At lunch time, students can be seen scrambling to finish homework. But why? why do students rush to do their homework? Why did the not do their homework at HOME? This is known as procrastination.
Procrastination is a problem that many middle school students face. Procrastination is basically like time wasting. Students may delay their homework till the last minute. Then they will scramble to make sure that the homework is completed on time. But why does this happen in the first place? Samar Zia, a student from Grade 12 said that “ Kids may procrastinate because of a lack of self control, because I procrastinate all the time.” When a teacher was asked, Mr Raisdana said “ I procrastinated in grade 8, and I still do. Many of my friends did it as well.” When asked why he procrastinated, he said that “ You are not interested in homework, and you don't really care about it. You dont put your heart into something you dont care about.” www.education.com said that “If you’re a parent, the likelihood is you have a child who procrastinates. Why? Because procrastination is part of the human experience. Most people procrastinate because they are not enthusiastic about a task, or because there’s no shortage of more interesting, exciting, or pressing things to do.” Dr Joseph Ferrari, a Psychology professor at the DePaul University said that “Everybody procrastinates, but not everybody is a procrastinator,”
`Procrastination can come in different forms. Most times, its just ignoring homework entirely. One way of procrastination can be multi tasking, and not concentrating on the work that has to be finished. Also a lack of concentration can be a factor in procrastination. Procrastination can happen with adults as well, although not at such a large scale. But how do people stop procrastination? Its such a big problem, but what is the solution. The answer is, there is no specific answer. There is no way to stop people from procrastinating. There are strategies to stop kids from procrastinating. One of the strategies is to feed kids tasks in small proportions. Also when kids do work, parents should keep regular tabs on their kids. But nothing can be force fed to the kids. They must chose to not procrastinate.
But people must really understand why do kids procrastinate. The Dictionary definition of the word procrastination is “the action of delaying or postponing something.” Kids find homework boring, because there is so much more they can be doing that is much more fun, that homework can become very mundane, monotonous and ultimately not very fun to do. A study by Dr Barbara Klein gave 8 (4 are going to be listed) reasons why gifted children have trouble doing homework
1. Homework is not important to smart kids.
Maybe the homework is too easy or too boring, and they are not interested in doing it. Kids don’t understand that homework is their personal responsibility. One way to help children learn how to do things that are boring is to give them responsibilities at home that they are not interested in completing. They need practice at doing boring things.
Many kids, including the gifted children, may not understand that homework is training for real responsibility, which may be why the procrastinate while doing homework.
2. They can get away with it.
This is a parental problem with not setting limits and consequences. Smart children are always very compelled to outsmart their parents, even if their behavior is inappropriate or self-destructive. Parents need to establish rules that their child can manage to follow. Being too strict or too permissive gives your child permission to not listen to you.
Smart kids will want to be able to outsmart their parents because they want to prove their intelligence, and because it makes the feel intelligent.
3. Gifted children have fun when they aggravate their parents.
No matter how wonderful of a you are, gifted kids love to argue. They are “know-it-alls” to the core. Challenging mom and dad and teachers can be a sport for them. Try and communicate with them that you are not interested in every argument they start. Teach them to respect your authority.
Again, kids want to prove intelligence, so they may argue with parents to prove that they are right, and that they are not in the wrong
4. They get used to negative attention and thrive on it.
Gifted kids are challenging and stressful to raise. Parents normally and naturally get frustrated and angry. Kids pick up on their parents’ anger and learn how to react in the most annoying ways. Parents need to get better at understanding and diffusing their frustrations.
Intelligent kids can pick up anything, whether it is good or bad. These kids can see the negative attention that they get from their parents and then they pick it up and use it in their everyday life.
These are just some of the reasons gifted kids procrastinate. This means that the average kids will almost always procrastinate. This means that kids will have to try to stop procrastinating themselves. But the parents must also help the kids, by making a positive atmosphere and making sure that the environment is good so that they can finish work on time
Showing posts with label Pressure. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pressure. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
The Homework Problem
Homework was a big problem. Could you imagine working all day five times a week without doing anything else? For students at UWCSEA, it was worse. Some had to stay up till 12:00 and wake up at 5:00 just to complete the homework. People were doing homework that was due the same day in school. There were some teachers that were sympathetic and were more relaxed with due dates but some were very strict. All the marks and deadlines were causing anxiety and pressure on the children to not only get the work done but actually get a good mark.
“All the homework put on top of students is too stressful for us, we need a balance” stated eighth grade student Vedant Grover. Who also happened to be a former OFS student and is aware of the incident that happened there. While students at UWC are able handle the pressure, a student from OFS had burned up his homework and set fire to a part of the school.
