Opinion: Every student should be allocated a certain number of mental health days per year.

Students need mental health days. Just as workers are allotted a certain number of days off each year that they may use for whatever they personally need, students also deserve this luxury. Students go through an incredible amount of stress and pressure in school and breaks are needed in order to avoid burnout. According to the American Psychological Association, on average teens reported higher stress levels than adults. So why do we think teens are metaphorically bulletproof and don’t ever need to take a break, but adults do? There is something unfair and simply incorrect about this way of thinking. Today’s teenagers are diagnosed with depression at a far higher rate than ever before. Although much of this mental health crisis can be attributed to biological factors and home situations, so much of it can be avoided by students taking breaks when needed and listening to their bodies. While the world has begun to change and offer more mental health services and make these topics less taboo, schools are not reinforcing these new changes to our lives. Instead schools are pressuring students more than ever and for what?

Some students have real goals of getting into Ivy League schools or being class valedictorian. However, others are being pressured and getting stressed out for no logical reason. When students feel pressured, it’s important for them to remember their goals and what exactly they are willing to do in order to reach those goals. If they would take a step back and think, many students would realize that they are not willing to sacrifice their mental health in order to reach goals they aren’t even passionate about.

One might argue that students don’t need designated mental health days; they can just take off a day whenever it is needed. However, this is not the way many students’ brains work. They cannot take a day off without feeling “weak” or like a failure for not being able to handle the pressure. When students have a certain number of mental health days, it will not be uncommon to take the day off and much of the guilt that students feel will be removed. It’s time for students to prioritize their mental health, and I urge school to support them by telling them it’s okay and often the right move to take a break to recharge when needed.