Education and mental health: why it matters by Andres

Education and mental health: why it matters by Andres - September 2025 Scholarship Essay

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 15 million students go to a public school in the U.S., and according to the Adolescents and School Health, 40% of students suffer from sadness or hopelessness, 20% of students consider suicide seriously, and 9% students try to attempt to take their own life. School is a place where people go to learn, where parents trust the school to take care of their children, where creativity can strive while still learning important skills for life. To hear that students go to a place to learn and strive to end up having mental issues and possibly worse, is something that needs to be considered. Education needs to improve by checking up on students and making sure that students have an overall more enjoyable experience in school.
The education system needs to focus on helping students and doing more welfare checks on students. Many students experience some sort of depression or anxiety. I personally have a friend who had to deal with this type of situation. He was suffering from multiple mental health issues for months on end and the school didn't check on him once. His grades went down, and eventually he had to go to a continuation school to make up for his lost credit. The change I want to see in the education system is for schools to be required to do a welfare check on their students where they have the option to open up and go over their mental health. Counselors should also be required to check up on their students more if possible. If schools are able to do this type of evaluation, I think it is possible for students to not only get the help they need, but there will also be an improvement in their academic work. A study by Mountain Heights Academy explains how mental health issues can have a negative effect on how well a student does in school. “Students' mental health can also impact their academic performance. Mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, and ADHD can make it difficult for students to concentrate, complete assignments, and perform well in exams” (How school affects mental health: understanding the impact on students).
In conclusion, students, on a daily basis at every school suffer from mental health issues and lose motivation to strive in accomplishing a higher level in education. In order to fix this issue, the change that needs to happen in the education system is the number of student welfare evaluations in order to provide a safe environment for students to continue their education with as few setbacks as possible. School is a place for students to learn and enjoy finding their passions, so let's make this improvement for the well being of the future of our students in our country.