The high school system, for better or worse, has changed drastically. American high schools try to accommodate high schoolers’ needs, but some areas are supported better than others.
A great example is mental health days. Unfortunately, only 12 out of 50 states in America allow them.
The number of unexcused absences a student is allowed to have is nine out of 180 days. Excused absences are determined by principals when uncontrollable events occur, such as religious holidays, health issues, and family emergencies. And a mental health day qualifies as an excused day off from school to focus on relaxing and preventing burnout.
“I think we should be allowed more than five mental health days,” OHS junior Cassandra Cruz said. “There are only five days in the whole school year I’m not stressed.”
To cope with the overstimulation in curricula, some students exceed expectations while internally suffering. And others underachieve, ultimately succumbing to burnout.
“[Mental Health Days] are good, but they can give students more stress from the work they missed,” junior Emma Trottier said.
Truancy policies vary by state, but children obtaining ample unexcused absences fall under the disciplinary policies. In reality, the disciplinary procedures count against the parents, not the child. In Illinois, a juvenile court case is required, along with the parent charge of a class C misdemeanor resulting in 30 days of jail time or a $500 fine.
Understandably, school districts want students to attend school more days than not.
And recognizing these polar opposite cries for help from over 100 students is no easy feat. However, there is still a lack of sympathy from teachers for those struggling in their own ways.
Sleep it off
The importance of sleep in growing youth is overlooked. According to cdc.gov, “The American Academy of Sleep Medicine has recommended teenagers aged 13-18 years should sleep 8-10 hours per 24 hours.” All students have their reasoning as to why they don’t sleep enough. Some may sleep great, but when polled on 42Fifty’s Instagram, 87 percent of OHS students admitted to not getting 8-10 hours of sleep every night.
Additionally, VeryWellHealth found that, “During adolescence, sleep patterns shift due to changes in circadian rhythms that delay the release of melatonin in the brain, making it difficult for most teens to fall asleep before 11 p.m.”
More proven contributors to sleep deprivation in teens are extracurricular activities, excessive homework load, evening use of electronic media, caffeine intake, and early school start times. Not only does OHS contribute to these factors, but the entire American school system does.
We wake up early to spend 7 hours on a Chrome book, then go home to endure homework, work, extracurricular activities, chores, etc. Falling asleep at a decent time is hard enough to do naturally, and having a long list of to-do’s left unfinished doesn’t help.
Expectations
In the past five years, every component of high school has amplified. Often talked of are the luxuries we acquired that past graduating classes had no access to, such as electronics. But what isn’t discussed is that our hardships have increased too. We don’t consider how a grade point average defines our worth, not only to ourselves but to colleges, school boards, and family.
We gather our bearings in the world before we turn 18, and I wish this were not normalized. I could throw suggestions your way on reducing sleep deprivation, unexcused absences, and academic hierarchy, but I alone can’t change something so vast.
Communication is vital to situations like this. If school boards were to actively listen and maybe even ask how we feel about how certain things run, they’d realize the imperfections.
So, those in power, communicate with students when they have something to say! If you want to get to the root of the problem, you have to dig deeper.
My name is Raelyn Alvarez, and I am a Senior at OHS. This is my third year doing Digital Journalism, and I am beyond grateful to have been voted Editor-In-Chief for my last year.
