The stress and anxiety of writing

Not really sure what this blog is, it's more of a way to help me process my own issues with the comps I'm having right now.

This blog is for me today.  I’m concerned with the mental trauma and stress we impose on our students and the hoops we make them jump through.  Currently I’m having night terrors and massive anxiety attacks over the Comprehensive Exams, and writing is something I think I’m pretty decent at.  This leads me into the stress placed on students learning to write.  If I can barely keep myself together for a writing exam while knowing what I’m doing then how is a student that’s not a strong writer fairing?  I understand we need to test the limits of their comprehension of the materials, but I feel this stress is more damaging to mental health, and more likely to lead to a drop out than learning the writing process. I don’t have the answers to this, but I feel there has to be something out there regarding the mental state of students when it comes to writing and being examined.  How do we as educators make it to where a grade is important, but it’s not the be all end all “thing” of their academic career. When a student just wants that C- to get through the class or to pass the Comps to get their MA, how do we keep them from wanting to leave when their stress is pushed to the limits?   My stress is at its limits and I want to give up most days and I’ve been doing academia for a while now, it’s hard for me to imagine undergrads or freshmen being able to handle this stress and anxiety in a healthy manner while maintaining retention rates.