• Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Contact

Nancy Bailey's Education Website

Revive, Rally and Recover Public Schools

  • Activism
    • Anti-Charter Schools
    • Anti-Common Core State Standards
    • Anti-Corporatization of Schools
    • Anti-High-Stakes Testing
    • State Action Groups
    • School Buildings
  • School Curriculum
    • General Education
    • Educators
    • Parents
    • Reading
    • Writing
    • Math
    • Science
    • Social Studies
    • The Arts
    • Technology
    • Behavior
    • Diversity
    • English Language Learners
    • Special Education
      • Autism
      • Emotional and Behavioral Disabilities
      • Learning Disabilities
      • Developmental Disabilities
      • Gifted
      • Other
    • Early Childhood Education
    • Elementary School
    • Middle School
    • High School
    • Student Careers
  • Other Countries
    • England
    • Finland
    • Australia
    • New Zealand
    • Canada

How Has School Privatization Contributed to Mental Illness in Students Before and During Covid-19?

December 7, 2020 By Nancy Bailey 4 Comments

Post Views: 205

Mental illness in children existed before Covid-19. How many students are struggling with it during the pandemic? How did school privatization contribute to this phenomenon?

Before Covid-19

A 2018 survey conducted by the National Association of Elementary School Principals noted that their top concern is the rising numbers of students with emotional problems and mental health needs. This was not the case ten years ago. What changed?

Increasingly, a harsh school environment with unbridled high-stakes standardized testing, a pushdown to what’s expected of the youngest learners, an overemphasis on impersonal screens and addiction to social media, and a dramatic increase and focus on college expectations of middle and high school students have dominated how students live. While these factors don’t necessarily cause mental illness, they don’t help students who struggle with it.

According to Kauffman and Bader in The Scandalous Neglect of Children’s Mental Health, the school can be the first place a child’s mental illness is discovered. Unfortunately, out of the 5 percent of children who have a mental illness, only 1 percent get special education or mental health services.

Depression rates have been rising and often can start in childhood. According to WebMD, that’s about 5 million children. Mental illness often presents itself in students as anxiety, oppositional defiant disorder, and attention deficit disorder.

Researcher Peter Gray considers the decline in play among young children and the rise in children’s mental disorders. Think about the loss of recess for children, the only true break they had in school.

For years, the focus has been on academic results and how to make a profit, transforming schooling into charters and choice. Instead of helping teachers better identify and help students with mental illness, the emphasis has been on de-professionalizing their roles to reduce the costs of paying decent salaries. The focus hasn’t been on the children.

Also, attempts have been made to eliminate special education services, the one area that could help identify and assist students with mental illness.

During Covid-19

How are students with mental illness doing during the pandemic in the midst of confusion and blame over school openings and closings? Reports have been sketchy.

An increase in depression and anxiety was noted in university students due to the course and job concerns.

Students might be struggling with depression due to Covid-19 and the loss of the in-person school. Other children are afraid to catch the disease or pass it on to their parents or teachers. This hopefully is transitory and partly due to fears of the disease.

Back in April, The Lancet in Mental health effects of school closures during COVID-19 reported that for children and adolescents already diagnosed with mental health needs, not due to the pandemic, school closures meant a lack of access to the resources they usually have through schools.

Discussion surrounds screening. How are schools and communities helping students who were already diagnosed with mental illness, who are now stuck at home and likely struggling?

If school districts and community mental health organizations worked well on behalf of these students before the pandemic, they’re likely continuing with counseling and support. But if students with mental illness were deprived of mental health services before the pandemic, they might not be getting the support they need.

Information About Mental Illness

Medline Plus presents a good rundown of various mental disorders.

There are many different types of mental disorders. Some common ones include

  • Anxiety disorders, including panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and phobias
  • Depression, bipolar disorder, and other mood disorders
  • Eating disorders
  • Personality disorders
  • Post-traumatic stress disorder
  • Psychotic disorders, including schizophrenia

Medicine.net presents 5 warning signals, and these are also broken down into a variety of behaviors on their website.

  1. Excessive paranoia, worry, or anxiety
  2. Long-lasting sadness or irritability
  3. Extreme changes in moods
  4. Social withdrawal
  5. Dramatic changes in eating or sleeping pattern

The National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI) outlines the symptoms of ADHD.

