Although stress evolved to keep us safe from physical threats, it is most commonly experienced for social reasons nowadays – work pressure, problems in a relationship, money worries, and so on. Stress is a one-size-fits-all response, rather being tailored to specific circumstances, and in many such cases it can be counterproductive. Due to the physiological processes entailed, prolonged stress can have devastating effect on the mind and body.
Education – at least, education according to the Western model – is one area that relies on constant stress. There are always targets and deadlines. We spend at least a decade of our lives and sometimes almost two in formal education: a constant round of homework, essays, regular tests, end-of-term and end-of-year exams – which, it is impressed upon us, will shape our careers and the rest of our lives. Stress is built into the education system. But stress is, by its very nature, intended to be a short-term response to physical danger. Education, by its own very nature, has to be a long term undertaking. The result is inherently a recipe for disaster.