The official message accepts this situation as an individual or family problem, rather than part of a collective narrowness and craze about achievement. But the school system must hold itself accountable for the pressure it puts on its students. Of course, some students put pressure on themselves, and some feel pressure from their parents and peers. The message: this is either a mental health problem or a parental issue.īut the school system is not taking responsibility for the stress the kids feel day after day because of the tremendous pressure the Newton high school culture exerts to achieve academically, participate in multiple extracurricular activities, and/or play competitive sports - never just for fun, always to score the best. Experts talk about suicide and psychological problems they tell us, parents, what we already know: support your kids and be mindful of their mood and behaviors.
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In general, the response of the school system has been to provide grief counselors plus meetings to air the sadness and share what the school is doing or plans to do in the future. In Newton there have been three suicides in less than four months among our high school kids.
He's also a Newton dad, and writes here about the need to address the toxic effects of high-stress school culture and its possible role in recent teen suicides. Gonzalo Bacigalupe is the president of the American Family Therapy Academy and a professor in the Department of Counseling and School Psychology at the University of Massachusetts Boston.
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