With July coming to a close and the school season creeping up faster than I’m sure most of us would like, we need to start talking about how school affects our mental health. According to statistics provided by the National Institute of Mental Health, a little over 21% of American adolescents, aged 13-18 years, have a serious mental health issue. That means over 21% of American high schoolers have to manage their mental health on top of the stress that comes with school, developing social skills, and planning for their future.
Unfortunately, this is something that many teachers don’t seem to understand. Kids having panic attacks because of tests, skipping classes due to stress, or staying up until the early morning to finish homework because they’re afraid of being anything but perfect isn’t normal, and it’s a far cry from what’s healthy for a teenager. Teachers need to recognize that good students being tired and unfocused in class, or having unfinished work doesn’t mean they need to be pushed harder to be brought back up to the level they normally operate at. Instead, it means that the level at which they normally operate is one wherein they push themselves past their limit to the point where, no matter how they feel emotionally, they physically cannot work any harder than the bare minimum.
School is a relatively competitive and pressure filled environment, which makes it difficult to deal with for students with mental illnesses. Whether it’s an issue with anxiety, constant worrying that you’re not doing well enough in school, or issues with class presentations, or even something more like depression where you can’t pay attention in school, or even come to school because you don’t have the energy, having a mental illness can amplify the stress we have to deal with in an academic setting. Teachers are a huge resource in alleviating the stress school causes. They are the ones who can grant extensions, offer help when you don’t understand the material, and allow the student to take tests and quizzes in the way that they feel comfortable.
However, not all teachers are willing to do this, whatever their reasons may be, which is aggravating and detrimental enough for neurotypical kids. It can mean that not only a neurodivergent student’s academic performance will be negatively affected, but also their mental health.
Teachers need to be informed of the issues students face with their mental health.
No one would force a kid with pneumonia to go to school, and then expect them to immediately recover academically without help, so why should it be any different for kids whose mental illnesses take them out of commission? There’s already enough of a stigma around mental health issues, we shouldn’t make getting help any more difficult.
