Mental health takes a toll on students all over the world. It disrupts how they learn and retain that information. So, why is it not a big deal when schools see an increase in lower grades and moody students? Schools don’t take mental health seriously enough to help students fight their issues and help them get past them.
I think that some schools just care about the grades and attendance of students more than the actual students. Since schools get their funding based on attendance and graduation rates, They just tell students to show up every day and work to get good grades.
Sometimes I stay at home because I wake up really tired, sad, or anxious and I know that that day I’m not going to be able to focus on school. When I get back to school the next couple days, some teachers are really strict about me missing their class and say that I can’t miss any more of their class. I get that I missed that day’s assignment, but I do eventually make it up in a timely manner. How should I tell them that I was not myself yesterday and I felt really sad and anxious? I can’t without increasing my own anxiety and shedding a few tears.
Some people stay at home one day and come back to hear the teachers tell them that they shouldn’t be sad because they have perfect grades. They don’t know the real reason that you are sad so they assume that you’re fine. You might have good grades but that doesn’t mean that you don’t have some stuff going on in your head. Why should having perfect grades stop you from becoming sad at random times of the day? Mental health doesn’t stop for anything or anyone. It hits you when you’re least expecting it.
Imagine you are in your favorite class of the day and you are about to present your project that you were so excited about. You’re in the middle of your presentation and suddenly feel the biggest wave of sadness and anxiety come over you like a stormy blanket. You get done with the presentation and you sit down quietly by yourself ignoring everything going on around you. Would you want to be anywhere other than your home when you feel like that? That is what most students with mental health issues face on an everyday basis. Sometimes they just feel off some days and can’t physically and mentally go to school.
I see that some people might think that mental health issues are not real and are made up by lazy people. For those people, their mental health might not matter to them, but for a lot of other people mental health does matter.
I think that teachers and other staff members should get trained in mental awareness and to seek out signs in their students who they think need some help. Schools should also offer a certified mental health specialist per 100 students and to have a special room to help them calm down and rest a little bit before heading back to class. If students have a crisis mid-school day, they are there to help them gain back some composure and go back to class worry-free. Teachers could also be less mean about people missing class and maybe talk alone outside the classroom about what happened and talk to them about what they could do to help them during class.
Some schools care less about their students and more about their attendance and grades. With these improvements, I think that schools would care more about the students and mental health. People should know that mental health is a real problem and should be looked at in a more serious way.
