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I was a pro in 1st grade on playing hookey. Today it's called mental health day.
Would I encourage it? Nope!
I ran away from school ...instead of dealing with the shamefilled abuse delved out that year.
Most students are not enduring that environment though. So I would have a hard time telling the kid with an ipad and food /shelter that gosh...take a mental health day.
I actually enjoyed my school years once I found a genuine caring teacher . She set the stage for the zest to learn/apply/ and be accountable.
Okay senior year day was a mental health day now that I think about it. Was a tradition at our school . Seniors went to an amusement park ...or a day at the shore.
If sick days are allotted in a specified amount, they should not have to be justified or documented unless the student will be in absence in excess of the allotted days. I'd assume they could be used (and would use them) for either physical illness or mental stress.
Are the students trying to compartmentalize the types of leave given to students during the academic year, to increase the total amount of days able to be missed? This is a state university, not Stanford or MIT. What's going on in the curriculum that's causing these students to freak?
It's attitudes like mine that broke away from King George's rule and started our own country.
Attitudes like mine built America with our bare hands. We built the railroads, the airplanes and the automobiles.
Attitudes like mine send men in rocketships to the moon. Nothing was too hard for us. We did these things because they were hard, not because they were easy for pansies to digest over a latte and a much-needed "mental health day off".
I am seriously concerned about the future of America. I'm glad I'm old and on my way out. Have at it, snowflakes.
What does an entrepreneurial zest, or a revolutionary zeal, or hard work have to do with mental illness? I take it you nor any of your loved ones have been so encumbered? Maybe if people just tried harder they could beat cancer without pesky things like surgery and medicine.
I'm as conservative as any one, but this is a strange argument. We used to drown witches, own slaves, and try to convert gay people. Just because something was a part of our past doesn't make it glorious.
Also I disagree with your premise that having an understanding of common mental illnesses now makes us "pansies" and "snowflakes" and "weak". If anything, being honest about emotional issues--being vulnerable in that way--is enormously courageous.
When I was in school I had tons of absences, which primarily occurred because I was a night owl and was often not in bed before 2-3 am. I had to pull a 'sickie' on those days, which was a bit of a problem. If I had had the option of declaring my 'nightly adventure hangover' days as 'mental health days' I probably would have done that, too. What I'm saying is, kids don't wanna go to school and will use any excuse to get away with it.
It's attitudes like mine that broke away from King George's rule and started our own country.
Attitudes like mine built America with our bare hands. We built the railroads, the airplanes and the automobiles.
Attitudes like mine send men in rocketships to the moon. Nothing was too hard for us. We did these things because they were hard, not because they were easy for pansies to digest over a latte and a much-needed "mental health day off".
I am seriously concerned about the future of America. I'm glad I'm old and on my way out. Have at it, snowflakes.
That is a viewpoint but there's another side to the story. Coming from an area of the country that NAFTA decimated, 40-50 years ago, it was not uncommon for the less academically gifted high school students, or those who slacked off and didn't apply themselves, to simply drop out at 16, and go to work in a factory while still pulling a middle class lifestyle. Kids nowadays don't really have that luxury, yet many still thrive. Based on what I can tell about the bill's champion in the story, she doesn't seem like a slacker to me, just sees something about our culture that seems off kilter and seems willing to go up against people who would insult her idea, so I think she's going to do well.
While it might be an overkill to address temporary mental health problems through legislating days off from school, the fact that younger people were thinking of this and actively participating in advocating for legislation seems pretty sharp for a high school student to take on. Taking their reasoning at face value, it is really thinking about health in a comprehensive way to include mental health. Plus despite not only typical teenage conflict with her peers but also being called insulting terms like "snowflakes" by adults who should know better, she's forging on. So I say good for her!
If this is the worst legislation that comes out of the US, we're doing pretty darn good, but I'm afraid it's not. It's actually better than what comes out of many of our elected officials.
It's not really surprising this is coming out of Oregon, moving as far along as it did. I'm afraid this legislation wouldn't stand a chance in a lot of the less open minded states or the legislators would be passing legislation which would bar the kind of legislation from ever being adopted.
What does an entrepreneurial zest, or a revolutionary zeal, or hard work have to do with mental illness? I take it you nor any of your loved ones have been so encumbered? Maybe if people just tried harder they could beat cancer without pesky things like surgery and medicine.
