Student Mental Health & Grades
- Gabriella Cerra
- Nov 12, 2023
- 7 min read
As per the definition given by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, mental health is a broad category that encompasses a person’s emotional, psychological, and social well-being.
The state of a person’s mental health affects how people feel, behave with others, and make decisions.
Oftentimes an individual’s mental health is shown through his or her work output.
This means that for students, their grades and academic performance are typically at least a partial indicator of how they are doing mentally.
According to youth.gov, a positive mental health status for a student is characterized by an increased likelihood of the following: feeling ready to learn in school, actively engaging in activities, and using appropriate problem-solving skills.
To be of this attribute, a person must also utilize non-aggressive behaviors.
Having supportive and caring relationships with those around you helps to have positive mental health, and lacking that can be detrimental.
An adequate mental health state could represent itself in the form of a student having good listening and recall skills in a classroom, or simply just the motivation to try to learn and participate.
When an individual displays a poor mental state, through means such as emotional outbursts, saddened demeanor, lack of motivation, etc., this can be indicative of a mental health condition, or disorder. According to the Center for Mental Health in Schools, between 12 and 22 percent of school students have a diagnosable mental health disorder.
Poor mental health is almost guaranteed to diminish a student’s academic success.
In life, it is sometimes unnoticeable when things have taken a turn for the worse until they are at the worst.
Early-showing symptoms of a below average mental well-being include feelings of hopelessness or excessive stress, mood swings, and having little to no energy or will-power.
Stress is a normal experience for people to have in life. Having stress does not immediately mean a person’s mental status is poor. It does, however, have to be appropriately assessed and commonly causes academic performance problems.
Everywhere, especially recently, mental health having a negative impact upon students and their performances has become a huge issue.
Despite how sometimes issues feel like they skip over the small towns, like Jim Thorpe, a decline in the mental health of students here has been an issue as well.
As stated by JTHS Counselor, Nicole Burchell, “I have noticed since COVID, a rapid decline in students’ overall mental wellness, and I definitely think it has a direct impact on student grades… I think that mental health and wellness was declining previous to COVID, but for some reason, COVID sped it up.”
As expected of a worldwide outbreak that turned living as society knows it upside down, COVID-19 caused many negative effects on everyone.
For the most part, American society has regained the sense of normalcy in place prior to 2020, so something else is keeping student mental wellness poor: social media.
This most prominent theory for the societal trend has been corroborated by Mrs. Burchell as the likely reason for the local trend: “I think that social media has a lot to do with your mental health… I think it has a negative impact on how you view yourself.”
Knowing the cause of an issue is a necessary factor in knowing how to solve an issue.
For the students of JTAHS who are burdened with mental struggles, possible solutions that are recommended by Mrs. Burchell include finding hobbies that you enjoy; using the Kooth program; developing your own healthy coping strategies, like stress balls or regulated breathing; and downloading other apps like Calm.
To deal with issues such as stress or anxiety, having a healthy coping strategy and support system is necessary.
If a student’s mental challenges cause a lack of motivation or willpower to complete tasks, specifically school work, utilizing a small rewards system is also recommended by Mrs. Burchell. The following is an example of a reward she suggested.“…if you get through and do all of your homework by a certain time, then you get to binge watch that show that you have been waiting to watch all day. Instead of binge watching first, because then you get sucked into that hole, do your homework first, and then reward yourself. If you are struggling, utilize the solutions suggested here to help yourself.
For members of the student body who are unaware, Kooth is explained by Mrs. Burchell to be, “One thing that we offer to students and have available to students is a program called Kooth, which is an online resource that anybody can sign up for as long as you are fourteen years or older. You can receive free mental health help on this website. So you create an account, and there is a lot of different ways you can get help. There is goal setting. There is articles that you can read or write about different things surrounding mental wellness. There is also a chat counseling feature if you need that level of support.”
Often times those who struggle academically are not products of poor mental health, rather do not understand or feel structured learning environments are not best suited for them.
To help understand material in school with which you are struggling, the JT tutoring program is also currently available.
It is also suggested by Mrs. Burchell that students make sure to fully utilize PODS to their advantages. This means studying, completing homework, practicing, and reviewing concepts.
Another reliable resource to teach you school concepts you may not fully understand is Khan Academy.
Other Resources
Interview with Mrs. Burchell
Q: “Would you suggest there is a correlation between students’ mental health and their grades?”
A: “Yes, absolutely.”
Q: “And in recent years, how do you feel those have been doing amongst the students?”
A: “[Uhm], I have noticed since COVID, a rapid decline in students’ overall mental wellness, and I definitely think it has a direct impact on student grades for some students. I mean there has been a decline [over the] since COVID. I think, I think that mental health and wellness was declining previous to COVID, but for some reason, COVID sped it up.”
Q: “What would you suggest is causing this?”
A: “I don’t know. I don’t know. I think that social media has a lot to do with our mental health, and when you’re constantly looking on other people’s pages and TikToks, you’re seeing things you want to be like, or wish you had. I think it has a negative impact on how you view yourself. [I know for me personally I do not use social media for that reason. [And] I think it brings more negativity than good to my life, so I don’t use it.]”
Q: “[Uhm] I’ve heard, and correct me if I’m wrong, that last year, my class (the current sophomore class) had [uhm] one of the highest rates of failing students. Is that true?”
A: “I don’t know off the top of my head. I would have to go back and look at that data.”
Q: “Because I heard about General Science and how it got switched to two classes this year, and some of the current freshmen are taking biology.”
A: “The switch for General Science we’ve actually wanted to happen two years ago, but we couldn’t get it approved in the time frame that we needed it to make it happen for last school year. So that was just something that we were thinking and trying to look at how we do things and how the students are doing and try to meet the students where they are, and that is one of the changes that we did.”
Q: “And where would you say that students could improve?”
A: “I think that [this, and this would kind of answer your other question about why mental health is at a low] students are struggling at coping skills and ways to manage stress and any obstacle or challenge that students, not even just students, even adults, face. [Uhm] I think we’re all lacking the skills to deal with those challenges.”
Q: “And what ways, if any, would you suggest to use to cope with stress and mental health?”
A: “I think it’s important to find things that make you happy and you find joy in to just help distract from times when, you know, you are feeling stressed out, so to break up, you know, those thoughts. Try and do something that you will find joy in, that will make you happy. So, it’s really important to have hobbies or find those things that help distract you from those thoughts in your head. And I always think that if you have a bunch of things you know you have to do and are worried about, I think if you start with one small thing, then the other things are easier. And also, if you reward yourself for accomplishing those tasks, so if you get through and do all of your homework by a certain time, then you get to binge watch that show that you have been waiting to watch all day. Instead of binge watching first, because then you get sucked in to that hole, do your homework first, and then reward yourself.”
Q: “And are there any resources you would like suggested to students to help with their mental health situations and their grades?”
A: “Yeah, sure. One thing that we offer to students and have available to students is a program called Kooth, which is an online resource that anybody can sign up for as long as you are fourteen years or older. You can receive free mental health help on this website. So you create an account, and there is a lot of different ways you can get help. There is goal setting. There is articles that you can read or write about different things surrounding mental wellness. There is also a chat counseling feature if you need that level of support. There are other apps that you can use to help with destressing, like the Calm app. So, there are many things that are available just on our phones. That can be more helpful than the scrolling through TikTok or Instagram, so I would definitely try to reach out for those. As far as academic help, we are starting tutoring, after school tutoring, so we would encourage students who need a little extra help to attend those tutoring sessions, also utilizing PODS to your advantage: studying during PODS and getting that extra help from a teacher.”
Gabriella Cera, writer
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