In 2021, the CDC found that 29% of high school students experience poor mental health in the US. That’s about ⅓ of the kids that are in your classes, on your bus, and your friends. A huge contributor to mental health is stress levels.
Stress is normalized in high schools and across the world. While some stress is good for the brain, at a certain point it starts negatively affecting us. This negative effect is seen overwhelmingly in teens, especially those in their high school years. Sometimes an excess of stress is just that, and can even be healthy, but other times it can develop into severe problems that affect our mental health.
Throughout my years at YHS, I’ve noticed a lot of students' self-worth is heavily based on how well they do in classes and sports. I’ve also noticed a pressure to take the hardest classes you can, get the highest scores, go to the best colleges, and to know exactly what you want to do with your life. I’ve also noticed students, including myself, becoming overwhelmed by the pressure put on them by the YHS community to excel.
Having a passion and drive to do your best and succeed in life is an amazing quality to have. However, we also have to maintain healthy expectations of ourselves, and be able to handle failure in a healthy way. YHS has an expectation for the first quality, but the latter is noticeably lacking in students’ and parents’ minds. My noticings aren’t just mine either. Every student I interviewed (they are anonymous) reported a feeling of “pressure to take all the hardest classes” and “to always do well no matter what”. This pressure creates a sense of shame for students who don’t do
In 2021, the CDC found that 29% of high school students experience poor mental health in the US. That’s about ⅓ of the kids that are in your classes, on your bus, and your friends. A huge contributor to mental health is stress levels.
Stress is normalized in high schools and across the world. While some stress is good for the brain, at a certain point it starts negatively affecting us. This negative effect is seen overwhelmingly in teens, especially those in their high school years. Sometimes an excess of stress is just that, and can even be healthy, but other times it can develop into severe problems that affect our mental health.
Throughout my years at YHS, I’ve noticed a lot of students' self-worth is heavily based on how well they do in classes and sports. I’ve also noticed a pressure to take the hardest classes you can, get the highest scores, go to the best colleges, and to know exactly what you want to do with your life. I’ve also noticed students, including myself, becoming overwhelmed by the pressure put on them by the YHS community to excel.
Having a passion and drive to do your best and succeed in life is an amazing quality to have. However, we also have to maintain healthy expectations of ourselves, and be able to handle failure in a healthy way. YHS has an expectation for the first quality, but the latter is noticeably lacking in students’ and parents’ minds. My noticings aren’t just mine either. Every student I interviewed (they are anonymous) reported a feeling of “pressure to take all the hardest classes” and “to always do well no matter what”. This pressure creates a sense of shame for students who don’t do as the student put it, and “it is impossible for YHS to fix on its own.” YHS is evidently not solely responsible for the struggles of its students. However, it can still work to be a place where kids feel comfortable and safe no matter what they are dealing with.
All the students I interviewed agreed that teachers do a great job of understanding student’s struggles and being flexible when someone needs it. All of the staff at YHS is this way, and it’s amazing. However, the students I interviewed felt that the resources to reach out for help with academics or stress weren’t readily available and that they didn’t know much about them. YHS should publicize to students what support is available to help them mentally and academically. Highlighting information about our social worker and other staff they can go to for help would be a great first step.
A student I talked to also suggested that the school assign less homework over the weekends. Weekends are a time for students (and teachers) to relax and reset for the next week. If they have to do schoolwork during that time, they can’t use their weekends to their advantage.
Another simple way to reduce stress and pressure would be having some mental health days in school every now and then. It could happen during Clipper Time, and all students would benefit from a break. Offering puzzles, art, sports, outdoor activities, and crafty activities would help students relax and relieve some stress. Offering the time for students to do homework during that time is also beneficial, because they can’t relieve stress when they have a big test they need to study for or homework to do for the next period.
Mental health isn’t just about people who struggle with it, it applies to everyone. Maintaining good mental health and knowing how to do so is a skill that everyone should have. Knowing that YHS is a place they are supported and welcome is key to helping change the stigma around mental health and start to shift the culture around academics in our community.
Not everyone needs help. But that doesn’t mean that no one struggles. Recognize the pressure and stress. Talk about it and how it makes you feel. Advocate for the help you feel you or others need. Having a worldwide impact is difficult, but we can all try to make our community a little less stigmatized and supportive.
Ms. Tripp's Response
Thank you for acknowledging the academic, social and emotional stress our students experience here at YHS. I think the more students and staff write about this, discuss this in class, and challenge this culture, the healthier we will all be. Our school has two full-time social workers who provide mental health support to any and all students who want to access mental health support. It is voluntary, with zero barriers to accessing this service. We are here for everyone, and Ms. Zorn and I love what we do. I agree with the author, that there continues to exist a stigma around acknowledging mental health issues, and accepting support to help manage and/or resolve these issues; issues that are as natural and as common as any physical ailment. We live in a stressful world right now, and developing skills to manage anxiety, trauma and transitional stress is one of the healthiest things you can do for yourself. Ms Zorn and I want to teach our YHS community that attending to your mental health needs is as important as attending to any physical issue. If you stop by the nurses office when you have a headache, stop by our offices when you're anxious or stressed or worried. Not only can we teach you skills to manage those symptoms in the moment, we can support you in looking at the larger issues that might be contributing to stress. The more our YHS community accesses mental health support, the more we destigmatize taking care of ourselves. Ms Zorn and Ms. Tripp are located in the guidance hallway. We are here full-time, and students can either stop by, or email us and we will connect with you.
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