Does Test Anxiety Originate From The Amount of Privacy You Have At School?

Is it a possibility that the pressure of doing well on tests actually come from the school itself?

Being a teenager in high school, I've witnessed first hand, the pressures that my teachers have unintentionally placed upon my shoulders. Remember back when you were in school and you had this wonderous thing called "nap-time"? Did you ever have some type of "Chart Of Success!"? You know, that chart that had everyones name on it and when you did well on something you recieved some type of sticker?

I've moved around a lot growing up and in every school I went to, we had one of these charts. And whenever everyone got a certain number of stickers, the whole class recieved a reward, such as a party.

However, were you ever that one kid who was lagging behind? I was. It was really hard for me to learn my multiplication table. I remember coming home after school, trying to memorize the whole table. I would get so aggravated when I messed up that I'd start crying, (my mom refers to these as "temper-tantrums.") and I just gave up. I still don't even have all of my multiplication facts memorized, isn't that sad? I just gave up on trying to learn these things because I was so pressured.

Look at it like this: When all your classmates have 18 stickers and we all need to have 20 to get a party, and you're the only one in the class with 9 - you best believe that you'll end up getting your shoes flushed in the toilet during reccess.

So why do the teachers need to broadcast the rate of your success on a bulletin board for the whole class to see. It's not their grade to worry about, it's something personal and should be kept personal. Everyone learns at a different pace. 

I was diagnosed with Attention Defesite Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) when I was in second grade, and learning was always hard for me. I had no problem memorizing the words to Def Leppard (completely oblivious to the meanings of some of the songs) but I could not memorize my multiplication table if my life depended on it.

Back then, I never really saw the need for privacy until recently. Now after tests, even though our scores aren't posted on the wall, everyone talks, and when the teacher says, "We had a lot of high B's and A's and only two F's" - you know that the whole class is looking around to see whose head drops when they recieve that F across the top of their test. And then you know the whole row of people behind you can all see your grade considering its writen in red pen across the whole top half of your test and you try to flip it over but the whole thing is just filled with red pen markings.

So my question is did the anxiety of test taking originate from grade school? Please don't be afraid to voice your opinions. I'm really interested in this topic.

I hope this article isn't too hard to follow. I'm writing this in school and I just let my mind wander for a little bit. I hope you all enjoyed.

Riddle is a student at