How does School Impact Mental Health?
By: Ashley Weng
Picture by Tanisha Choudhary.
Mental health is a crucial factor that must be taken care of throughout life, especially in adolescents. Children and teens need to be nurtured with a strong mind in order to be successful in life, but achieving this involves several different aspects. One of the most influential components that affects mental health is school, as the average student spends the majority of their time focusing on academics. Some could argue that school actually helps a student's well-being, while others say that it works to damage a student's mental health. There are several positives and negatives that school can have towards a student's emotional wellness, as it can be a huge factor in building an adolescent's character, while also putting mind-breaking pressure on teens.
Positive Connections
School plays a huge part in building a child's social skills and personal connections with others. For a child to grow up to be a strong and independent person, they will need to be able to effectively communicate their ideas to their peers, which school often pushes students to do. Talking and sharing with others allows a person to figure out who they are in life and what their capabilities are. These positive connections can further help promote a sense of belonging in the school, making other usual ‘burdens’ like schoolwork more bearable. An example of a hindrance to these relationships can be seen in COVID, where “37% of students at public and private high schools said their mental health was not good most or all of the time during the pandemic”(Gramlich). During COVID, students were unable to go to school and forced to attend virtual schooling. Without the positive connections that going to school physically brings, students faced challenges that took a toll on their mental health.
Strong Goals
Additionally, school can help place strong academic goals in students, pushing them to thrive outside of their comfort zone. With healthy competition between a student and their peers, it pushes the student to go beyond their capabilities. Building strong goals can increase the students’ confidence and motivation to excel in their academic studies. Not only will this skill be applicable in school, but it will also be useful throughout the rest of a person's life. An example of a strong goal that has proven itself to be successful in improving a student’s confidence is a SMART goal. The point of this is to set “specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goals” to further students’ motivation to learn and excel in their academics”(CLRN). If students can learn this skill at a young age, they will be able to apply it to things outside of academics, like improving health or lifestyle. By instilling these ideals in children and teens, school further embeds good habits in their future.
Academic Pressure
However, school expectations can also place a huge burden on a student's shoulders, causing them to damage their mental health. To some children and teens, grades can be a very definitive way of their worth as a person. So, studying for upcoming tests and quizzes can place a lot of pressure on them to work hard and do well, creating stress and anxiety. Also, academic pressure can come from heavy expectations of parents, which can lead to “...deviant behavior such as disruptions in sleep cycles, experimenting with sexual-activity, and substance use”(Vallejo). Such actions can lead to the destruction of a student's future if it is taken too far, further demonstrating the dangers of high academic expectations. If a student is also struggling to maintain school work alongside sports and extracurriculars, it can lead them to feel stressed and anxious as well.
Huge loads of academic work, paired with additional extracurriculars, can have terrible effects on a student's mental health. Picture by Urbaki Mind
Bullying
A worldwide phenomenon that usually occurs in schools is bullying, which can come to negatively impact a student's well-being in terrible ways. PACER reports that “one out of every five (19.2%) students report being bullied.” A student is often bullied for things they cannot help, like their appearance, race, gender, religion, and sexual orientation. This can further instill a sense of insecurity and helplessness in the child or teen, making them feel as if they don’t belong and damaging their emotional well-being. Adding onto this, PACER notes that “students reported the most significant negative effects on feelings about themselves (27.8%), their schoolwork (19.7%), relationships with family and friends (18.5%), and physical health (13.4%).” Bullying can severely damage a student's well-being and can also potentially cancel out the positive effects that school has on a student. It hinders their desire to perform well academically and often shelters them from forming positive social connections throughout the entirety of their lives.
Conclusion
To conclude, school has a significant impact on children's and teens' mental health. It can have very positive effects, like increasing confidence, motivation, and self-esteem, but it can also damage a student's mental health through bullying or academic pressure. Parents and guardians need to monitor their child's feelings toward school to ensure that the student maintains a strong mindset. As we address the positive and negative effects of school on a student's mental health, we can help students lead a strong and successful future.
References:
Chavda, J. (2024, April 14). Mental health and the pandemic: What U.S. surveys have found. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/03/02/mental-health-and-the-pandemic-what-u-s-surveys-have-found/
Team, C. (2024, December 24). Why is setting goals important for students? California Learning Resource Network. https://www.clrn.org/why-is-setting-goals-important-for-students/
Academic pressure: causes, effects, and coping strategies. (2023, November 22). Mental Health Center Kids. https://mentalhealthcenterkids.com/blogs/articles/academic-pressure
Bullying statistics. (n.d.). National Bullying Prevention Center. https://www.pacer.org/bullying/info/stats.asp
