Students Respond To Newsletter Regarding Mental Health

Following the strong reaction to the newsletter, an apology letter from the school was sent out two days later to the student body. It was reassuring that the school realized its mistake right away and addressed the situation. Students hope that Niskayuna can “get its act together” and do a better job reinforcing that “whatever we are feeling is okay”. The school can put more emphasis on making sure students are aware about available resources such as counselors, social workers and the Northern Rivers services. Students remain hopeful that the district will soon find better ways to express concern and extend help, without the ignorance shown in this incident.

Mental health issues are difficult to diagnose, treat, and deal with because of their complexity and unpredictability. The layers of stress that students experience are different from individual to individual. Many of the criteria listed, such as sleeping 8 hours per night and socializing 23 times per week, are nearly impossible for students to achieve. I talked to several students about their feelings on the newsletter (all students quoted have chosen to remain anonymous). One student said, “I understand that the things listed are listed with good intent but no one is counting how many times they socialize and there’s no way in hell anyone is getting 8 hours of sleep with the amount of homework and common sleeping schedules of students. And a later starting time doesn’t mean kids wake up later, it means kids go to bed later.” Another student remarked, “The main issue I have with this is that it’s kind of hypocritical as the school causes many of these problems.” Other students also pointed this out saying, “The letter also set standards that the district itself prevents us from doing” and “for the majority of people I know, school is easily the largest negative factor on their mental health. The only force that semi-consistently ranks above it is parents.” A great deal of stress for teenagers comes from school and outside influences like family or friends, which are usually unavoidable forces which bog our minds with anything but relief.

Although students understood that the newsletter was written and sent out with good intentions, the message it conveyed seemed uninformed and misleading. One student said about the article, “[it] strikes me as intensely, like, naive?” and another also stated that, “the school should know better with all of their “wokeness”, but at the same time I could understand why they would want to address this. They just managed to address it in the worst way possible.” The newsletter not only demeaned students who suffer from mental health issues and invalidated their feelings and struggles, but also gave other students an excuse to take advantage of the list and conduct immature self-diagnoses for fun or to join the “trend”. Unfortunately, there are students and people in general who exploit the phrase, “mental health issues” to gain attention and claim to be part of the growing group of people who suffer directly from actual mental health issues.

Students who are experiencing mental health symptoms are encouraged to reach out for help, to a parent, health care provider, school counselor or one of hotlines whose numbers are posted in many classrooms.