My name is Taeyah, and I‘m finally a senior at Haverhill High School getting ready to graduate and start my path to College and possibly Law school. Today, I am going to talk about the three starting blocks for student success:
● Student-to-student/student-to-teacher relationships
● Strong communication, and
● The mental health well-being of students and teachers
When I went to the statehouse two years ago, I emphasized teacher-to-teacher support and teacher-to-student relationships. Why do I have to be here again saying the same things? Why do I have to be talking about the same topics all over again? I have to reemphasize them again because there is none of that anymore, it doesn’t exist at school. Back then, I had great connections with my teachers. I always spoke to them and communicated with them when I had issues. This year, I am having trouble talking to my instructors. I am having trouble speaking about solutions to problems. Teachers are quitting jobs, students are missing opportunities, and students and teachers are taking it out on each other.
This matters to me because I want students to succeed in schools, but the starting blocks to success are not being supported. I see it as not enough support staff in the schools to help staff-to-staff relationships and students-to-staff relationships. Those relationships will help students learn in the classroom and get to where they actually can get to and tap onto their potential. I see that teachers are taking their poor mental health out on students, then students are doing that right back. Both sides are antagonizing each other.
On a daily basis, I see negative interactions between students and teachers. I feel like if a student says something a teacher does not like, teachers get mad at them and try to overpower them with their opinion. Sometimes, things are taken personally rather than acknowledging that students might be acting uncontrollably for a specific reason relating to their lives and/or out their capacity to control the situation. We are having this issue at Haverhill High, where students struggle with their workload and day-to-day lives. Some people are still trying to get used to high school, getting back to workload, or working with peers side to side. I feel like we are being expected to be active and ready to work, but we need time. Mental health declined pretty badly during Covid.
There needs to be more support staff and more communication. You can’t quick fix a pandemic outcome so quickly. I feel like policymakers can find more support staff and do more training on mental health, what students’ home lives can be like, how to be professional in times of disruption, or how to help a child during an emotional breakdown. Educators should also learn coping skills to deal with one’s self or colleagues’ emotional breakdowns because situations they may deal with can be overwhelming for both students and/or staff. These build a foundation for the three starting building blocks of success.
Right now, the environment in schools is not being supported enough. These points made need to be taken care of through safe and supportive school environments, or nothing will happen in the long run. We want safe and supportive schools but staff cannot provide that if mental health is not being taken care of properly. Even I’m scared to now approach teacher because both teachers and students don’t have a connection like before nor are able to create a that connection. I shouldn’t have to be scared the rest of my school career to ask for help or create connections with the ones that send me into the real world.