I'm as conservative as any one, but this is a strange argument. We used to drown witches, own slaves, and try to convert gay people. Just because something was a part of our past doesn't make it glorious.
Also I disagree with your premise that having an understanding of common mental illnesses now makes us "pansies" and "snowflakes" and "weak". If anything, being honest about emotional issues--being vulnerable in that way--is enormously courageous.
Oh, pah-leaze. What the heck do "witches, slaves and gay people" have to do with it? Mental illness has nothing to do with it either. It's nothing more than snowflakes seeking more paid time off in order to play.
Oh, pah-leaze. What the heck do "witches, slaves and gay people" have to do with it? Mental illness has nothing to do with it either. It's nothing more than snowflakes seeking more paid time off in order to play.
Way to miss the point. You want attitudes stuck in the Revolution, the 1800s, the 1950s.
Well those were part of the attitudes back then. Ideas evolve.
Part of the motivation among these kids in Oregon is to help prevent teen suicide.
Here are some general statistics about teen suicide:
"The suicide rate for white children and teens between 10 and 17 was up 70% between 2006 and 2016, the latest data analysis available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although black children and teens kill themselves less often than white youth do, the rate of increase was higher — 77%.
A study of pediatric hospitals released last May found admissions of patients ages 5 to 17 for suicidal thoughts and actions more than doubled from 2008 to 2015. The group at highest risk for suicide are white males between 14 and 21."
Teenagers are killing themselves now more than ever, but you think they just want a day off of school.
Sure, whatever. If you had ever had your own child feeling this way, maybe you'd have some compassion. Count yourself lucky.
Calling these young people snowflakes and wimps is very offensive, but I guess you already know that and I guess you don't care.
Way to miss the point. You want attitudes stuck in the Revolution, the 1800s, the 1950s.
Well those were part of the attitudes back then. Ideas evolve.
Part of the motivation among these kids in Oregon is to help prevent teen suicide.
Here are some general statistics about teen suicide:
"The suicide rate for white children and teens between 10 and 17 was up 70% between 2006 and 2016, the latest data analysis available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although black children and teens kill themselves less often than white youth do, the rate of increase was higher — 77%.
A study of pediatric hospitals released last May found admissions of patients ages 5 to 17 for suicidal thoughts and actions more than doubled from 2008 to 2015. The group at highest risk for suicide are white males between 14 and 21."
Teenagers are killing themselves now more than ever, but you think they just want a day off of school.
Sure, whatever. If you had ever had your own child feeling this way, maybe you'd have some compassion. Count yourself lucky.
Calling these young people snowflakes and wimps is very offensive, but I guess you already know that and I guess you don't care.
What?! Do you honestly believe that a more diverse variety of days off throughout the year will change our nations suicide rate? Are you crazy?
What you're throwing into this conversation is madness. It's like putting a band-aid over a cancerous tumor while calling the surgeons crazy for scheduling surgery. Absolute madness.
This world is becoming softer and softer by the day it seems. A mental health day as a student. They dunno what's coming once they live out in the world on their own. Then again, many of these softies will probably reside in their parents basements well into adulthood. Mental health day LoL
And maybe they won't resort to taking out their frustrations on their wives and kids after a hard day at work. Or using drugs and alcohol as ways of coping and escapism.
If a child genuinely needs a mental health day I have no problem with the concept. Making it a policy sends the wrong message, though, I think.
Children need to be taught early that while their emotions and the uncomfortable thoughts that can come with them are manageable. They are not at the mercy of what they feel. This is a tenet of good mental health and helps build a strong, resilient approach to life.
In accord with the problems they will face in later life when their problems involve more responsibility they need to be told, "You can do this!" Grief, fear, anger will be no strangers all their lives and learning how to deal with them without a fixed pattern of retreat will be a valuable lesson.
In the process kids need to learn how to build a support system and how important it is to have people around you who can give you that emotional support when you are having tough days.
I liked two ideas mentioned - a set number of "days off" and not labeling them "mental health days."
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Maybe if people just tried harder they could beat cancer without pesky things like surgery and medicine. 
It's actually better than what comes out of many of our elected officials. 
