this post was submitted on 02 Aug 2026
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Public Health

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Students are anxious – and it’s no surprise, since we are teaching them to be that way (theconversation.com)
submitted 1 month ago by supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz to c/publichealth@mander.xyz
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A theory dating back more than 100 years suggested that there is an optimal amount of stress for good performance, based on a study that had nothing to do with humans.

Researchers ran mice through a maze, using electric shocks to punish wrong choices. On harder tasks, moderate shocks produced the fastest learning, while stronger shocks made it worse. Over the years, this got reinterpreted into claims about punishment, reward, motivation and stress in humans.

But the original study was about how animals learn to avoid fear and pain, not about optimal learning at all. Once a mouse learns to avoid a shock, escape itself triggers dopamine release; in other words, the escape – not the discovery – is the reward.

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[–] supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz 0 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Your fith grader understands that when you say 'everything will be okay' that what you are really doing is lying to yourself because you are scared, which I understand but what else is your kid supposed to do except be background anxious about coming expulsions from their way of life that their parents clearly are dangerously ignorant of?

Your child's response is totally rational, it is your denial that isn't.

Your child will have an unimaginably worse life than you, if you can't accept that now it will destroy you and your future adult relationship with them.

I made the mistake of growing up ignoring those thoughts and believing things would generally be ok because the world view I was given was sickly incapable of anything but empty positivism and the whiplash has nearly killed me (so far).