Student Stress The education to employment paradigm in Canada and around the world is stressful enough. However, stress really needs to be addressed and dealt with before that transition even takes place or even starts. Indeed, if students are unable to manage the stress of school, they will be ill-prepared for the work environment when they reach it. Even when comparing two different countries like the United States and Canada, the statement remains true although the manifestations and patterns will be different in those two countries or any other set of countries being compared. Given that, preparing students in advance of that transition to manage stress is the wise course of action. This report will offer the dimensions that will be analyzed, the rationale for the focus, a brief discussion of the matter from a societal/sociological perspective, a discussion of the theoretical frameworks involved and a brief annotated bibliography using a starting source list for this proposal. While some people over-exaggerate about school pressures and the ensuing effects felt when the student reaches the workplace, there are situations and people where this effect is real and long-lasting but the solutions will be different from culture to culture, between each state and/or province and from country to country.

Analysis

The overall issue at hand is management of stress in an educational environment. Indeed, stress can manifest itself in a number of life situations such as family situations, in relationships, in education and the workplace. While familial and relationship issues are no doubt important, there is a clear linkage between education and work stress and stressors that cannot really be compared to those in the family sphere. As noted in the introduction, being able to manage the student experience is important and pivotal as there will be a rough transition to the work sphere if the bad habits and coping skills in education are not shut down or at least toned down before reaching the workplace. This discussion is a bit of a misnomer as many people work and go to school at the same time. However, the parallels still exist and are readily apparent. The types and sources of stress, whatever they may be, will tend to be similar in developed countries like the United States and Canada but the prevalence and forms of these stressors will differ based on the culture and country. The United States and Canada are quite similar in many regards but very different in other ways and this report shall explore that paradigm as part of the analysis (Krieg, 2013).

For example, deadlines can be pressing in a school environment but they are typically even more pressing in a work environment. About the worst thing that can happen when something goes south in a school environment is that someone fails the assignment or fails the class. However, a mistake at work can affect lives and this pertains to both the employee as well as others left in the wake of a mistake. For example, the Target Stores employees and executives that were responsible for maintaining and securing their network obviously fell short as a lot of data was lost and people's credit was potentially affected. A person failing a class pales in comparison. However, a further dimension is that managing stress is a part of a wider discussion about competency. Being competent and exhibiting attention to detail in a school environment is going to be a good precursor for doing the same at a professional level. The quality of the education is obviously also a concern but so is the quality of the student, their commitment to the task, their commitment to knowing what they need to know and fixing deficiencies when they are found. When speaking of two different countries like the United States and Canada, the answers garnered will be different because there are absolute and structural differences between the educational and workplace arenas of those two countries because there are two different overall cultures involved. Some areas like the United States will strongly resemble areas of Canada but the overall trends nationwide in both countries will likely not be the same (Krieg, 2013).

Lastly, there is the societal/sociology standpoint such as the conflict perspective and the functional perspective, among others. For example, the conflict perspective states that society and life is all about competition, struggles and conflict on one or more levels. Indeed, students compete in terms of GPA, showing how smart they are and socially while workers are quite similar yet different as the stakes involved are much higher. However, there are some things (office/school politics, jockeying for favor, etc.) that are very similar. Similarly, the functional perspective talks of how systems work and how people contribute for or against the systems involved. The occupational safety, millions of dollars being at stake and so forth. The research methods that will be used for this study include the use of books and journal articles as well as any other relevant scholarly resources that can inform the author of this report about how to manage stress and just how much of a problem is at hand. Indeed, the depth and breadth of the problem and the logistics involved in addressing the same are all relevant questions when it comes to this matter. Much to most of the research that will be done will focus on qualitative material but quantitative material will be used when possible and appropriate (Krieg, 2013).
Conclusion

The material and subject matter regarding stress and how it all relates to the transition from college to the workplace is voluminous and massive. There should be no problem finding the relevant material about how this dynamic manifests, how to prevent it and the implications involved. The solutions to the problems may be a little more hit and miss in terms of what really works and what is really true. However, that is the nature of scholarly research and that is why only scholarly sources will be used.

Annotated References

Denis, A.B., & Kalekin-Fishman, D. (2012). The Shape of Sociology for the 21st

Century: Tradition and Renewal. London: SAGE Publications.

This is a general reference source about sociology and is what will be used to define and quantify the sociological perspectives that are later related to the subject at hand in this proposal. Subjects covered include the obvious conflict perspective, functionalist perspective, feminist perspective and so on. The feminist perspective will probably rear its head in addition to what is in the proposal above given that college are usually majority women.

Hintz, S., Frazier, P.A., & Meredith, L. (2014). Evaluating an Online Stress

Management Intervention for College Students. Journal Of Counseling

Psychology, doi:10.1037/cou0000014

This source looks at online education and interventions. Given that many college programs are wholly or at least partially done online, this is a very important dimension will be looked at. Indeed, many work situations are online and/or telecommuting as well.

KREIG, D.B. (2013). HIGH EXPECTATIONS FOR HIGHER EDUCATION?

PERCEPTIONS OF COLLEGE AND EXPERIENCES OF STRESS PRIOR TO

AND THROUGH THE COLLEGE CAREER. College Student Journal, 47(4), 635-

- Rather than just look at stress management before the workplace and during the college years, this source goes back even further. This dovetails with the mention above about the talk of family/relationship stress management as one group of stressors (family/relationship) surely affects the other and vice versa.

Messing, K., Caroly, S., & Riel, J. (2011). Counting the minutes: Administrative control of work schedules and time management of secondary school teachers in Quebec. Work, 4059-70.

This source is being looked at because it is a confluence of the work (teachers) and educational (students) stressors and how they can feed off of each other. The students and their ability to manage stress is an important subject to look at but how teachers and administrators react when teaching is another that can and should be looked at. Teachers need to be the regulators and examples for their students but if they are unable or unwilling to set the proper standard and show the proper example, this will create or aggravate stress and stressors with the students.

O'Hara, R.E., Armeli, S., Boynton, M.H., & Tennen, H. (2014). Emotional stress-reactivity and positive affect among college students: The role of depression history. Emotion, 14(1), 193-202. doi:10.1037/a0034217

Yet another source that looks at mental health issues that are incurred outside or inside a school environment yet both affect the educational sphere (and thus any transition to the workplace) in much the same way.…