TY - JOUR
T1 - Schools as a source of stress to children
T2 - An analysis of causal and ameliorative influences
AU - Elias, Maurice J.
N1 - Funding Information:
The author would like to acknowledge the inspiration received from Dr. Irving Sigel, Dr. Doug Powell, and Dr. Tynette Hills and the leadership of the Junior League of the Oranges and of Short Hills (NJ), and the feedback of John Clabby, Michael Gara, and Charlotte Hett of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-CMHC at Piscataway’s Social Problem Solving Program. Thanks also to Pat Dooley, who has worked with this manuscript tirelessly. Partial support for the writing of this manuscript was received from the William T. Grant and Florence and John Schumann Foundations, for which the author is most grateful.
PY - 1989
Y1 - 1989
N2 - An analysis of factors leading schools to be a significant source of stress to children is presented. Debilitating school stress is seen as linked to forces, including some in prominent movements for school "reform," that push schools to overemphasize academic acceleration, competition, evaluation, and test-based accountability. The paradoxical effects of these forces are to impede acquisition of academic skills and minimize opportunities for children to develop crucial competencies needed for citizenship, responsible adulthood, parenthood, and management of the complex world of work. Recommendations based on developmental and empirical considerations are presented to reduce the debilitating stress in our schools. The tenacious leadership and coordinated, sustained planning required to enact some of these recommendations is noted and encouraged.
AB - An analysis of factors leading schools to be a significant source of stress to children is presented. Debilitating school stress is seen as linked to forces, including some in prominent movements for school "reform," that push schools to overemphasize academic acceleration, competition, evaluation, and test-based accountability. The paradoxical effects of these forces are to impede acquisition of academic skills and minimize opportunities for children to develop crucial competencies needed for citizenship, responsible adulthood, parenthood, and management of the complex world of work. Recommendations based on developmental and empirical considerations are presented to reduce the debilitating stress in our schools. The tenacious leadership and coordinated, sustained planning required to enact some of these recommendations is noted and encouraged.
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U2 - 10.1016/0022-4405(89)90016-2
DO - 10.1016/0022-4405(89)90016-2
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:38249025405
SN - 0022-4405
VL - 27
SP - 393
EP - 407
JO - Journal of School Psychology
JF - Journal of School Psychology
IS - 4
ER -