Signs of inattention include:

  • Becoming easily distracted, and jumping from activity to activity.
  • Becoming bored with a task quickly.
  • Difficulty focusing attention or completing a single task or activity.
  • Trouble completing or turning in homework assignments.
  • Losing things such as school supplies or toys.
  • Not listening or paying attention when spoken to.
  • Daydreaming or wandering with lack of motivation.
  • Difficulty processing information quickly.
  • Struggling to follow directions.

Suggestions.

  • Reach out for support. Students with mental illness need guidance from their teacher, a school counselor, or a school psychologist who should refer the student to a therapist or doctor, especially if their symptoms are severe. It’s critical to reach out to the school or family physician for support. School counselors and psychologists should be ready to help parents, whether students work remotely or in-person. Most universities have mental health programs and should be addressing the same difficulties.
  • Limit the news about Covid-19. While hearing about the rise in Covid-19 deaths on the news is unavoidable, it could be frightening, especially to younger children. Be honest and listen to children’s fears, but don’t forget that children are aware of CNN.
  • Ease up on instruction. Parents and teachers fearing learning gaps due to Covid-19 might pressure students more than before Covid-19. Try to approach each learning activity by helping to create curiosity. Children rarely learn well under pressure.
  • Emphasize the positive. Children might also hear they’re falling behind. Many students work well remotely or with safety restrictions at school with teachers who care. Remind students that everyone is facing the same problems. Students will catch up.
  • Listen. Listen to student concerns and ask how you can help. If students are acting irrational and in danger of hurting themselves or others, of course, seek help immediately.
  • Bibliotherapy. Help children find books and stories about mental illness if it would be helpful, so they understand that they aren’t alone.
  • Calming Activities. UNESCO suggests yoga and meditation might be helpful.
  • The Arts. Since NCLB, the arts have been replaced by academic classes, mostly in poor schools, yet the arts are where children can shine and find a focus. The arts can be helpful for self-expression and help a student with depression or ADHD.
  • Music. If parents have the funds to purchase an instrument, now might be the time to do so. Children who learn to like creating music early on will find it stress-reducing, and they might continue playing their instrument when school returns. There are many toy musical instruments, even for younger children, like xylophones, drums, and ukuleles.
  • Social media. Students might positively connect with friends through social media if they’re working remotely, but they still could also face cyberbullying. Social media is also addictive if that’s mostly all a student does. Help students find a variety of activities to enjoy.
  • Teachers and parents work together. Teachers may see different behavior online or in-person school, so parents and teachers must work together on behalf of the student.

If you have other suggestions, please share.

Shine a spotlight on school districts that are reaching out and proactively serving students with mental illness and mental health needs during the pandemic so other districts can emulate their success.

When public schools return, as indeed they should, addressing students’ needs with mental illness should be a top priority. And public schools need to change from the pressurized institutions they’ve become due to school reform to more caring places for learning to occur. They must address what could be temporary or long term mental health problems in children. Families and children need assistance, and schools can be on the frontline to help.

Reference

Kauffman, J.M. & Badar, J. (2018). The Scandalous Neglect of Children’s Mental Health. New York: Routledge.

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Anxiety, children and teens, covid-19, depression, in-person school, mental health, Mental Illness, oppositional defiance disorder, public schools, Remote learning, school, School Privatization, special education, the arts

Comments

  1. Paul Bonner says

    December 7, 2020 at 10:07 am

    It occurs to me that our approach to mental health is the same limited approach we use toward physical health: Diagnose and treat. There are plethora of examples, anecdotal and research based, that show healthy lifestyles such as better diet and exercise result in better health outcomes while reducing the need for pharmaceutical intervention. The current school environment that focuses too much on grades and test scores certainly demonstrates the damage we can exert on children through excessive stressors brought on by hyper-focus on performance. The almost exponential increase in ADHD diagnosis of American children is certainly evidence of this. As an educator, I continue to see school environments that are decreasing in joy and promoting unresolved anxiety. What this pandemic clearly demonstrates is that an absence of physical proximity and social-emotional contact diminishes the likelihood of emotional closure so necessary for healthy development. Yes, it is imperative that we identify and treat mental health challenges brought on by this pandemic, but it is just as important that we reflect on the emotional damage we continue to do to children through unhealthy school environments..

    Reply
    • Nancy Bailey says

      December 8, 2020 at 2:05 pm

      I agree with everything you state. “Stressors brought on by hyper-focus on performance.” I think that says it all. It seems like helping students do challenging work without so much stress should be the aim. Thanks, Paul!

