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A Students Balancing Act: What Can We Do for Our Students?
Brigham Young University - Idaho
English 301
Sister Anne Billings
November 28, 2021
A Students Balancing Act
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Students have always had a huge responsibility in today’s society. The everlasting
responsibility for students to believe is the fact that they hold the future, and it’s their choice to
be responsible about their own success. One of the responsibilities students face is the fact that
they want to stay up to date on what is going on in the world around them. Students often worry
about their outward appearance, social status, social rank, and money all the while of balancing
school. A lot of the responsibilities come from the pressures the examples of older generations
who have accomplished the goals younger generations have looked up too. Another great
example of the pressure’s students face is when elders tell younger generations to suck it up
when things go terribly wrong and become complicated. A lot of the insensitive advice that’s
often given to students reflect on their performance in school and out of school. About 1 in 5
people experience some sort of mental disorder during their adolescence. If left unrecognized or
untreated, they could lead to substantial negative outcomes in both physical and mental,
academic and vocational achievement, relationships, and other important life events (Kutcher, S.
2015, Pg. 581).
The Balancing Act
While attending college for the first time I noticed a pattern that was present in all the
students I met. A lot of the patterns consisted of how concerned students really are about their
status at school, meaning how many people they knew, if they would be invited to the fun group
activities they often heard about from their roommates, or whether their physical appearance
would make them stand out or not. It was like a balancing act between students who were there
for school! As a college student myself I completely understand what students worry about when
first attending college; it’s all about the opportunities. While students want to stay in the loop
about all the fun social activities the main purpose of attending college is to get education, they
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need so they can build a future for themselves. A lot of the outcomes of these student living
situations creates overwhelming stress, anxiety, depression, and confusion of what students are
actually supposed to do during this time in their life. The lack of knowledge can present a huge
stigma in students, limited access to resources addressing mental disorders can create an
alleviating burden and disability (Kutcher, S. 2015, pg. 581).
What Can We Do for Our Students?
While students in college face a lot of the social
and mental struggles of attending college
are more realized then younger students, they are not the only one that face the worries of being
successful and fitting in. Students around the world face the similar adversities as college
students. A lot of the students that face adversity are students in countries that have always made
expectations a priority. Americans don’t hold as many expectations of their students as much as
other countries and cultures do, due to the fact that their culture was probably built to expect
great things from their future generations. A lot of teachers and instructors are in a position
where they can recognize when a child, teen, or young adult is struggling with their mental
health. Even though teachers are in the position to know a change in a student’s mental state or
behavior they have little to no knowledge how to help students who are struggling (Yamaguchi,
S. 2021, p. 2).
A workshop was given regarding adolescent mental health and about 27 prefectural high
schools participated in a self-administered survey given to Japanese Public high school teachers
and 53.3% of those teachers participated. The survey consisted of several parts, of demographic
variables such as age, sex, academic degree, any previous participation in mental health
seminars, and any experiences of dealing with someone suffering from any mental health. A
second part regarded their knowledge about mental illness in the form of 20 questions. A lot of
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the questions consisted of how confident they are in helping or teaching a class about mental
health. This study was set in motion and approved by The University of Tokyo Human Research
Ethics Committee. A lot of the response included sensible answers to what they were being asked
regarding a student’s mental health and how they would confront it if they themselves were
confronted (Yamaguchi, S. 2021, p. 2-3).
From a student perspective confronting mental health can be a hard subject to approach
as it can become an avalanche set in motion from one word or sentence. I think any teacher who
deals with students for a living wants a way for them themselves to know how to take care of
their students and help them in any way they appropriately can. Another perspective could be
that most teachers are unaware that a student could be dealing with their mental health due to the
appropriate distance between a teacher and a student. Most of the time mental illness can take
advantage of students when they are alone and worrying about what they could be doing. A way
to help out students is asking what some of their hobbies are or what they like to do in their free
time besides browsing social media and create more extracurricular activities after school or
during the weekend where they can socialize and find new people, they know they can relate to.