A kid named Neil was a grade eight student and had an above average grade, but one day he just snapped. He wasn’t thinking at all. He set a shower cabinet on fire and alarmed the whole school. He was suspended from the school after he came clean himself. There were a lot of rumors going on about him but he apologized in the end and things went back to normal. The schools reputation might have been ruined but Neil was definitely forgiven. However, back at UWC, one student was pushing limits to get his work done.
“This is impossible to finish!” thought Arvish in his head as he frantically tried to finish his math sheet. He was in the library during lunch, ten minutes before class was about to start. There was no way that he would be able to complete it. So in the end while his friend Joel was in the bathroom he wound up copying his work with Joel finding out. He was struggling with all the load. He couldn’t find time to do anything apart from studying and homework. He could hardly even finish copying before class was about to start. Joel came out of the bathroom and took his bag away and went to class. Now Arvish was in big trouble. He could feel the tension in the library. Two minutes were left before class and he still had to get there. His teacher had already told him that if he didn’t get the assignment finished he would be emailing his parents.
“Joel, wait for me!” screamed Arvish across the main plaza.
“What?” Joel replied
“Can I see your math homework?”
“No, sorry."
“Come on I’m already two lessons late, Mr.Tsang is gonna kill me!”
With one minute left, Joel had a very tough decision to make. He was torn whether to help his friend and risk getting in trouble or stay safe. He quickly whipped out his math book and showed Arvish the answers. He could live another day. They arrived in class two minutes late and got a lecture from Mr.Tsang.
The test was next lesson and Arvish was no where near finished preparing for it. He had one more day to practice at home. Now the pressure was really getting to him. He was afraid from all the anxiety given by his teachers, peers and especially from his parents. He felt like he wasn’t allowed to fail. He had to get a 6 or more. As he was studying he couldn’t focus on the work, all he could think about were the consequences if he didn’t do well. He sat there contemplating the situation when he realized that he had to get it done no matter what and that his parents wouldn’t understand.
Arvish was probably one of the few students that was this far behind but teachers had to learn when to stop with the homework. The stress was getting too much for the children.
“All the homework put on top of students is too stressful for us, we need a balance” stated eighth grade student Vedant Grover. Who also happened to be a former OFS student and is aware of the incident that happened there. While students at UWC are able handle the pressure, a student from OFS had burned up his homework and set fire to a part of the school.
A kid named Neil was a grade eight student and had an above average grade, but one day he just snapped. He wasn’t thinking at all. He set a shower cabinet on fire and alarmed the whole school. He was suspended from the school after he came clean himself. There were a lot of rumors going on about him but he apologized in the end and things went back to normal. The schools reputation might have been ruined but Neil was definitely forgiven. However, back at UWC, one student was pushing limits to get his work done.
“This is impossible to finish!” thought Arvish in his head as he frantically tried to finish his math sheet. He was in the library during lunch, ten minutes before class was about to start. There was no way that he would be able to complete it. So in the end while his friend Joel was in the bathroom he wound up copying his work with Joel finding out. He was struggling with all the load. He couldn’t find time to do anything apart from studying and homework. He could hardly even finish copying before class was about to start. Joel came out of the bathroom and took his bag away and went to class. Now Arvish was in big trouble. He could feel the tension in the library. Two minutes were left before class and he still had to get there. His teacher had already told him that if he didn’t get the assignment finished he would be emailing his parents.
“Joel, wait for me!” screamed Arvish across the main plaza.
“What?” Joel replied
“Can I see your math homework?”
“No, sorry."
“Come on I’m already two lessons late, Mr.Tsang is gonna kill me!”
With one minute left, Joel had a very tough decision to make. He was torn whether to help his friend and risk getting in trouble or stay safe. He quickly whipped out his math book and showed Arvish the answers. He could live another day. They arrived in class two minutes late and got a lecture from Mr.Tsang.
The test was next lesson and Arvish was no where near finished preparing for it. He had one more day to practice at home. Now the pressure was really getting to him. He was afraid from all the anxiety given by his teachers, peers and especially from his parents. He felt like he wasn’t allowed to fail. He had to get a 6 or more. As he was studying he couldn’t focus on the work, all he could think about were the consequences if he didn’t do well. He sat there contemplating the situation when he realized that he had to get it done no matter what and that his parents wouldn’t understand.
Arvish was probably one of the few students that was this far behind but teachers had to learn when to stop with the homework. The stress was getting too much for the children.
