A law was passed in Oregon that students’ absences due to mental health issues can be excused.
But until I looked it up and read about it, all I knew was that “mental health days” are now excused.
Having a legit mental health issue and “taking a mental health day” are two very different things, in my opinion.
The point of the law is that mental health problems are just as legitimate as physical health problems and should be treated as such.
I agree.
I wonder if there’s a better name for them to make their purpose more clear.
But.
Before I read and learned about it, this conversation happened.
“Kids can take mental health days now,” someone said in a passing conversation.
“Maybe we should make school so that they don’t need to.”
She laughed. I didn’t.
Kids taking a day off from school just because they need a break is evidence that there’s a flaw in the system.
No, being stressed is not something that kids just need to get used to. Instead of making life worse for younger people, why don’t we make it better for everyone else? (And return it to better for younger people…)
Wouldn’t it be better if kids were disappointed when school was over? If it was a place they looked forward to going on a regular basis? If it helped them feel competent, useful, creative, intelligent?
(Wouldn’t it be better if more workplaces were like this, too?)
And, as I just hinted at, this problem is not limited to schools. Or kids. We, on the whole, could make everyone’s days better if we all got on board with that… Just a little “we instead of me” thinking…