my definition of success is merely this: "Did you give your best effort?" That's the only thing that really matters.