Pressure On The Rise
One page, then another, then another, the pages weren’t ending as a drop of sweat came riding down his cheek. “Come on” he thought, “I have been practicing this for so long, how can I not remember. Looking around the exam hall in despair, a former grade nine student raced through his mind and tried to find the information he was looking for. As the sweat started to increase, his brain felt that it was going to explode. At that moment his eyes felt like closing and his head hit the table and he fainted. He just couldn’t cope with the pressure.
“Absolutely, I have students coming to me for that issue all the time” says Rose Weima, a middle school counselor of UWCSEA East Campus, Singapore. “Its a rising issue especially for middle schoolers”. “They can’t cope with the curriculum and they’re parents are putting too much pressure on them.” They end up lost and see the world as an isolated space and then find their way to me. Weima initially started working as a math teacher but as she enjoyed the connections she made with her students, she decided she wanted to become a school counselor to further more explore the issues and experiences with her students.
Indeed there are many people who are suffering with academic stress but are too afraid to talk to anyone about it as they often feel they will end up being humiliated or embarrassed. They end up being lost because they can’t talk to their parents because most of the time, they are the ones causing this pressure. Parents don’t understand that what they expect of grades from their children, might not be the best for them and all that really matters is if they are trying their best. Studies show that prolonged academic stress can cause diseases such as obesity, depression, heart diseases and
In most cases, grades (rather than education and learning) have become the major focus of many students. “Grades nowadays don’t reflect what students get out of the class, they get in the middle of learning.” quotes English teacher Jabiz Raisdana. “If we can have a system where student invest their time in learning more about a topic they are curious about and less about what grade they will get, then it will benefit everyone. What readers may not understand is that teachers don’t like giving out grades and that these are just the education system requirements.
According to Mental Health America’s estimates, 20% of teens are clinically depressed which means for our community that we are putting too much pressure on our future generation meaning that they don't enjoy what they are doing. This statistic also reveals that teens these days are not being treated and just being “expected” to lead a healthy life. Students need to be helped and paid attention at for them to not take grades as a pressure but just a measurement.
What do grades actually mean? They are just a number on a paper and mean nothing else. The issue that is rising now is that why do students and parents care so much about the number and not what is determines and what it actually means. The pressure of grades reduces the actual value of learning and knowledge. If a student is found with a grade of D, he will be seen regretting and crying about his grade. He will not be worried about why he got a D and what that means about how he needs to improve to at least get to what is expected. He will be worried about the number D and how when he tells his friends and parents, he will feel embarrassed and to avoid this embarrassment students often cheat.
Instead of having a growth mindset and thinking “oh wow that wasn’t good, next time I will practice more for the test” they have an attitude like the found in 80% percent of students found through a conducted survey “oh no why do I always get D’s how I am I going to tell my parents.” This often leads students to ask their friends for answers and try to cheat which is in fact harmful for them. According to Stamford University cheating rates have gone up to 86%. Students are now more concerned about grades than the actual learning and now they are willing to do anything to find out the answers just to get a good grade. That won’t always work though. Parents, teachers and society need to stop putting pressure on students so that they continue to do their best, don’t cheat and preserve the value of learning and knowledge.
Parents should stop caring about grades and stop comparing their children with other children’s marks. They should just care about if their child is doing their best and how they can improve and get better instead of comparing their child's grade to that of others. It is only not parents all the time though. Students need to to take matters into their own hands and face their problems. If they are not able to cope with the curriculum, they should go to the counselor, talk to their parents, do something instead of waiting for help to ring the doorbell. Experts show that a good way to subside academic stress is through mental ways such as yoga and meditation. Students suffering should take away at least 30 minutes in a day to do whatever they like to do and enjoying themselves. Students need to take matters into their own hands and face their problems and know that grades aren’t everything.
“Absolutely, I have students coming to me for that issue all the time” says Rose Weima, a middle school counselor of UWCSEA East Campus, Singapore. “Its a rising issue especially for middle schoolers”. “They can’t cope with the curriculum and they’re parents are putting too much pressure on them.” They end up lost and see the world as an isolated space and then find their way to me. Weima initially started working as a math teacher but as she enjoyed the connections she made with her students, she decided she wanted to become a school counselor to further more explore the issues and experiences with her students.
Indeed there are many people who are suffering with academic stress but are too afraid to talk to anyone about it as they often feel they will end up being humiliated or embarrassed. They end up being lost because they can’t talk to their parents because most of the time, they are the ones causing this pressure. Parents don’t understand that what they expect of grades from their children, might not be the best for them and all that really matters is if they are trying their best. Studies show that prolonged academic stress can cause diseases such as obesity, depression, heart diseases and
In most cases, grades (rather than education and learning) have become the major focus of many students. “Grades nowadays don’t reflect what students get out of the class, they get in the middle of learning.” quotes English teacher Jabiz Raisdana. “If we can have a system where student invest their time in learning more about a topic they are curious about and less about what grade they will get, then it will benefit everyone. What readers may not understand is that teachers don’t like giving out grades and that these are just the education system requirements.
