{"id":152195,"date":"2021-05-06T13:28:14","date_gmt":"2021-05-06T13:28:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/radiofree.asia\/?guid=9a47acfbaa1025172fa1c030d6311a07"},"modified":"2021-05-06T13:28:14","modified_gmt":"2021-05-06T13:28:14","slug":"the-kids-are-not-all-right-concerns-for-mental-health-mount-as-schools-reopen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/05\/06\/the-kids-are-not-all-right-concerns-for-mental-health-mount-as-schools-reopen\/","title":{"rendered":"The Kids Are Not All Right: Concerns for Mental Health Mount as Schools Reopen"},"content":{"rendered":"\"Students<\/a>

Carla Rivera, a 12th grader at Fort Hamilton High School in Brooklyn, New York, is relieved to be back in school. \u201cBeing home was stressful,\u201d she says. \u201cI was watching my 10-year-old brother and trying to keep him on track with his school work. Then, when my mom got home from work at 4:00, I\u2019d begin my assignments but they piled on top of each other and I felt like it was impossible to stay caught up.\u201d Thankfully, Rivera says, she is now on target to graduate in June and plans to study zoological science in college beginning this fall.<\/p>\n

Like Rivera, Noah Fishman, a senior at New Paltz High School in upstate New York, was eager to return to in-person classes when it became possible to do so. \u201cI wanted to feel normal,\u201d he told Truthout<\/em>. \u201cEven when in-person school is boring, it\u2019s better than boring online school.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both Rivera and Fishman describe schooling during the pandemic as “chaotic” and report that uncertainty and angst have become their everyday companions. \u201cThere\u2019s been more drinking and drug use,\u201d Fishman says, \u201cand everyone is really stressed. It\u2019s become second nature, as if being anxious all the time is the way it\u2019s supposed to be. I wish our teachers would tell us at least once a day that everything will be OK, that they\u2019re here for us and want us to do well overall. It\u2019s important that they remind us of this and create an environment that is supportive and caring.\u201d<\/p>\n

Experts agree and say that attention to students\u2019 mental health will be increasingly important as more and more schools reopen.<\/p>\n

Indeed, the pandemic has caused mental health to take a dramatic nosedive for just about everyone. Since the lockdown began, suicide has become the second leading cause of death<\/a> for adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17, with tweens and teens reporting trouble sleeping, focusing and feeling connected to family and friends. Experts stress that these symptoms are unlikely to go away by themselves — something that schools will have to face head-on.<\/p>\n

As of February, when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told schools that they could reopen as long as students and staff wore masks, maintained at least three feet of social distancing, and kept facilities clean, approximately 46 percent of the nation\u2019s 98,158 public schools<\/a> have gone back to five days a week of in-person instruction. Since then, slightly more than one-third of students<\/a> \u2014 34 percent — have returned and this percentage is expected to increase as more people get vaccinated and the virus recedes.<\/p>\n

But can schools return to the way things were before the pandemic, or will new models be needed to address the social and emotional needs of students, most of whom have been taking classes online — typically with cameras off to protect their privacy — for more than a year?<\/p>\n

Making Real Space for Mental Health<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cWe know that the way children learn and develop has a lot to do with the environment that exists around them,\u201d Justina Schlund, senior director of content and field learning at the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, a 27-year-old organization devoted to increasing the emotional intelligence of children, adolescents, teens and adults. \u201cIt is not just content, but how students engage with the academic material.\u201d<\/p>\n