PAUSD must go deeper with mental-health initiatives
Written by Isha Sinha
Recognized nationally for its top-percentile standardized-test scores and high acceptance rates at prestigious colleges, Gunn is well- known to comprise intelligent students. Yet, this academic excellence comes at a far greater cost than what meets the eye: students’ mental wellbeing, which is negatively affected by Gunn’s competitive environment. Instead of focusing on band-aid solutions, the district must work to change the root of Gunn’s competitive culture and stay firm in implementing mental health-promoting actions, even amid public backlash.
In recent years, PAUSD has sought to alleviate student stressthrough various mental health related initiatives, including the establishment of the Wellness Center in 2016 and SELF in 2017. Despite these new implementations, data suggests that students’ mental health hasn’t improved by a commensurate amount: 29.5 percent of respondents of the California Healthy Kids Survey, taken by Gunn students in October, indicated that they found it “pretty much true” or “true” that they were experiencing some sort of social-emotional distress — a 3.5 percent increase from the 2016 survey. Current mental-health initiatives are not significantly influencing students, as they are only superficial solutions for a greater underlying problem.
CURRENT MENTAL-HEALTH INITIATIVES ARE NOT SIGNIFICANTLY INFLUENCING STUDENTS, AS THEY ARE ONLY SUPERFICIAL SOLUTIONS FOR A GREATER UNDERLYING PROBLEM.
Immigrant culture, one of the many causes of student pressure, can lead students to believe that achieving academic perfection is crucial to succeeding in life, often at the expense of mental health. While the district may not have control over students’ lives beyond school, they can bring more awareness to how preconceived notions about the relation between grades and future success affect students.
The district should also consider limiting the number of lanes within specific subjects, lessening student pressure to enroll in honors and advanced classes, or reducing workloads by restricting the amount of homework teachers can assign.
Actually implementing these ideas, however, is challenging, and given public pushback, it’s easy to see why the district has thus-far focused on band-aid solutions. Still, PAUSD is no stranger to being on the harsh end of public criticism, as demonstrated in 2015, when the district limited zero period to non-academic classes. More recently, the district opted to exempt community college courses from PAUSD transcript GPAs. According to a Palo Alto Online article, one of the reasons behind the change was to disincentivize students from taking classes purely for a grade boost. Though the decision sparked significant public backlash, non-PAUSD courses remain as credit/no credit on transcripts. These situations serve as examples of the district’s acting in the interests of its students and provide a model for how future mental health-related decisions should be considered.
TIMELINE OF MENTAL HEALTH-PROMOTING ACTIONS IN PAUSD
2016
AN INTERIM WELLNESS CENTER OPENS IN THE A-BUILDING AT GUNN WHILE THE PERMANENT FACILITY GETS BUILT
2017
GUNN INTRODUCES A NEW SELF CLASS IN THE 2017-18 SCHOOL YEAR TO COMPLY WITH STATE LAW
2015
IN ORDER TO PREVENT SLEEP DEPREVATION, PAUSD RESTRICTS ZERO PERIOD TO NON-ACADEMIC CLASSES
2019
PAUSD CREATES A NEW MIDDLE SCHOOL MATH PROGRAM WITH UNLANDED SIXTH GRADE COHORTS
2023
OFF-CAMPUS COURSES NO LONGER COUNT TOWARD STUDENTS’ PAUSD GPAS
Every significant decision made by the district involves finding a balance between students’ mental health, parental wishes and academics. According to its own PAUSD Promise, the district has the responsibility to create an “environment characterized by acceptance, respect, and support ... in the pursuit of learning and excellence.” Presently, the district has a considerable distance to cover in achieving this objective. If no changes are made to the underlying cycle of comparison and its consequences, then it will only continue. The future of thousands of students rests in PAUSD’s hands — it cannot shy away from difficult decisions in the pure interest of maintaining public backing.
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