The academic workload at Liberty has started a lot of conversations with students, especially about its effects on mental health and well being. Many students feel overwhelmed by the large number of assignments and responsibilities they have every day.
“I think the workload can be too much sometimes. I just want to go home and relax,” Yessenia Murillo-Avalos (10) said. Her viewpoint shows a common challenge for high school students balancing academics with their personal lives.
The school system has been more focused on getting students ready for college and future jobs. This often means a bit of a heavier workload that leaves little time for relaxation or selfcare. Another student shares her own frustrations about the demands she faces.
“It’s not that bad. I just don’t like having to do work outside of school after a stressful day,” Esther Freddy (10) said.
Stress not only comes from heavy workloads but also other factors of people’s lives affect their stress. People can struggle with body image, comparisons to others, and so much more, school work is just added stress to already stressed out teens.
Mental health disorders like depression and anxiety have been increasing recently in the world. They play a big part in students’ stress, not everyone has a mental health disorder though, but the people who do struggle to keep up with grades and ask for help. Mental health disorders are no joke, and need to be taken more seriously in society.
Some disorders like depression make it incredibly hard to get any form of work done, whether it is something as simple as keeping up with hygiene or getting school work done. Anxiety is the overwhelming worry or fear about nearly everything. It’s another mental health disorder that has been increasing in teens in recent years, and can make learning a struggle.
Overall, many things affect teens mental health like academics, social stress, family issues, trauma, and big life changes. All of those have near guaranteed affect on many people’s abilities to learn, get work done, as well as being mentally present.
