“Schulangst”—The Price of Achievement?
By “Awake!” correspondent in Germany
SCHULANGST—the word was coined to describe a problem that is rapidly becoming international in scope. And though a translation somehow fails to capture all the nuances of the word, it roughly means “school anxiety.”
Ten years ago German pediatrician Dr. Eckhard Schrickel said: “A good two thirds of the children I treat are not organically sick in the ordinary sense of the word. They are school sick.” The medical journal Deutsche Ärzteblatt claims that since then the number of children being treated for school-related difficulties has increased tenfold!
Indeed, if the German Association of Young Teachers is to be believed, the public school system of the Federal Republic is in a crisis. It points to the 280,000 students who annually fail to receive passing grades—almost one out of every 30—as well as to the 18,000 who for school-related reasons attempt suicide. Yearly, hundreds succeed.
Its Causes
Perhaps the most significant factor causing schulangst is the pervasive pressure to succeed. Youths in Germany are told by parents and teachers alike that if they wish to gain admission into a university or find meaningful work, they will have to have an outstanding school record. For many children, though, the fear of possible failure creates tensions that often cause them to fail! Warns German Professor Walter Leibrecht: “We parents must realize that exaggerated ambition on our part can only harm our children.”
True, grades can spur students on to do fine work and can point up areas of needed improvement. And if a parent has no interest in his child’s education, the youngster may lose incentive to learn. Nevertheless, Leibrecht condemns “the severe pressure of grades.” Too much emphasis on grades can make children of average or even above average intelligence feel inferior. “When grades become a lever for applying pressure,” says the German magazine Eltern, “leaving no latitude for personal development, when they distort the social balance, then there is something rotten about our system. Our children are the ones that suffer.”
Homes fraught with dissension or broken by divorce or separation can also breed schulangst. Children in such homes often feel confused, ill at ease, or even unloved. Interestingly, Dr. Gerhardt Nissen, director of the Clinic for Juvenile Psychiatry of Würzburg Julius-Maximilians University, explains: “It can be noticed that students attempt suicide only when grave defects exist in the parent-child relationship or in the child’s personality structure.”—Italics ours.
Yet another factor causing schulangst is revealed by one 11-year-old: “I am sure I could solve the problem the teacher is presenting, if only I could understand it.” Particularly since the late 1960’s has simplicity in German schoolrooms increasingly given way to complicated scientific and technical jargon. Schulangst feeds on the resultant frustration.
Even prolonged television watching may be a factor. One educator claims that TV-viewers tend to forget quickly what they see so that they can better concentrate on what is presented next. The result? They tend to forget schoolwork just as quickly!
At times, students are subjected to “threats, extortion and mistreatment.” The Hamburger Abendblatt thus further remarked: “Oftentimes fear of school is also the fear of the violence of one’s fellow students . . . The students react to stress with violence.”
Too High a Price?
Though the word is German, schulangst is hardly unique to Germany. It is just another disturbing indication that many schools are failing to pass the test. Academic achievement is fine. But when children develop an almost morbid fear of school, parents must ask themselves if the price for achievement is not too high.
For much of the world, though, schools are struggling to teach even the most basic of skills, such as reading and writing. To what extent is the Third World, that is to say, the aggregate of the developing nations of the world, meeting this challenge?
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Pressure from teachers and parents to succeed causes many youths to have an almost morbid fear of school