Meet Gretchen—nine years old, a third grader in a Midwestern public school. For the past four years, Gretchen has gotten used to being asked a certain set of questions the moment she walks through the door. No, they don’t concern math, spelling, or reading comprehension. They’re all about how she feels.
Gretchen’s school employs an increasingly common practice: monitoring not just children’s intellectual development, but their emotional development as well. And so, in keeping with this approach, she’s greeted each day with a short series of screener questions. They’re designed to be lighthearted but still effective in assessing her emotional well-being.
Students in schools across the country are being introduced to more and more tools aimed at helping them understand and support their mental health. In this article, we take a closer look at why wellness belongs in schools.
It’s Relevant to Everything Else
First and most importantly, a student’s emotional and mental state plays a critical role in how effectively they learn. A child struggling with stress, anxiety, or depression is simply not in the best position to absorb new information or engage meaningfully with their education.
By acknowledging the complexity of human experience, schools give all students a better chance at success—academic and otherwise.
We’ve already accepted that physical health is a key part of the educational experience. Nearly every school offers recess, gym classes, and organized sports. Is it really such a leap to say that mental and emotional well-being deserve the same attention?
It Affirms the Importance of Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence is an essential life skill. It extends far beyond one’s personal well-being and plays a key role in professional success. The ability to relate to others, interpret social cues, and navigate complex interpersonal situations is foundational not only in business negotiations but in everyday collaboration—at work and at home.
Schools that encourage students to think actively about their emotional health are cultivating a generation of emotionally intelligent individuals. These students will be well-equipped for a workforce that increasingly values empathy, adaptability, and holistic well-being.
As more employers begin to view their staff as whole people with diverse emotional needs, the ability to understand and manage one’s emotions becomes not just helpful—but vital.
It Reflects the Fact That School is a Safety Net
For some students, school is their primary safety net. Remember Gretchen from our earlier example? She’s fortunate enough to have a happy, stable home life.
Unfortunately, that’s not the case for every student. Many kids grow up in an environment where school is their primary—or only—safety net.
It’s through these emotional check-ins and support materials that major personal issues are often identified: suicidal ideation, homelessness, domestic violence. Schools that focus only on academic results are not well-positioned to identify and help at-risk youth.
It Prepares Students for Happy, Healthy Lives
Finally, raising children to take seriously the importance of mental and emotional wellness prepares them for healthy, balanced lives. Think about your own experiences.
If you’re a millennial or older, chances are pretty good that you’ve found yourself wishing, at various points, that people had put a bigger priority on preparing you to deal with stress, anxiety, depression, and the other difficult emotional obstacles that come up naturally in most lives.
These are important life skills that teach you not only how to function in professional and personal situations but also how to be happy and well-adjusted.
Schools are about more than getting kids ready for the workforce—they’re about helping new generations be ready for adulthood. Emotional intelligence is an important component of living a happy life.
Careers that Make Social-Emotional Awareness Possible in Schools
All of the points we’ve discussed up until now speak to the importance of health education—but what careers are making this possible?
Most school systems have a variety of different professionals who are helping connect children with the services and resources necessary to lead emotionally healthy lives.
For example, most school districts will have at least a couple of social workers who are trained specifically to identify warning signs in children and help them with a variety of issues they might encounter. A social worker at Gretchen’s school, for example, might help an anxious kindergartner get comfortable being in class in the morning, connect a homeless child with resources for short-term shelter in the afternoon, and have a meeting with the parent of a child who has been getting in trouble after school.
There are also psychologists, counselors, and other mental health professionals on call to ensure a balanced range of needs are being met.
When schools do not have the resources to address a student’s needs, they will often look to the community.
Many hospitals and clinics work in cooperation with school districts across the country to make sure that students have access to all of the resources they need. The best part is that much of the time, these resources are made free or affordable to families who need them but wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford them.
If you are interested in contributing to the emotional well-being of a new generation of children, consider exploring the different types of psychology degrees available. You’ll find that there are many different ways to help people.
