Today, one of my students hyperventilated and had an anxiety attack, feeling pain in her tummy She had to go home and when asked why she was feeling this way, she said she was overwhelmed by all the school deadlines she had to meet.
This is the second time one of my students felt this way. Last year, one of my best students, a cheerful boy, suddenly became withdrawn in class. He was doing very well in my subject, being a good writer and is capable of analyzing things, so the sudden shutting down was difficult to watch.
I was really puzzled because he was consistently getting A* in my subject but in the last term - he kinda became a catatonic zombie, He just withdrew into his shell and decided not to finish the schoolyear anymore.
He is now being home schooled.
I don't know what is in the Mental Health Act but I believe that the stress of school work plus all the other extraneous factors - traffic, pollution, problems at home, problems with parents, problems with peers - and the need to excel and get high grades - can push these young people to the brink.
Both of my students were very good in my subject and based on feedback from other teachers, are just as capable of getting 90++ in their other subjects.
So it is disquieting to see them crumble in the face of all this school pressure.
I think what adds to the pressure is that with the advent of social media and camera phones, a student can easily know the score of another student, and because most of them are part of their own Messenger or Viber groups, it would be very easy to make fun of classmates who don't do well - adding to the anxiety and the pressure to do well always!
And of course there are the helicopter parents - always on the prowl of their children's grades. As if getting a B once in a while would be the death of their children's academic life!
I hope to see this girl student of mine on Monday, happy and well.
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