Is school affecting students' mental health?

by Autumn T.

Many AHS students "look beyond" the past couple of months. In order to investigate the cause of why they look so tired, I started interviewing the following AHS students: Claire L. Madison L., Carrie T., and Craig S.

In order for this to work, so you can see the differences on mental health during school and out of school, Claire and Madi are students that attend this school every single day. However Carrie and Craig are homebound. I then proceeded to ask each student questions to see how their answers varied.

Madison was interviewed first. “How does school make you feel? What is the environment like?” Madison said, “Well it depends… school makes me tired, really tired, i'm always so drained after school. And the environment is so toxic. There is too much drama, it's so stressful.” She then got asked about the teachers and administrators, and her thoughts on how they can affect students. Madison then proceeded to state, “Some teachers are amazing and do their job such as Rivers. However a lot of teachers don't really care. If they are having a bad day, they will make sure the students know.”

Claire was interviewed next (last in-person student). “Do you wake up and look forward to going to school?” Claire then responded with, “No, the only reason I'll ever look forward to coming to school is because of my friends.” She then proceeded to add on, “Why do you think so many students have attendance issues? It's not because they just want to stay home… there is always a reason, the staff here could care less about you and more about following the rules. The school system these days are so messed up. They are assuming students stay home because they are lazy.. But in reality it's helping them heal.” She then proceeded to say, “Teachers don't take into consideration what students go through, and they don't care, especially the guidance counselors, which can affect students mentally.”

In short, it seems like mental health continues to be an issue needing addressing.