Thursday, November 14, 2019

Mental Health of Students and Teachers

One of the 10 challenges with education in the article "10 Challenges Facing Public Education Today", is the mental health of students as well as teachers. Over the years, the mental health of students has gotten worse with an increase in anxiety and depression. 

A high school counselor at La Plata High School in Maryland reports that "Honestly, I've had more students this year hospitalized  for anxiety, depression, and other mental-health issues than ever." This shows that the stress and pressure of school is really getting to students. A study done in 2014 by the American Psychological Association  reports that teens are more stressed than adults. With all the homework, tests, sports, and family events students are the most stressed they have been (Litvinov). There is pressure to fit in as well as succeed. 


Image result for stressed student



The pressure and stress students are under have a negative effect on their mental health as 30% of students reported that they feel depressed due to stress. Another 31% feel overwhelmed while 36% feel that stress is making them tired (Walker). These feelings can and have negatively impacted students' performance in school which leads to even more stress. An 18 year old high school student believes that “Every grade we get, every test we take, becomes a permanent number on a transcript that gets dissected by a college. Throughout high school, our names are constantly represented by numbers and statistics (Walker)." This shows how much pressure there is to succeed in school because it will all impact our future and nobody wants to fail in the future. 

This pressure and stress isn't just with students though as it is getting to teachers as well. A study done by the University of Missouri in 2018 shows reports that 93% of elementary school teachers are highly stressed (Litvinov). I was surprised by this number and began to wonder how stressed high school teachers are? Many of my teachers have taken a personal day to catch up on grading while others have stayed up until 3 am grading papers and tests. 

The stress that students and teachers are under today is not healthy for anyone. This creates a negative environment where it can be difficult to focus and succeed which has a negative impact on education today. 




Works Cited
Litvinov, Amanda, et al. "10 Challenges Facing Public Education Today." NeaToday, 3 Aug. 2018, neatoday.org/2018/08/03/10-challenges-facing-public-education-today/. Accessed 14 Nov. 2019.
Walker, Tim. "Educators Look to Parents and Communities to Help Reduce Student Stress." NeaToday, 16 Sept. 2016, neatoday.org/2016/09/16/reducing-student-stress/. Accessed 14 Nov. 2019.

5 comments:

  1. Maurgan, you've provided a strong overview of the article and the issue. Your personal reflections at the end are very interesting. How do you see this stress as impacting our school on a regular basis?

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  2. I love how thorough your information was, making it easy to get the jist of the topic. I also like that you had included the personal piece about your teachers in the end. Have you noticed a change in a student's or teacher's mental health in result of school?

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  3. The layout of this blog is very nice. Maybe shorten your paragraphs for they aren't so lengthy. Get right to the point and don't sugar coat anything.

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  4. That's a great question, I see this stress impacting students and teachers everyday with a lack of focus and energy as well as bad grades by students. More sleep and less work for both students and teachers may reduce some stress. -Maurgan

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  5. I definitely have seen an increase in anxiety in students. Do you think it would be helpful to have formal lessons on strategies to deal with stress and anxiety incorporated into the school day somehow? I know many kids receive outside support through counseling or their parents, but there are still many who do not. Do you think it's the school's job to help students with this emotional learning? If so, when would we do it? Is health class enough?

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