Is School Choice the Answer to the Teen Mental Health Crisis?
Alice Cooper’s 1972 classic, “School’s Out” is still a smash hit every May. Why? K-12 students still rejoice at the idea of summer break. Sadly, today more than ever before, it might be more than just joy over a much-needed vacation. New research recently published by the National Bureau of Economic Research suggests that heading back to school in the fall and spring after break correlates to higher rates of teen suicide.
The rate of teen suicide has seen a sharp increase since 2007. Among those aged 10 to 24, suicide rates across the country have increased by nearly 60% between 2007 and 2018, according to the CDC. Even more interesting, these rates correlate with the beginning of the school calendar in different states. In the parts of the country where school begins in September, the rates of suicide begin to rise in September. In contrast, in states where school begins in August, suicide rates begin to rise earlier in correlation with school beginning.
Although these numbers do not show a direct causal relationship between school attendance and suicide, the research begs the question, “What about the school calendar heightens anxiety and depression for our children?” Parents, harkening back to their high school worries, might imagine that back to school means back to “the in-crowd,” bullying, grades, and zits. On the other hand, the increase in suicide rates may point to something else.
Dr. Madeline Levine, clinical psychologist and co-founder of Challenge Success at Stanford University, argues that too many students believe success is determined by academic performance such as grades, test scores, and getting into the “right school.” She argues that school culture is a stronger pressure-cooker atmosphere than what previous generations experienced.
Her research, including over 200,000 middle and high school students nationwide, revealed:
95% are sleep deprived
77% experience stress-related health symptoms
63% are constantly worried about academics
62% say workload is a major source of stress
47% are disengaged or simply “doing school”
With statistics such as these, it is no surprise that the beginning of the school calendar correlates with suicides. As parents and caretakers, we want the very best for our children, but this high-pressure culture of success probably does not equate to “the best.”
The good news is now, more than ever before, many parents have control in where their children attend school. Parents have the opportunity to choose whether a school culture is right for their children. Mounds of homework, extracurricular pressure, and over-scheduled lives are things parents might choose to opt out of.
According to EdChoice, thirty-two states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico support school choice policies that give control of school attendance and children’s daily lives back to parents. These policies can be through tax credits for parents who switch to different schools, private school scholarship programs, and education savings accounts. Recently, Iowa and Utah also joined the school choice movement, passing bills establishing education savings account programs in their states.
The types of school programs and environments available to children are also changing as policies change. Take, for example, the micro-school movement.
When former public school teacher and founder of the Bay State Learning Center, part of a micro-schools network, was interviewed by FEE, he stated, “A huge number of the new students who come to us are presenting some kind of anxiety disorder, and we find that almost all of them are significantly improved within weeks of joining the center. I get calls from therapists asking what we have done! I think the real story is in what we haven’t done. We haven’t made all their choices for them, we haven’t structured all of their available time, and we haven’t coerced them into unnaturally regimented patterns. Everything changes when you take coercion out of the picture.”
Want something better for our children? Consider how you can support the school choice movement for families in all areas. Check out our website today.
Resources:
https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w30795/w30795.pdf
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr69/NVSR-69-11-508.pdf
https://www.edchoice.org/school-choice-in-america-dashboard-scia/