More than 30% of Michigan children are “chronically absent” from school. Now, the state Legislature wants to make cutting classes even easier by mandating up to five “mental health days” per year.
They try to help students with mental health issues, but their solutions may do more harm than good.
The problem is serious.is more than 20% School-age children in the United States who have a mental, emotional, or behavioral disorder Estimated 50% The incidence of mental illness is lower than the age of 14, and there have been reports of suicidal behavior among high school students. Up 40% in the past 10 years. We must investigate the mental health epidemic and do something to solve it.
HB4389 and SB29 A maximum of five absences per year are allowed unless notified by a medical professional. The bill provides that if a student uses two “mental health” days, he or she will be “allowed” to see a counselor or administrator. The law has many blind spots, including a lack of parent involvement and follow-up procedures for students who take advantage of mental health days, and the fact that this could cause Michigan’s grades to skyrocket. . Attendance is already low. But the most concerning aspect of this bill is its logic.
The “Mental Health Day” policy creates a gap between students who simply use the mental health excuse to take five days off, and those who are actually dealing with symptoms such as clinical depression or anxiety. destroys the distinction between Instead of encouraging the cultivation of mental health, these policies normalize mental health issues and destroy the sensitivity and seriousness of the very real mental health conditions of many students.
School is stressful, and everyone experiences feelings of anxiety or sadness at some point. However, creating policies that effectively equate episodes of severe mental illness with unavoidable physical illness is not a viable solution to the increasing rates of mental health problems among school-age children and adolescents. .
Laws like Michigan’s create one-size-fits-all policies where individual institution protocols are most effective and practical in addressing specific school district and student concerns. Individual schools should create a policy that lets students who are struggling with serious and recurrent mental health issues know they can talk to a teacher, administrator, or counselor and have their absences excused from school. However, having students take the initiative to request forgiveness for these absences ensures that the reason is valid, establishes a system of accountability and recognition, and allows teachers and counselors to contact the student’s family and ensure that the student’s absence is excused. You will be able to ensure your safety. Stay away from school, especially if the student is likely to cause harm to themselves. This system provides accountability and compassion to kids who want to skip class, rather than providing blanket excuses that delegitimize students who actually suffer from very serious mental health issues. I would encourage it.
Low-effort laws like Michigan’s won’t solve the mental health epidemic among schoolchildren because they normalize widespread mental health problems. It does not encourage students to make healthy choices or intentionally work towards healing their mental health or preventing relapse. And many root causes of mental health problems are not considered, such as bullying, technology, social media, lack of social interaction at school, exercise, and healthy eating.
Ultimately, these types of laws and school policies demonstrate how cavalier our society treats mental health issues. Mental and behavioral disorders are not to be alleviated or overcome, but rather to be expected and normalized. Giving students five passes to “get out of school for free” just because they are feeling sad or stressed is a way of addressing the problem rather than confronting the problem head-on that is causing them to feel that way. It only encourages you to avoid it.
Adolescence and young adulthood are full of transitions and uncertainties, but “mental health day” policies focus on these feelings rather than teaching students how to cope with these challenges that continue into adulthood. It teaches us that we cannot overcome and must sink into solitude. And abandon the promise of fully dealing with your emotions.
This will only increase the emotional immaturity and weakness of future generations, with students repeatedly suffering from poor mental health and wanting more time to study for exams or being bullied in class. You end up lumping together students who you want to avoid. There are other solutions to these problems, and they take more intention, time, and resources from parents, teachers, and school administrators than ending a mental health day without check-ins or follow-up, but they are more It’s effective. We focus on developing resilient students who are able to cope with problems and seek intervention when necessary.
It’s probably a good thing that mental health day bills have been stalled in both branches of the Michigan Legislature since early 2023. This is a question that individual schools, school boards, and parents must decide for themselves, their communities, and their students. – What can be done to allocate real funding and understand why rates of mental health problems are rising and to alleviate rather than hope for these problems among the youngest and most vulnerable members of society? This is not a member of Congress who is willing to ask uncomfortable and unpopular questions about whether it can be done.
