I’m tired, and cant seem to formulate everything I’m trying to say in one cohesive post, so here are the bullet points from my (groggy) brain:
@confusedaboutFA I’d love to hear more of your opinion (either here or via DM) on the general state of mental wellness at Lville. From what kiddo1 has been saying since last year, mental health desperately needs to be addressed by the administration. I’ve never known if it’s just an issue within her group, or school wide.
I think the problem is two fold in that Lville tends to be a pressure cooker in a good year, so adding covid stress (especially the rigid covid restrictions Lville put in place last year), has truly been detrimental to a lot of students (likely faculty as well).
This is not to say this is an issue that exists only at Lville. There is a mental health crisis in teenagers across the board, so every school really needs to take serious consideration into what they can do to help get these kids thrive.
So essentially, that document was sent out around midnight-ish to a whole bunch of us (and further spread throughout the school). We met at 10:30 AM on Hill House steps and students really just vented their frustrations about mental health, sexual assault, and faculty treatment at Choate. It ran until like 2:30 PM. Classes were still held but a lot of us missed them (I missed all of my classes) and absences were excused. No response from Curtis yet, but it’s been a very, very emotionally tumultuous day and a half here.
Trying to understand more clearly. The letter reads more like “from an aggrieved faculty” but it sounds like you’re describing an aggrieved student body speaking up/out. Did I misread the letter or did the issues get munged together or…?
Mental health is a universal problem at this point.Our public middle school has had two credible weapons threats in the last month. Last one was a kid saying he had a gun and was planning to shoot a specific kid. My son was at school that day as usual. Parents notified after the fact. I am more than ready to trade up from a violent school to a pressure cooker where students feel comfortable walking out on classes (without getting tackled by an armed SRO).
A teacher stopped my kid on campus and asked “What is wrong with you class? It’s as if you are all tired and burned out”….Speechless for a moment, then kiddo answered. “Maybe it’s because we are graduating and the last time it was a normal year we were Freshmen?” .
The Choate letter is interesting. Very well written, it is filled to the brim with a variety of assertions and demands. And yet, it is essentially empty of actual evidence in support of the assertions. Despite the fact that I know people who are very happy with the high-school experience of their Choate student, I am glad my own kid made a different choice.
As a Choate student, the majority of us are well aware of the problems our school faces. This letter is intended for the Choate community, which is well-versed in these issues and doesn’t need evidence. As over 400 people signed it, I don’t think it’s all that necessary.
I will say that I have very, very much loved my Choate experience. I’m so glad I came here and I know I wouldn’t be anywhere near the person I am now without it. It’s not been perfect, though, and I think that more support systems could be put in place for students and faculty alike, mainly in issues revolving around mental health.
The issues merged together at some point, I think. To me, a lot of the grievances faculty have/had seem to relate to students’ struggles, in that if the faculty aren’t well-supported than the students cannot be either, but I’m not 100% sure. There was a blend of comments on the treatment of faculty and staff as well as student issues during the protest, although since very few faculty were present (as they were having their own organized faculty forum) a lot of the focus was on students.
Even without covid, mental health issues among young people have been on the rise and a source of concern. Add in covid and the stress and isolation, it’s its own little pandemic!
Educators everywhere have had to pivot to a whole new teaching model. At BS, you have families with very high expectations paying lots of tuition who want the same “product” during this very different period. Parents are worried about their kids and exerting their own pressures . And these “bubble” communities really are set up to spin themselves up too whether around grievances, fears, etc. Clearly, I don’t know the details of what happened at CRH but I would guess that there are probably similar sentiments on most BS campuses. This has been a very hard time for pretty much all the constituents in BS communities. And of course, they are hardly the only ones who have suffered.
Personally, I think we are in the end phases of the covid crisis. But I suspect some of what it surfaced, especially a need for more mental health services for young people-- including those at BS – are here to stay.
I don’t know of any “top” school that isn’t struggling with both these issues. Mental health and sexual assault seem to be rampant problems from what I can tell.
I think too, that as much as parents worry about peer pressure and the bad choices kids might make as a result of it, that peer pressure – in the form of normal socialization – helps kids learn what is socially acceptable and how to help a friend in need. What kids have missed throigh covid has left a pretty significant gap! And in a place where work was needed to close an existing gap.
A quick update to share that Lville has now sent out two emails to the school community explaining that they are ready to listen to the students and faculty, they understand they can do a better job at managing mental health, and they laid out a detailed plan of events/meetings in which initial discussions will take place.
