Samantha Graham, Claudine Caluza, Nellie Alonso

Mrs. Storer
English III Honors, American Literature

Mental Health in Schools

Eight hours a day in school along with the load of homework… Weekdays are dreaded
by all of us. Where do we fit in time for things? What are we supposed to do when it comes to
our mental health? Right now, nothing. If we want to take a day off for our mental health, we
have to get a doctor’s note. Because children spend so much of their daily life at school, it seems
logical that mental health education would begin in schools. However, that is not the case. Ever
since a young age, we are taught to work. The idea of being stressed because of work is even
normalized in society. In addition to that, anxiety symptoms in children are often minimized or
ignored. Unfortunately, this fast-paced society does not favor the idea of taking a day off for
mental health either. “Work first, relax later” is the motto that most people follow—But is this
truly healthy for our brains? It is known to be looked down upon when a child feels as if they are
overloaded with work. It is even implied that the child should just “deal with it” because if they
don’t, they are seen as weak, and not smart enough. The first thought isn’t “What if the child is
not doing well mentally?”, instead it is “The child cannot handle work and therefore will not
succeed.” With the pressure of social media and family issues coming into play, the stress of
school and life becomes intense for the child. So the question left is: What are we supposed to do
when we reach our limit and need to reset? Here’s what other states are doing about the matter.
On July 1, 2018, a law in Oregon went into effect giving students five mental health days
in a three-month period. In 2018 as well, Utah changed the definition of a student’s valid excuse
to miss a day to include an illness “which may be mental or physical.” These states have seen
how important mental health is, and in return, they have even benefitted from the effects.
Students work harder and better when they get a chance to take the day off and reset. So why
don’t other states follow their example? It is simply because of the views society has. No one
sees that we need time off sometimes to breathe. It is not being lazy, nor careless. It is just the
need for our mental health to be taken care of. We are not perfect. We are not machines. We are
human beings. We cannot be expected to work like robots day after day after day.
The students, all of us, wish for a safer and healthier environment to reside in. We wish to
be healthier in a school that weighs hours and hours of homework, a school that expects us to
balance hours of work and hours of physical energy, a school that determines the rest of our
lives, a school that requires all A’s to distinguish that we are good students, a school that
contributes to our everyday stress, and a school that ignores the feelings of students and focuses
on them pursuing “good grades”. This is every school, and to help lessen the burden that every
student faces, we should incorporate mental health days into every schedule. We should follow
the example of other states because we are simply human, and sometimes, we need the time to
reset.