If We Truly Care about Teen Mental Health
If you’re paying any attention at all, you know that we are in the midst of a youth mental health crisis. The crisis is particularly pronounced in “high achieving” communities, whose children were recently reclassified as an “at risk” population (alongside children who experience poverty, trauma, discrimination) in A report from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Similar findings were reported by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The studies identified the damaging impact of “extreme pressure to succeed or to outdo everyone else—often, but not exclusively, occurring in affluent communities.”
The data is shocking:
The CDC reported that 42% of teenagers described experiencing "persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness" in the last year and 29% said they had poor mental health in the past month.
Stanford University reported that 3/4 of high school students and half of middle school students reported “often or always feeling stressed” by their schoolwork. More than 2/3 of high-schoolers reported being “often or always worried” about getting into the college of their choice.
The most commonly identified stressors in surveys small and large include relentless academic competition centered around grades and advanced coursework, a constant fear about getting into a “good college,” and an overwhelming schedule that leaves little time for unstructured relationship building or sleep. Most teens in these pressure-cooker school environments are chronically sleep deprived, often getting 2-4 hours less than the recommended healthy sleep totals, night after night.
Many adults shrug off the ugly news by utilizing one of the 3 Deadly D’s of Disappointing Data. To be clear, school is not the only factor that contributes to poor youth mental health; however, it is a significant factor and it is one that we, as educators and parents, can control.
And most educators and parents feel a moral obligation to take action once they have heard
the painful first-hand details of youth anxiety and depression
the long-term neuropsychological impact of chronic anxiety and depression on the brain
school leaders describe incredibly effective strategies to radically reduce mental health issues while simultaneously improving learning outcomes.
The problem is too large for reactive solutions; we can’t therapy our way out of this. Furthermore, why should we wait for our kids to suffer before taking action? This crisis calls for proactive, preventative measures to reduce the problem’s root causes. Here are six actions that educators, parents, and community members can take right now to help our kids be happier and healthier, and also to learn more in schools:
1. Slow down and cut back
Teachers routinely complain about the “bloated curriculum” they’re expected to cover, whether by edict of the state or expectations of the College Board. We need to confront the uncomfortable truth about racing through a bloated curriculum: just because we “cover it” doesn’t mean students truly learn it. We can improve student (and teacher) mental health by paring back our curriculum, focusing on what’s most important, and leaving more time for curiosity, deep learning, reflection, and relationship-building. The surprising truth is that when we teach less, students often learn more.
2. Center learning rather than grades.
Students in “high achieving” schools experience a relentless comparison culture. Grades are at the center of that culture. While most schools are not in a position to eliminate grades altogether, we can all work to de-emphasize grades and move the focus to learning.
Schools and educators can do this by:
Moving away from comparison-based assessments (tests and quizzes) and towards more authentic and holistic assessment strategies (e.g. projects, debates, presentations) that include self and peer evaluations
Allowing students to improve grades by reworking and relearning
Moving away from class rankings, weighted grades, and honors/recognitions based solely on grades
Eliminating “grades on demand” platforms (e.g. Powerschool, Gradelink) or limiting the flow of grade posting/access to only mid-term rather than continuous
Utilizing strategies that center intrinsic rather than extrinsic motivation
Parents and all adults can take the following steps:
Talk with kids about what they’re learning, not their grades. If they share good grades, say, “That’s great, but I’d be interested to hear more about what you learned from that assignment.”
Don’t offer grade-based incentives or rewards.
Don’t track your kids’ grades on the school’s online learning platform. If you want to see how they’re doing between report cards, consider a one-time check at the mid-term.
Frequently remind kids that their grades do not define them or determine the whole course of their lives. Share stories of people who were not great students but found great success in the work world.
3. Redesign school schedules to maximize opportunities for meaningful student and teacher relationships
Let’s face it: the traditional school schedule, with its 47-minute periods, is not designed to foster close teacher/student relationships. Can you name a single person you feel close to that you haven’t ever spent a full consecutive hour with?
4. Increase opportunities for students to do work in school that is interesting, meaningful, and satisfying.
There is a huge difference between working hard on something you are really excited about and working hard on something you are not. Young people invariably feel way better about learning experiences that they find meaningful and valuable. We can increase those by utilizing pedagogies that center relevance, student choice, authentic (real world) action, student agency, and service learning.
5. Change the conversation about college
There are more than 2,000 colleges in the U.S. Only about 50 of them accept less than 30% of their applicants. Most colleges admit most of their applicants; the average admission rate is 66%. We must stop insinuating that kids will have difficulty getting into college. There are excellent faculty, programs, and opportunities at nearly all colleges. We must disabuse teenagers of the false belief that there are only a few “good colleges” out there. U.S. News created rankings to sell magazines and collect revenue-generating web clicks. Malcolm Gladwell detailed how those rankings are meaningless, racially biased, and even fraudulent. Beyond that, they damage children by promoting a narrative that only some colleges are good and that the only path to success is to attend one of them.
6. Work relentlessly to help students and parents redefine success
The mantra that the only path to success is going to a four-year college (preferably one that’s really hard to get into) needs to end. The truth is that 40% of college grads end up working in jobs that don’t require a college degree. (Note: this does not qualify them for a refund of their tuition or a waiver of the debt they incurred getting the degree.) Meanwhile, community colleges and trade schools are actively building business partnerships that prepare young people for direct access to employment, often with companies that will pay for their future four-year college attendance. Four-year college is not the right choice for every person; it is not a guarantee of career success; and it does not ensure higher levels of happiness than alternative paths. We need to help young people understand these realities.
I realize that none of these six suggestions are easy or quick. Some will require deep community conversations. Some will require significant teacher professional development. Some will require reimagining legacy practices that are deeply ingrained in schools’ cultures.
The easiest course is to do nothing. But millions of American children are currently being severely damaged by the toxic academic achievement culture in schools. I hope our sense of moral obligation will inspire us to take bold action.
Our children deserve it.