The downside that individual students who have a hard time opening up and not knowing what to
do is that they don’t always like to sign up for clubs or extracurriculars by themselves because it
can be hard putting themselves into unknown situations, they don’t have any control over.
Is Mental Health being looked at as some kind of Norm in Today’s Society?
Some of the negative impacts that have taken place while coming to the conclusion that
mental disorders have become erupt is the fact that some students or adolescents use some form
of mental illness as an excuse for many situations. The fact that mental disorders have increased
worldwide by 13%, shows that the conditions are that of 1 in 5 years live with some sort of
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disability. Around 20% of the world’s children and adolescents have a mental disorder with
suicide as one of the leading causes and effects (World Health Organization (2021). Although
there could be evidence that a child, adolescent, or young adult have some sort of mental
disorder, it is often blown out of proportion, exaggerated and overlooked because of some sort of
miscommunication between an outside observer and the individual that is experiencing the
mental complication. Even when there is evidence some things are experienced due to a change
or shift in demographics or behavior that could cause a miniature rift in someone’s mental
attitude resulting in showing symptoms of a short-term mental disorder that could be managed in
some sort of way when recognized early on.
Most mental disorders can be easily managed when recognized early on when excuses
are being recognized and made, additionally that’s when things are being blown out of
proportion. It is when things get out of the individuals control things turn out a lot more difficult
than expected. No matter the circumstance somethings concerning mental health will always be
blown out of proportion whether they are out of good intentions or due to thoughtless knowledge
concerning mental disorders.
Generation Gaps and Miscommunication.
Another great impact in today’s younger generations is the changing of society’s
awareness towards the different groups, labels, and categories of people. There is a gap between
older generations and their younger counterparts when concerning self-awareness or awareness
in general. Many older people feel as is if mental health could never be aimed at them due to the
that they have already experience everything they could have, and nothing could affect them
now. A study by Bupa UK, most baby-boomers ages 55+ have shown that they are less likely to
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seek help concerning their mental health or any other medical attention when needed (UK’s
Baby-Boomers (2019).
One way to look at the of lack action by older generations could be the fact that they
already believe they have done all they can for themselves and just want to live in peace without
anyone’s opinion or interest in their life. But the lack of awareness can come at a price for most,
it could lead to the lack of knowing and understanding others could be dealing with some mental
disorder and being insensitive to their emotional state. Despite mental health awareness
improving in general, only one in three baby-boomers shared that they have a better
understanding. Three in ten older people shared that most mental health awareness information
and materials are targeted towards younger people, so the sources aren’t as recognizable as
younger generations are.
Mental health issues can affect us at any age and it’s important to seek
support (UK’s Baby-Boomers (2019). A lot of the lack of awareness implied by younger
generations that was caused by the older generations has prompted them to think they created
most of the world’s problems we are facing right now. Although a lot of the decisions made
towards life’s events is a chorus of decisions that could have created this misconception
awareness.
It’s Just a Phase
A woman had written on the Ask Experts page of the Association for Children’s Mental
Health (ACMH) Website about how her child was showing signs of depression for several
months where she was withdrawn from things and rarely left her room, at one time she feared
that she would be hospitalized due to threatening to hurt herself. One week her child’s behavior
took a dramatic 180 and she was feeling a lot better by being interactive and spending more time
with the family. The woman later shared that she knew she should be happy, but she felt like she
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was a little “too happy,” and was waiting for the other shoe to drop. This singled out a great
question asked by the Mayo Clinic, “when is a child going through a phase, and when is a child
displaying signs of a mental disorder?” Children lack the understanding and ways to deal with
what they could be feeling, making it hard to explain or talk about what it is they could be
dealing with (Hubbard, K. (2021).
