Column by J1 Reporter Abby Else

A high fever, a headache, the flu, or not feeling well? Take a sick day. Stressed out or in a mental rut? Do we get pushed to go to school or should we prioritize mental health days?

Taking days off for mental health are not prioritized well enough. Especially compared to regular sick days. 

For most students, mental health is something they are affected by. According to cdc.gov, “4 in 10 (40%) students had persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness.” That statistic is nearly half of all students in America. 

 Some factors that contribute to the decline of mental health in American students are social media, the American school system, depression, and anxiety. 

Social media has its good and bad, but the bad that it does has the ability to outweigh the good. The constant comparison and the missing out or FOMO students experience from it are driving factors into mental health problems. 

Many students watch as their favorite influencer has something they want that they either don’t have or can’t have. Students will watch people their age doing something or going somewhere and they maybe weren’t invited or they experience the fear of missing out.

I know that the American school system is not terrible, but it’s not to its full potential. According to elevatek12.com, an organization that is working to fight teacher shortage in America, “American children are struggling. Reading and math scores are at its lowest in decades, while mental illnesses, absenteeism, and bullying is on the rise.”

Students who are affected by mental health are easily criticized by their peers and parents for wanting to skip school or struggling in school. The peers and parents aren’t to blame, but they are not always entirely aware of the seriousness of how mental health can affect a students drive and motivation for school. 

Depression and anxiety are two other serious mental health issues that play a key role in students’ mental health problems. Anxiety and depression can deeply affect how a student does in school. 

Students can show lack of effort in their work because they simply do not care, they can tend to have low energy, they might refrain from talking or socializing a lot, and it can hurt the particular student’s grades.

As a society, we have worked to fight the stigma around mental health, but it is something a lot of students feel embarrassed about or something they don’t want to talk about, which leads to worse consequences.

Let me ask you this: How many times have you had your parents call or email the school to tell them you won’t be there because you are not feeling well? Probably lots of times. Now, how many times have you had your parents call or email the school to tell them you won’t be there because you were struggling mentally? 

Now, I am aware that some students might use the fact that they are not feeling well as a cover up for they are struggling mentally, but there should be tons of awareness around student’s mental health to the point where mental health days should be acceptable and normalized once in a while.

Although it is important for a student to get help if they suffer badly from mental health, it is important for parents, peers, schools, and administration to take the time to seriously recognize the effect that mental health has on students and normalize taking some days off to prioritize mental health.