This commentary is by Claire Maroney, age 20, an Environmental Studies Major at the University of Vermont.
[O]n March 29, 12 of my University of Vermont classmates and I went to the Vermont Statehouse to talk to Governor Phil Scott about gun control. For thirty minutes, we sat in his office and shared our concerns, ideas and research. Within minutes, the conversation shifted from guns to the issues underlying gun violence, specifically mental health. Gov. Scott said that passing new gun reform bills can only do so much; he asked us for ideas. With the use of grim statistics, I told him my thoughts. Now is the time to reform the flawed culture of our nation’s education system, starting with more mental health resources.
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, one in five children, from 13 to 18, have, or will have, a serious mental illness
I became one of these statistics in high school when I started having panic attacks caused by anxiety. My mental health plummeted my senior year of high school. I was balancing college applications, a heavy course load of AP and honors classes, and three varsity sports.
I’ll never forget the first time I had a panic attack in front of another person. After a long day of school, and a stressful cross country practice, I picked up my friend to go watch a volleyball game. She got in my car, and then asked something innocuous like “How are you?” I burst into tears. Heart pounding, face reddening, body shaking. I felt everything caving in around me: lack of sleep, stress, built-up pressure, and endless responsibilities.
Our national education system creates a cutthroat, hyper-competitive culture that praises students who take the most AP courses, do the most extra-curricular activities, and get the least hours of sleep. Seventy percent of children who receive mental health services access those services at school, according to the according to the School-Based Health Alliance. But I didn’t even know I had a guidance counselor until my senior year.
The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) reports that, nationwide, each counselor is responsible for an average of nearly 500 students. The ASCA recommends a caseload half that size.
Because there are so few trained counselors in many schools, teachers and staff must provide emotional support to their students. However, most educators have degrees in other fields and have never received mental health training. As students move through the school system, the emotional expression, creativity and nurturing aspects of elementary school are replaced with a focus on numbers, rigor, and retaining as much information as possible.
My mother is a middle school English teacher in my hometown. She and her fellow teachers feel their ability to produce high-test scores is valued over producing well-rounded, healthy students. Because of the extreme emphasis on curriculum, teachers do not have time to balance their responsibilities as educators with their responsibilities to guide and nurture children.
Many education officials and politicians state that student and teacher safety is the utmost concern; their solution is more safety drills. They ignore the root of the issue. Lockdown procedures, proper security and stricter gun control measures are important. But it is just as important to provide adequate emotional support and resources to students, while equipping teachers and faculty with the knowledge they need to help students. Mental health experts warn that untreated mental health disorders can lead to poor academic performance, suicide, substance use, and adult unemployment.
We can no longer ignore mental health. With every new shooting, students’ fear and anxiety is increasing. Mental health education and resources create a solid foundation for students in their developmental years. If students are never educated about mental health, how will they identify what is and isn’t healthy to think and feel? How will teachers help students if they never learned how to address mental health issues? Teachers should be armed with more knowledge, not with guns.
