How does school affect students' mental health?
By Christopher Jemiri & Khayri Nasir-Dennis
January 24, 2024
Overwhelmed board at counselor suite.
Youth mental health is a very important underlying issue that most don’t know about .According to National Alliance on Mental illness One in six U.S. youth aged 6-17 experience a mental health disorder each year, and half of all mental health conditions begin by age 14.
Our youth is experiencing a striking mental health crisis. According to the Center of Disease Control (CDC), more than 1 in every 3 high school students experienced poor mental health during the recent covid 19 pandemic. Some students felt constant sadness and hopelessness, while two thirds of these teenagers felt difficulty completing work. This means that in a classroom of about 30 students, it's estimated that 10 of those students were or are struggling with their mental health.
Another aspect of school that is very significant when talking about students' mental health is how early they have to wake up to attend school. The majority of teenagers don’t get the recommended 8 plus hours of sleep. Not enough sleep can lead to negative health consequences that can impact students’ ability to learn.
“The main aspect of school that is really affecting my mental health is how early it starts. I live in the northeast part of Philly so it takes me a little while to get here. And with school starting at 7 '45 I have to leave my house by 6:30 and in the morning I just feel so tired from having work the previous day so when I get to school I sleep which is really affecting how I'm doing in school right now.” Carver High School senior Brandon Wade said.
According to Nea Today, there was a consensus among researchers that later school times would benefit students’ sleep patterns, which would allow them to walk into class more awake and more prepared to learn. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends teenagers age 13 to 18 should regularly sleep 8 to 10 hours per night for good health. Students without enough sleep are more likely to suffer from depression, perform poorly in school, and not participate or engage in physical activity.
The lack of sleep that I get affects my mental health. School starts very early so when I get here I am super tired. This really affects how I preform in school. I think if school started 30 mins later it would benefit a lot of students.” Carver High School senior Jayden Coloson said.
School cause stress on a lot of students.The Center of Disease Control (CDC)When facing academic stress, adolescents and young adults are more likely to develop anxiety or depression. They also experience less well-being and tend to do poorly in school.
“Having both a Social Science midterm and a English midterm this week has caused a lot of stress for me because I’ve had to study a lot and I already normally struggle when it comes to studying so it has had an impact on my mental health.” Carver High School senior Blake Iezzi said.