{"id":349790,"date":"2025-11-02T06:53:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T06:53:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/349790\/"},"modified":"2025-11-02T06:53:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T06:53:11","slug":"students-are-being-excused-from-doing-schoolwork-because-it-makes-them-too-anxious","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/349790\/","title":{"rendered":"Students Are Being Excused From Doing Schoolwork Because It Makes Them Too Anxious"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unfortunately, it\u2019s becoming more and more common for kids to deal with anxiety. According to the CDC<\/a>, 21% of children between the ages of 3 and 21 have been diagnosed with a mental health condition.<\/p>\n

When previous generations experienced anxiety during childhood, they were mostly taught that they just had to deal with it. Now, kids are getting accommodations at school for their anxiety, and experts think it\u2019s a bad thing.<\/p>\n

Some students with anxiety have as many as 20 different accommodations to help them in school.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s according to an op-ed by Ben Lovett and Alex Jordan that was originally published by the Boston Globe and re-shared by Columbia University\u2019s Teachers College<\/a>. Lovett is a professor of psychology and education, while Jordan is a psychologist and lecturer. They said that most of these accommodations are \u201cavoidance-based,\u201d which means that they remove the thing that causes anxiety from the student\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

\"anxious Andrea Piacquadio | Pexels<\/p>\n

Lovett and Jordan were firm in their opinion on this. \u201cBut as psychologists who\u2019ve studied and treated anxiety for decades, we believe that this approach \u2014 eliminating whatever makes students nervous \u2014 is making the problem worse,\u201d they wrote. \u201cHere\u2019s why: Anxiety feeds on avoidance.\u201d<\/p>\n

They explained that the \u201cgold standard\u201d for treating anxiety is actually exposure therapy, or exposing the patient to whatever makes them anxious. Avoidance is the opposite of this, so all it does is place a temporary band-aid on the anxiety. It doesn\u2019t actually help.<\/p>\n

RELATED: High School Teacher Shares His Students’ Reaction To Writing A Paragraph With 5 Complete Sentences<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Other educational leaders agreed with Lovett and Jordan\u2019s take.<\/p>\n

Justin Baeder, Ph.D., described himself as an \u201ceducation philosopher and author\u201d in his TikTok bio, where he is known as @eduleadership<\/a>. Baeder made a video that was a direct response to the op-ed that Lovett and Jordan wrote. He confirmed that an anxious kid avoiding what makes them anxious in the first place will just cause a vicious cycle that leads to more anxiety.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike, if you have anxiety about public speaking, well, public speaking is not actually harmful,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not actually dangerous. And you are accommodated in that anxiety by getting out of public speaking \u2026 that is going to harm you as a student, and reinforce the idea that you can\u2019t do it, that you don\u2019t have what it takes, that the situation is just unmanageable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baeder explained that not forcing kids to face whatever scares them is just holding them back in their education. \u201cWhat we\u2019ve got to remind ourselves of is that students are capable,\u201d he insisted. \u201cStudents do rise to challenges. And students need to be challenged in order to get an education.\u201d<\/p>\n

RELATED: Teacher Calls Police On Students After Finding Out They Stole A Funko Pop From Her Desk \u2014 \u2018I Can\u2019t Feel Safe In My Classroom\u2019<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s possible that some students are confusing anxiety with something less intense.<\/p>\n

A fellow TikToker left an interesting comment on Baeder\u2019s video that could explain some of this behavior. \u201cThe word \u2018nervous\u2019 has been replaced with the word \u2018anxious,\u2019\u201d they said. This is a solid point. True anxiety is a mental health condition that often requires treatment. But, in a world where kids seem to be coddled a little more than they used to be, it would be easy for them to confuse their nervousness for anxiety.<\/p>\n

Counselor Sheryl Ankrom, MS, LCPC<\/a>, explained the difference between the two. \u201cNervousness is a natural reaction to a stressful situation. It usually hits when you face a new or important challenge, such as taking an exam or giving a presentation to a room full of people,\u201d she said. \u201cAnxiety, on the other hand, is something you deal with on an ongoing basis. You live your life in what feels like a constant state of dread, and you struggle to calm yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even if kids aren\u2019t conflating nervousness and anxiety, exposure therapy is still the best option when dealing with anxiety. According to the Cleveland Clinic<\/a>, \u201cStudies show that exposure therapy helps over 90% of people with a specific phobia who commit to the therapy and complete it.\u201d Avoidance does nothing to truly help anxiety, and it\u2019s just making things worse for these kids.<\/p>\n

RELATED: High School Teacher Is ‘Uncomfortable’ Because Many Of Her Students Are Sucking On Pacifiers During Class<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor\u2019s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.<\/p>\n