It will always be hard talking about what’s going on in someone else’s mind, children
often see opening up to their parents or another adult as a sign of weakness or they don’t want to
get in trouble. Children often think that since they are older, they have the ability to do things for
themselves and figure out whatever it is they are dealing with by themselves. A lot of the
knowledge children have is based off of what they find and search for on social media shared
from sources such as a social media influencer who proclaims they have the credentials to do so
and share information regarding mental health
(Robinson, P. (2019).
A lot of the misconceptions about what children, adolescents, and even adults experience
could often be indicated as just a “phase,” instead of something that could be going on that
couldn’t be present at the same time as the present behavior in the individual. At some point in a
child’s life they will experience situations that will cause them to be depressed that can later
manifest into depression if its long-lasting and repetitive. Parents have a great perspective and
viewpoint on their child’s behavior and the phases they go through when transitioning from
children into teenagers. Most of the time they are always going to be present in a child’s and
witness the impact puberty has, going through school, wanting to fit in with their friends or the
crowd or growing up in general. Life for young children, teens, and adults have become
complicated and overly dramatic because of the high expectations that are falsely shared towards
these younger generations.
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Let’s End This
A student lifestyle has dramatically changed over the several years and decades to the
point where students have become more curated and molded into realizing and understanding
where their responsibilities lie during their time in school. Many of those responsibilities can be
great opportunities for some people because they are used to the thrill but to some it can become
very overwhelming because of the high expectations most young adults imagine for themselves
during their time in college. Mental Health and the awareness people have created in today’s
society has become very popular throughout the world especially to those who have dealt with or
witness what a mental disorder can do to a person. The concerns of people and the intentions of
wanting to make things more convenient for others has become very astounding and
heartwarming. Students have a rough life, they go from being dependent to their parents in
school to graduating high school, later entering college and becoming independent in the blink of
an eye, and it can be a challenging transition to deal all at once. The effects caused from the
dramatic changes in a young adult’s life can cause an overwhelming amount of stress and
disorder, making things harder to accomplish. Awareness is one of the key giveaways when
wanting to understand how we can help our students, becoming more perspective to others
through our modesty can help people understand that most opinions of others shouldn’t matter.
We could find easier influential ways to educate and leave an impression on our younger
generations without offending them or boring them with things they don’t think are as import as
the things that are present in their life right now. Since many of our teachers are present during
the days of a student’s life, teachers should take workshops and surveys to better understand and
recognize what they can do for their students. Something that is so great about this subject is that
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we can only do so much for others but it can still be recognized as trying to make things more
convenient for them.
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References
Hubbard, K. (2021).
Is It a Mental Illness or Just a Phase?
Bonner General Health. Retrieved
December 1, 2021, from https://bonnergeneral.org/is-it-a-mental-illness-or-just-a-phase/#
Kutcher, S. (2015). Kutcher, S., Wei, Y., & Morgan, C. (2015). Successful Application of a
Canadian Mental Health Curriculum Resource by Usual Classroom Teachers in Significantly and
Sustainably Improving Student Mental Health Literacy.
Canadian journal of psychiatry. Revue
Canadienne de Psychiatrie
,
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(12), 580–586.
Robinson, P. (2019). Robinson, P., Turk, D., Jilka, S.
et al.
Measuring attitudes towards mental
health using social media: investigating stigma and trivialization.
Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr
Epidemiol
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51–58 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-018-1571-5
UK’s Baby-Boomers (2019).
UK’s Baby-boomers ‘brushing off’ mental health issues
. (2019,
May 2). Bupa - an International Healthcare Company. Retrieved December 1, 2021, from
https://www.bupa.com/newsroom/news/baby-boomers-brushing-off-mental-health-issues
World Health Organization (2021). World Health Organization. (n.d.).
Mental health
. World
Health Organization. Retrieved December 1, 2021, from https://www.who.int/health-
topics/mental-health#tab=tab_2.
Yamaguchi, S. (2021). Yamaguchi, S., Foo, J.C., Kitagawa, Y.
et al.
A survey of mental health
literacy in Japanese high school teachers.
BMC Psychiatry
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478 (2021).
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-021-03481-y