By Kevin Vinas
There are a lot of stresses being in school and wanting to do well “to earn high paying jobs.” However, dealing with stress is important for students to maintain their mental health. The mental health of students is very important. School is a priority and every student wants to graduate, so that they can have a great future.
School though can and does have an impact on the mental health of students. Bullying, academic pressure, and fear of missing out on educational opportunities can be reasons for the impact on mental health on students. Research shows that academic stress leads to an increased likelihood of developing anxiety and/or depression. This will lead to students development of anxiety and maybe even depression, which will in turn impact a student’s future.
One student, who wishes to remain an anonymous source, said that the biggest bother is that there is not enough time to get assignments in before a deadline. A student at PASE, he does not want to get bad or even average grades, so getting work in on time is a must. He said that getting good grades like simples “C’s” is not that stressful for him, but classwork is stressful because of the deadlines. Also, “C’s” are not good enough.
One way that the stress for students, and teachers too, could be lessened is by creating an agreement between students and teachers early in the marking period, with the amount of work for that marking period, as well as the due dates when this work would be due. This PASE senior said that a good teacher would give his students a chance to hand in assignments late but with a penalty.
One teacher, who also wants to be an anonymous source said, “Overall, it depends on the teacher, but for my students I try to be fair by giving them a chance to hand in work late, by just subtracting 10% of their final grade for every day it is late.” This teacher is making the attempt to be fair to his students by giving them a chance to pass, and less stressed.
School is a stressful place. There is always a lot going on. The students interviewed for this piece know that they need to do work in classes, and that the work is due at a certain time, but they feel stressed when these assignments all come due at the same time.
The mental health of students should be a priority to teachers, counselors, and administration. The main issue is that students should not feel overly stressed, which can lead to depressive episodes, which in turn leads to other problems. If lower grades makes students feel overloaded, then they may even drop out.
The solution is that students and teachers need to talk to each other to work out how things can get done without a severe punishment for students who just cannot get the work in on time, for whatever reason.
