High achievers sufer stress, expert say

JAKARTA (JP): About 25 percent of students at super schools -- geared only for high achievers -- suffer from stress due to study overload and heavy parental expectations, an expert says.

"They suffer from stress because they have such a tight schedule of activities, and their parents expect them to apply themselves and excel," said Iswinarti, chairwoman of the psychology department of Muhammadiyah University in Malang, East Java.

In a speech marking a graduation Saturday, Iswinarti was quoted by Antara as blaming the children's stress on one more thing: the abundance of audio-visual and other educational aids used by the children to gather information, which are beyond their parents' control.

Other traits that make children more susceptible to stress, she said, included not being able to share.

The smaller families of today tend to develop children who are more individualistic than before because they do not have to share with others the way children from bigger families do, she said.

"So it is not true that a smaller family means less responsibility for parents," she said.

Iswinarti expressed concern about the growing number of parents who placed greater emphasis on their children's cognitive development than their emotional well-being.

"Many parents place greater importance on scholastic achievement as shown in higher ranks in schools.

"They compete to enroll their children in super schools and force them to take many courses so that they have tight schedules."

Muhammadiyah University graduated 1,843 students on Saturday.

Imam Buchori of the School of Social and Political Sciences was the best graduate with a grade average of 3.77.

In 1995 the government launched trial super high schools in the provinces of Yogyakarta, West Java, West Nusa Tenggara, Central Kalimantan and Central Sulawesi.

In Yogyakarta the state-run SMUN I and SMUN III high schools and Muhammadiyah high school were turned into super schools.

Some 80 percent of the three schools' graduates pass the yearly state universities' entrance examination.

In order to be accepted into a super high school, students have to pass examinations which include a battery of health and psychological tests.

West Java has more super high schools, including those in Lembang and Bandung. (swe)