According to Mental Health America’s estimates, 20% of teens are clinically depressed which means for our community that we are putting too much pressure on our future generation meaning that they don't enjoy what they are doing. This statistic also reveals that teens these days are not being treated and just being “expected” to lead a healthy life. Students need to be helped and paid attention at for them to not take grades as a pressure but just a measurement.
What do grades actually mean? They are just a number on a paper and mean nothing else. The issue that is rising now is that why do students and parents care so much about the number and not what is determines and what it actually means. The pressure of grades reduces the actual value of learning and knowledge. If a student is found with a grade of D, he will be seen regretting and crying about his grade. He will not be worried about why he got a D and what that means about how he needs to improve to at least get to what is expected. He will be worried about the number D and how when he tells his friends and parents, he will feel embarrassed and to avoid this embarrassment students often cheat.
Instead of having a growth mindset and thinking “oh wow that wasn’t good, next time I will practice more for the test” they have an attitude like the found in 80% percent of students found through a conducted survey “oh no why do I always get D’s how I am I going to tell my parents.” This often leads students to ask their friends for answers and try to cheat which is in fact harmful for them. According to Stamford University cheating rates have gone up to 86%. Students are now more concerned about grades than the actual learning and now they are willing to do anything to find out the answers just to get a good grade. That won’t always work though. Parents, teachers and society need to stop putting pressure on students so that they continue to do their best, don’t cheat and preserve the value of learning and knowledge.
Parents should stop caring about grades and stop comparing their children with other children’s marks. They should just care about if their child is doing their best and how they can improve and get better instead of comparing their child's grade to that of others. It is only not parents all the time though. Students need to to take matters into their own hands and face their problems. If they are not able to cope with the curriculum, they should go to the counselor, talk to their parents, do something instead of waiting for help to ring the doorbell. Experts show that a good way to subside academic stress is through mental ways such as yoga and meditation. Students suffering should take away at least 30 minutes in a day to do whatever they like to do and enjoying themselves. Students need to take matters into their own hands and face their problems and know that grades aren’t everything.
Video Games Good or Bad?
As he plugged in his charger and connected it to his computer he sits down at the table and plays for hours. Forget about homework, He is an Over Gamer. Gaming can be good or bad. It all depends whether the person is playing for a short amount of time or a long amount of time.
Gaming may be computer games or console games, some of the types games are Real Time Strategy,
First Person Shooter, Racing, etc.
Worldwide gamers can suffer from over gaming. A few Grade 8 students at UWCSEA say that “If you end up over-gaming it causes the stress of not only the kid but the parents as well.” What is revealed here is that kids will want to spend more time playing video games and not want to do any work. Their parents will then put pressure on them to do well in school.
It not just at people in other schools people are struggling at UWCSEA. In UWCSEA the most amount of hours a student has played video games has been for 4 hours straight. Added to the previous evidence this suggests that people at UWCSEA play too many games.
This is a quote from a parent whose son over games. A quote the unknown source says “I want to ban devices for life for my son and I am at end of my tether, It alienates us we never talk and If I had my way I would throw every Gadget in my house off our balcony.” Underlying these words suggests that the source doesn’t like their son to play video games.
Video games are often accused of leading teens to violent behaviour and anti social behaviour. According to an expert “It turns out that playing video games can actually make you smarter and help you to develop important skills that are necessary to succeed in a 21st century.” “Gamers always believe that an epic win is possible and that it's always worth trying, and trying now. Gamers don't sit around.” Jane McGonigal
According to Kids Health some studies have shown certain video games can improve hand-eye coordination, problem-solving skills, and the mind's ability to process information. But too much video games will lead to health problems. It can also affect friendships and kids who play violent video games might act more aggressively. According to Kids Health a total amount of games you can play in a day is 2 hours which includes TV, Phones, etc.
Sanjay Shah was interviewed about Video Games here is what he said:
Video games are both good and bad. Good because they help improve coordination, mental skills and reaction times. Some games are also very educational. Bad because they cause a lot of distraction and are addictive to the point where other work does not get done. In addition they are bad for the eyes and disrupt one’s sleep patterns. Finally video games do not help improve social skills.
Many of the games on the market are actually very educational and can help teach many things. Unfortunately, most of the times, it is not these games that are popular. However, teaching can also come in many forms - all video games help teach coordination, and hone mental skills and improve reaction times.
