MLA Citation:
Smith, Emily Esfahani. “Teenagers Are Struggling, and It’s Not Just Lockdown.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 4 May 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/04/opinion/coronavirus-mental-health-teenagers.html?searchResultPosition=2.
Main Idea: How has the Pandemic affected the mental health of students
Summary:
The article, “Teenagers Are Struggling, and It’s Not Just Lockdown”, speaks on the mental impact of the Corona virus Pandemic in students attending high school to college. Smith writes “According to a national poll conducted in January by the University of Michigan’s C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, 46 percent of parents say their teenagers’ mental health has worsened during the pandemic.” “More alarmingly, a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the proportion of 12- to 17-year-olds visiting emergency rooms for mental health reasons rose 31 percent for most of 2020 compared with 2019.” The pressure to get good grades is causing students to stress more and more and they are also feeling that what they are learning online is inadequate. Feeling like they’ll be far behind other kids when they get to college.
Reflection:
I definitely agree that something should be done about the mental health of students but also everyone in general. While looking up articles for my research, they all stated that mental stability in students is decreasing. How far will we have to decline before something gets done? Will we recover at some point? What will be the end result if we as a society respond too late to this crisis? We need more care in the care of our youth as they continue to struggle during the pandemic before the suicide rate increases exponentially.Students should have more access to mental health services and shouldn’t be judged or ridiculed for seeking help.
Notable Quotables:
“Carson’s story is not unique. The pandemic has taken a toll on the mental health of millions. But adolescents have been hit especially hard. “
“According to psychologists who study adolescent resilience, one of the biggest threats to the well-being of today’s teenagers is not social isolation but something else — the pressure to achieve, which has intensified over the past year.”
“If we want more-resilient kids coming out of the pandemic, then we need to heed a lesson of this past year — that the pressure to achieve is crushing the spirits of many young people and should be dialed back. Parents can play a vital role here. They can help ease their children’s anxiety by reminding them that where they attend college will not make or break them — and that getting Bs does not equal failure.”
