Though the curriculum for any state-standardized test might suggest otherwise, a useful education isn't just about learning facts, memorizing definitions or popping numbers into mathematical formulas.
Soft educational skills such as training to set and reach goals are just as important to a student's success and, as a recent study suggests, even their health.
Publishing in the peer-reviewed Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Veronika Brandstätter and Marcel Herrmann (of the University of Zurich) and Julia Schüler (of the University of Berne) studied university students and marathon runners as they progressed toward reaching, and in some cases discarding, their goals.
Their research indicates that simply the consideration of abandoning a goal can have negative effects on an individual's mental and physical health as well as lessen the ability to properly evaluate a goal's worth thanks to what they call an action crisis.
Defined by the study, an action crisis is the stage a person enters when deciding whether to further pursue a goal after investing considerable time and effort into it, only to meet setbacks and restrictions. The crisis was not a single point where the goal either was or was not abandoned, but rather a process where the goal-seeker agonized over the decision.
In the sample, marathon runners who suffered an action crisis two weeks before the actual race were shown to have weaker performances than those who had no mental setback. During the marathon itself, the action crisis-inflicted runners maintained higher levels of cortisol – a hormone secreted in response to stress.
Meanwhile, the university students who underwent action crises showed health problems such as sleeping disorders and a lack of life satisfaction.
The study stated: "The stronger the reported action crisis, the steeper was the decline in [the goal's] attainability and desirability."
In a section discussing the research's implications, the study noted the inability to adjust goals to the reality of a situation had negative effects on a person's well-being, and these effects increase the longer he or she was "caught between letting go of a goal and sticking tenaciously to it."
It concluded recognizing action crises and then re-engaging goals objectively and realistically would also be healthier for any goal-seeker.
Siskiyou County students at Yreka High School may not have a specific curriculum dedicated to developing healthy goal-reaching skills, but Principal Marie Caldwell said such skills are folded into their education, from the first freshmen classes all the way to the senior project.
"A lot of goal setting surrounds academic tasks around here," she said.
Major components of the freshman requirement classes are lessons in organization, planning and goal setting. Then several projects are dispersed throughout the students' high school careers, helping imbue healthy goal-seeking habits and disciplines.
"Through habit and discipline, you circumvent the moment of disengagement [the action crisis]," said Caldwell.
Maria Haywood, director of psychological services for the Yreka Union High School District, said two helpful tools for goal engagement she teaches students is visualizing and having an action plan.
Visualization techniques include charting progression, so it can be physically seen and accounted for, and mental exercises such as imagining oneself in the future and questioning what accomplishments would bring that person the most pride or joy.
The action plan has the students breaking down the required steps necessary for goal achievement and in as specific a manner as possible.
Questions the students ask themselves include the following: whether their goal is realistic; what are the resources needed; is the goal positive or negative; what will be the necessary devotion time; and does the student have a balance of short-, medium- and long-term goals?
"Figure out your pitfalls and address them," Haywood said.
She said another important step to determine how a student will proceed is to have him or her order their principles – does the student value friends, family, honesty, financial security and so on?
"If the goal isn't aligned with their values, it won't be easy to stick with," she said.
Caldwell noted progress reports as additional tools to help students prepare goals and monitor development. She said counselors can run queries to set up parent, student conferences, which also help provide parents the tools to become involved in the student's goal planning.
She said, "To have a system in place, to help support that evaluation and redirect, that's really key."
Both Caldwell and Haywood noted re-evaluation and re-engagement of goals based on the reality of a situation as an important factor for goal attainment.
"When you get to a certain stress point and you feel overwhelmed, you may need to re-evaluate, or reaffirm, your progress," Haywood said. "How realistic are your goals are? Are they achievable? Or, you can reaffirm the fact that you are making progress."
Caldwell said senior project advisors work with students to brainstorm ideas to stay in the parameters of a project's goals, even when the reality of a situation diverts from the student's original expectations.
She provided the example of a student trying to fix his or her personal car engine but later runs into financial difficulties. The senior project advisor might help secure the student an internship at a local garage, so he or she can continue working on engines but without their financial burdens interfering.
In this way, the student disengages from certain aspects of the original goal but still re-engages with the goal itself – perhaps preventing or shortening a potential action crisis.
"We don't always recognize or give ourselves the kudos for having accomplished what we've accomplished," Haywood said.