A Response to: Is Your Child a "Warrior" or "Worrier"?

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Why Some Kids Handle Test Pressure and Others . . . Not.

by C.J. Westerberg

The first part of the article Why Can Some Kids Handle Pressure and Others Fall Apart? mainly focuses on student anxiety related to test-taking with fleeting mentions in other arenas, such as sport or artistic performances. According to authors Merryman and Bronson, how one deals with stress - whether one uses it to perform better or to perform less than optimal - has much to do with brain chemistry:

"The people who perform best in normal conditions may not be the same people who perform best under stress," Diamond says. People born with the fast-acting enzymes "actually need the stress to perform their best." To them, the everyday is underwhelming; it doesn't excite them enough to stimulate the sharpness of mind of which they are capable. They benefit from that surge in dopamine - it raises the level up to optimal. They are like Superman emerging from the phone booth in times of crisis; their abilities to concentrate and solve problems go up.

Some scholars have suggested that we are all Warriors or Worriers. Those with fast-acting dopamine clearers are the Warriors, ready for threatening environments where maximum performance is required. Those with slow-acting dopamine clearers are the Worriers, capable of more complex planning. Over the course of evolution, both Warriors and Worriers were necessary for human tribes to survive.

But doesn't it depend? We all know the student who can waltz through a theater performance yet crash and burn during a test, or a high school student who is a confident test-taker but chokes during a speech. Excerpt:

So while the single-shot stakes of a standardized exam is particularly ill suited for Worrier genotypes, this doesn't mean that they should be shielded from all challenge. In fact, shielding them could be the worst response, depriving them of the chance to acclimate to recurring stressors.
Johnson explains this as a form of stress inoculation: You tax them without overwhelming them. "And then allow for sufficient recovery," he continued. Training, preparation and repetition defuse the Worrier's curse.

It would be fairly difficult to go through life "shielded from all challenge". Sounds like practice-makes-habit but aren't we talking about test prep and how to practice how to take a test? (See my review of Sian Bellock's book in the post Choke, Test-Takers: A New Way to Look at Test-Prep? ) And shouldn't there be other forms of assessments, such as portfolios of work as expressed by educator Tony Wagner in his book, Creating Innovators?

The article then advocates for more competition - the right kind - among students to acclimate them to the stresses one needs to be able to handle
in life. The authors make the case that the SAT and other high-stakes standardized tests "lack the side benefits of competing that normally buffer children's anxiety." The answer? Bring on academic competitions such as spelling bees, Math competitions and chess clubs.

High-stakes academic testing isn't going away. Nor should competition among
students. In fact several scholars have concluded that what students need is more academic competition, but modeled on the kinds children enjoy.

One would think the above-mentioned forms of "right" competition usually would be selected by students themselves. In other words, these are venues of choice. I would think a poor speller wouldn't exactly be thrilled
by the prospect of a public spelling bee competition. Rick Lavoie tackles
the issue of competition along this line of thinking. In fact, he believes
there is another greater motivator which I won't spoil for you - check out
The 3 Myths about Competition: How it affects student motivation.

What say ye on this topic? You may also want to see the Kindergarten Test Prep video below, especially the 2:30-4:00 mark - it's a gem. You'll see
what I mean. Video runs 5 minutes.

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Related The Daily Riff:
Parents: The New Stupid by C.J. Westerberg
Is Learning a Sport? by Chris Wejr
Fires in the Mind: What does it take to get really good at something?

| Post a Comment

Prachi

Make Your Worrier a Warrior provides useful and comforting methods that parents can use to help their children create an anxiety-reducing “toolbox” to carry with them wherever they go. In building this foundation for their children, parents will find that these strategies will work just as effectively to manage their own anxieties.
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Mohd Mobin

In fact have working with kids and adolescents, who had learning problems for some time before learning that children were dyslexic, several years after being in
practice. Raising childrens with dyslexia deepened my own experience
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Neha

With this book, parents can team up with their children or teens to help them do the most courageous thing they will ever have to do: conquer their Worry Monster. Make Your Worrier a Warrior provides useful and comforting methods that parents can use to help their children create an anxiety-reducing “toolbox” to carry with them wherever they go. In building this foundation for their children, parents will find that these strategies will work just as effectively to manage their own anxieties.
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John

ya well said only parents can team up their child. they have to take care about what they need & why the need.
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Vikrant Malik

I agree to you and really a good post for children and their for their parents as well. They will obviously find bad people fast who will make them bad as them but its very hard to find a good environment for children but still it is one them that how they taggle with the same in which they are living.
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