Can stress be good for kids? 

The upcoming new edition of How to Study recognizes good stress in today’s learning environment. Good stress includes getting oneself pumped up for an important game – or for a crucial test, for example.     

But it’s the bad stress that has destructive effects on students’ academic progress.  Some stress may originate at home and carried into school.  Some comes from peer pressures at school.

Both of these are harmful to learning and wellbeing but are psychological by nature and thus beyond our purview.   The new How to Study recommends that these concerns be dealt with by a sympathetic mentor or professional counselor.

What the new How to Study does address specifically is self-induced stress, particularly the current varieties.

Self-induced stress often stems from students without a thoughtful plan of confronting their work effectively and of willingly squandering their time, thus neglecting their academic duties.  The text of the revised How to Study is designed to provide students with steps to develop successful tactics of working productively.  The theme throughout is: “You are unique.  Find what works for you, and use it to master your academic life.” 

Today, it is the screen that beguiles our students, often leading them to stressful dead ends as they procrastinate, thus disregarding their work.  TV, hand-held tech devices, and computers present an attractive distraction for many students, enticing them to use their time frivolously rather than on schoolwork.  But – and here’s the big “but” – the screen is now in universal use in classrooms everywhere, and computers have become a must as a tool for studying.

The revamped How to Study suggests methods to reduce stress in general as well as ways to use computers fruitfully for academic work.  No book in the world can dissuade students from wasting their time. But the revised How to Study can surely help students achieve success in school by offering ways to succeed, replacing stressful periods of barren performance.

Confident and productive learners are just about immune from self-induced stress.           

David Griswold

Author, How to Study

 “My dog ate my homework,” “I am too stressed out for this,” “I’ve never been a good test-taker,” are all excuses most teachers have heard frequently. In fact, teachers have heard them all. Although excuses may seem real to students using them, the fact is that they have not faced their situation and taken responsibility for doing what they know they should do.

If we start asking, “Why are some students successful in mastering their work and others not?” we might consult various experts like professors, psychologists, doctors, and other professionals.  However, I approached this question in my original How To Study book by taking a unique perspective:  by interviewing and taking suggestions from students making excellent grades in school.  Nowadays, students have not changed significantly, but their outlook on school and approaches to studying have changed as technology has persistently intruded on their lives.

A new Wayside revision of How To Study is in the works that takes account of these changes. The book will adapt new ideas and new ways for students to take control of their work and be successful in school in an age of rapid technological change. There is no better time to start to learn to be a better student than in grades 6-9 when kids are beginning to mature. However, the new edition can also be used effectively by students encountering the intense pressures of high school and can help them develop the skills necessary to succeed beyond high school classes – it has been used successfully even by college students. Topics covered range from time management to homework, from concentration to managing stress, from quizzes to testing, from handling different academic subjects to making the best out of a trip to the library, as well as refining contemporary research skills.  Those using laptops or school computers for their academic work will be glad to learn ways to improve their grasp of subjects.

David Griswold 

Author, How to Study