      Reply
    • Scott says

      December 10, 2020 at 2:01 am

      I completely agree.
      We live in the most developed world in the history of mankind, but at the same time we have the largest number of human depression and mental disorders. We spend money on psychologists, but we don’t think that our children are also exposed to this danger, since the system is tuned to the result in the educational sphere, but it does not care about the children mental health during the educational process.

      Reply
  2. Nancy Bailey says

    December 11, 2020 at 1:46 pm

    My thanks to Diane Ravitch.

    https://dianeravitch.net/2020/12/11/nancy-bailey-children-are-suffering-anxiety-and-depression-at-record-rates/

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

front cover

An education glossary with an attitude.

Buy Now

front cover

Do we really want an America where we no longer own our public schools?

Buy Now

front cover

This book says “no” to the reforms that fail, and challenges Americans to address the real student needs that will fix public schools and make America strong.

Buy Now

Follow me!

Enter your email address to subscribe to my blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Connect With Me!

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Nancy E. Bailey Follow

Author, Ph.D. Ed. Leadership and longtime teacher, Blogging for Kids, Teachers, Parents & Democratic Public Schools.

NancyEBailey1
Retweet on Twitter Nancy E. Bailey Retweeted
nancyflanagan nancyflanagan @nancyflanagan ·
26 Mar

Remember the days when Arne Duncan insisted that having different ‘goal posts’ in every state was preventing us from improving public schools in America? Good times.

I wish I could say we’ve evolved since 2015, when Duncan stepped down. https://teacherinastrangeland.blog/2023/03/25/the-absolute-folly-of-standardization/

Reply on Twitter 1639996242934616065 Retweet on Twitter 1639996242934616065 5 Like on Twitter 1639996242934616065 14 Twitter 1639996242934616065
Retweet on Twitter Nancy E. Bailey Retweeted
leoniehaimson leonie haimson @leoniehaimson ·
20h

Reminder: join us tonight at 7PM EST for #TalkoutofSchool @wbai with Rep. @JamaalBowmanNY discussing his new bill #MoreTeachingLessTesting; & 2 PEP members @tomcsheppard & @OuterBoroHero explaining why they voted no on the Mayor's education budget.

Reply on Twitter 1640115045035126796 Retweet on Twitter 1640115045035126796 3 Like on Twitter 1640115045035126796 10 Twitter 1640115045035126796
Retweet on Twitter Nancy E. Bailey Retweeted
nancyebailey1 Nancy E. Bailey @nancyebailey1 ·
20h

Science of Reading camp never discusses the importance of picture books. How much time do children get to explore them? How often are they read to for enjoyment? This is worrisome. https://nancyebailey.com/2023/03/26/the-science-of-reading-and-the-rejection-of-picture-books/

Reply on Twitter 1640105213276180480 Retweet on Twitter 1640105213276180480 21 Like on Twitter 1640105213276180480 67 Twitter 1640105213276180480
Retweet on Twitter Nancy E. Bailey Retweeted
genebryant2 Gene Bryant @genebryant2 ·
8h

Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona is calling on schools to stop using corporal punishment, citing the practice’s long-term effect on children’s physical & mental health, particularly for boys, students in special education programs, & Black students. https://www.edweek.org/leadership/education-secretary-calls-for-end-to-corporal-punishment/2023/03

Reply on Twitter 1640283986357256193 Retweet on Twitter 1640283986357256193 2 Like on Twitter 1640283986357256193 2 Twitter 1640283986357256193
nancyebailey1 Nancy E. Bailey @nancyebailey1 ·
3h

If you're not paying attention to what's happening to public schools, and how they're being privatized, start here with @tultican. https://tultican.com/2023/03/23/the-oligarchs-education-propaganda-distributor/

Reply on Twitter 1640359360210558977 Retweet on Twitter 1640359360210558977 2 Like on Twitter 1640359360210558977 5 Twitter 1640359360210558977
Load More

Archives

Tag Cloud

Arne Duncan Autism Betsy DeVos Bill Gates charter schools class size Common Core Common Core covid-19 disabilities dyslexia early childhood education Education Secretary Betsy DeVos Florida high-stakes testing kindergarten learning disabilities Online Learning parents Personalized Learning phonics preschool private schools privatization public schools reading recess retention School Choice school libraries School Privatization school reform schools Social Emotional Learning special education students Students with Disabilities Teacher Preparation teachers Teach for America teaching Technology testing the arts vouchers

Copyright © 2023 Nancy E. Bailey · Website powered by Standing Pine Media.