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All work, no play
(Filed: 23/02/2002)
Passing your exams need not mean becoming a neurotic workaholic, says Sarah Lonsdale
EMMA FACER is a bright, hardworking sixth-former, aiming for a trio of Bs or better in this summer's A-level exams. She did very well in her  | | | Workaholic: revision addict Emma Facer |
AS levels last summer, but at a heavy price. She would often study until midnight, grabbing a few hours sleep before rising at six to do a bit more work before her school bus came at 7.30am. A heavy schedule for any 16-year-old child, particularly one with a part-time job as well. "Looking back, I wonder how I managed to keep it up," she says. "I just got into a rhythm and kept going. But it hit me when the exams were over." Emma's mother Linda says she has raised the issue of excessive pressure with Emma's teachers at the Chaucer Technology School in Canterbury. "The teachers have been very supportive, always telling me how well she's doing. I think part of the problem is all that coursework, because a conscientious child like Emma is going to work and work and work until the project is perfect. It does worry me sometimes that she is working so hard, but she is desperate to get to university, something that I never did." All teachers love a conscientious pupil, but the growing pressure to achieve, combined with the introduction of AS levels, which has put an end to the once-welcome drop in pace between GCSEs and A levels, is turning many children into anxious workaholics. Some child psychiatrists also blame pushy parents who not only drive their children into a frenzy of competitiveness but who, by introducing too many after-school activities, offer a child no choice but to catch up with homework well into the evening. Dr Alvin Rosenfeld, co-author of Hyper-Parenting: Are You Hurting Your Child by Trying Too Hard?, a book that took the US by storm last year, argues that an over-anxious, over-achieving child is very often the child of parents who play Mozart to it in the womb and expose the poor thing to alphabet flashcards before its first birthday. "The bottom line is that children need a break just as much as we do," says child psychologist Ruth Coppard. "Most adults will get home from work between six and seven, pour themselves a drink and relax in front of the television. Why should our children, having had a full day at school and two hours of after-school activities, then have to go upstairs and do two or three hours of homework. It's just not fair." Ms Coppard, who has worked with children on exam stress, says the problem of workaholic children is getting worse, and children are becoming affected at a younger age. She adds that parents should not necessarily look to schools for reassurance. "Schools have their own pressures of league tables, and it is hardly in their interest to tell the hardest-working section of the school community to take its foot off the accelerator," she says. But many schools have now adopted policies for dealing with children who get into a frenzy of revision and overworking. Tristram Jones-Parry, the headmaster of Westminster School, always among the highest achieving in the country, says about 10 per cent of his sixth-formers suffer from this kind of over-anxious workaholism and that girls tend to be more affected than boys. "They are probably going to be the sort of people who go on to be workaholics in later life and I think a lot can be put down to the child's character," he says. "But things have got worse since the introduction of AS levels which means the pressure is pretty constant from GCSEs onwards." When workaholic children are identified, usually when coursework projects are handed in, teachers are primed to have a gentle chat with the pupil involved, giving them some idea of the amount of time they are expected to spend on the work, he says. "It is very nice to see that children are making an effort, but some of them spend far too long perfecting their presentation. Obviously, if the children are boarders, it is easier for us to keep an eye on things at school; when day pupils show symptoms, we do have a word with parents." The problem is not just confined to top private schools. Natasha Moar is a teacher at Northgate High School in Dereham, a secondary school in Norfolk, and is worried about the welfare of some of her pupils. "I have become alarmed by students who hand in lengthy and detailed essays, but who look washed out and can't concentrate in class because they have stayed up so late to complete them," she says. "During parents' evenings, I often find that mums and dads are having to make their children stop working at night, rather than having to nag them to get homework done. One parent told me that she felt her Year-11 child seemed to have no time for her own leisure pursuits, no time to be human. I feel that overly conscientious teenagers are buying into the work ethic of working adults, at the expense of enjoying their childhood and young adulthood. It's important that they preserve a balance." To avoid things getting out of hand, more and more schools are having to give pupils maximum time-limits on homework and lengthy projects. St Paul's Girls' School in west London, famous for its fine A-level results, routinely has to give girls guidance on time-limits. Kendrick Girls, a grammar school in Reading, Berkshire, is another high-achieving school where the tutors have put together a system to help pupils with their time management. The deputy head, Christine Kattirzi, says that, although the introduction of AS levels has increased the competition to get into the better universities, there would always be a group of hard-working girls who would egg each other on to greater and more strenuous efforts. "One of the main things we try to do is increase the girls' confidence - that they can get good grades without having to stay up until the small hours every night." Davina Lloyd, head teacher of the Coopers Company and Coborn School in Upminster, Essex, the top comprehensive in the country, says that her school has cut down on exams. "There is too much Government emphasis on exam results," she says. "We're in danger of producing a generation of stressed-out neurotics. Children need a good, balanced education, but they also have a right to be children." What to do if your child is becoming a workaholic Help them with time management: if a particularly lengthy project will gain them, say, only seven percent of the entire marks for a subject, help them appreciate that more work will not necessarily mean a higher grade.Try to encourage them to believe more in their own abilities and that extra hours of homework will not necessarily improve their marks.Cut out unnecessary after-school activities: they are never going to be a concert pianist/judo black-belt and hate lessons anyway. Free up a bit of space.Relax about work matters yourself: if you are always rushing about under pressure and coming home late from work, you will not be a helpful role model.Remember that childhood is not just about getting good grades at school. Let them see that having fun and enjoying being young is just as important as a place at Oxford or Cambridge.
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