I always pressure my son to get good grades, especially if these grades are at the expense of over-gaming on the computer — which seems to be the norm these days with children. My son has got an addiction with video-games and sometimes homework and reading slips as a result of spending too much time gaming.
The solution to cut down on video games should be that they are only played on weekends and that are for a limited time only. There are many other hobbies or sports options that children should explore which are just as enjoyable and are probably more healthy both to the mind and body then sitting on the couch playing video games.
Don’t think that just because there are some bad things about video games you should stop completely but what you should do is limit you time to a maximum of 2 hours a day. Ask your parents, if your parent say you playing too much don’t get angry at them maybe you could finish the homework you have and then play video games. Mostly parent put pressure on their kids to get good grades that is true but if you are struggling go and talk to someone about how you feel and then maybe then you parents will see that they are putting a lot of pressure on you.
The community in UWCSEA EAST has a lot of people who play games some of the games maybe Real Time Strategy, First Person Shooter, Racing, etc they all probably have some pressure that they are facing. Some of them maybe cutting down on the time they are spending playing video games and they maybe studying. This doesn’t mean stop playing it just means do other things like: Reading, Math, Science, Football, Swimming, Cycling, etc.
“But at the end of the day It’s all about the game” - SGT. Ernie Calhoun
~By Nikhil Shah
Worldwide gamers can suffer from over gaming. A few Grade 8 students at UWCSEA say that “If you end up over-gaming it causes the stress of not only the kid but the parents as well.” What is revealed here is that kids will want to spend more time playing video games and not want to do any work. Their parents will then put pressure on them to do well in school.
It not just at people in other schools people are struggling at UWCSEA. In UWCSEA the most amount of hours a student has played video games has been for 4 hours straight. Added to the previous evidence this suggests that people at UWCSEA play too many games.
This is a quote from a parent whose son over games. A quote the unknown source says “I want to ban devices for life for my son and I am at end of my tether, It alienates us we never talk and If I had my way I would throw every Gadget in my house off our balcony.” Underlying these words suggests that the source doesn’t like their son to play video games.
Video games are often accused of leading teens to violent behaviour and anti social behaviour. According to an expert “It turns out that playing video games can actually make you smarter and help you to develop important skills that are necessary to succeed in a 21st century.” “Gamers always believe that an epic win is possible and that it's always worth trying, and trying now. Gamers don't sit around.” Jane McGonigal
According to Kids Health some studies have shown certain video games can improve hand-eye coordination, problem-solving skills, and the mind's ability to process information. But too much video games will lead to health problems. It can also affect friendships and kids who play violent video games might act more aggressively. According to Kids Health a total amount of games you can play in a day is 2 hours which includes TV, Phones, etc.
Sanjay Shah was interviewed about Video Games here is what he said:
Video games are both good and bad. Good because they help improve coordination, mental skills and reaction times. Some games are also very educational. Bad because they cause a lot of distraction and are addictive to the point where other work does not get done. In addition they are bad for the eyes and disrupt one’s sleep patterns. Finally video games do not help improve social skills.
Many of the games on the market are actually very educational and can help teach many things. Unfortunately, most of the times, it is not these games that are popular. However, teaching can also come in many forms - all video games help teach coordination, and hone mental skills and improve reaction times.
I always pressure my son to get good grades, especially if these grades are at the expense of over-gaming on the computer — which seems to be the norm these days with children. My son has got an addiction with video-games and sometimes homework and reading slips as a result of spending too much time gaming.
The solution to cut down on video games should be that they are only played on weekends and that are for a limited time only. There are many other hobbies or sports options that children should explore which are just as enjoyable and are probably more healthy both to the mind and body then sitting on the couch playing video games.
Don’t think that just because there are some bad things about video games you should stop completely but what you should do is limit you time to a maximum of 2 hours a day. Ask your parents, if your parent say you playing too much don’t get angry at them maybe you could finish the homework you have and then play video games. Mostly parent put pressure on their kids to get good grades that is true but if you are struggling go and talk to someone about how you feel and then maybe then you parents will see that they are putting a lot of pressure on you.
The community in UWCSEA EAST has a lot of people who play games some of the games maybe Real Time Strategy, First Person Shooter, Racing, etc they all probably have some pressure that they are facing. Some of them maybe cutting down on the time they are spending playing video games and they maybe studying. This doesn’t mean stop playing it just means do other things like: Reading, Math, Science, Football, Swimming, Cycling, etc.
“But at the end of the day It’s all about the game” - SGT. Ernie Calhoun
~By Nikhil Shah
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