The students put on the table again a subject that requires a reflection; This time it was the turn of mental health.
The first reactions to the protest of the students of Architecture of the University of Chile, by the academic overload remind us of the reactions in front of the movement “Penguin”. There were groups of people who considered that what the secondary students were posing were unfeasible ideas in a country like ours, which obeyed a desire to get things in an “easy” way and not pay for education in addition to being a utopia It could bring with it the germ of the devaluing of education, i.e. “if it does not cost is not valued”. Other groups, which supported the students, considered that their demands were valid and that it was possible to think of a country that offered better opportunities to its young people, although this obviously had an economic cost, but that it was necessary to assume. It is not yet a resolved issue, but it is undeniable that without their demands there would be no progress on this issue.
In the subject of academic burden, demands and their impact on mental health is happening something similar. It is possible to hear in radio debates, to read in the written press or in the social networks critical to the students pointing out that they are a generation that is not accustomed to the sacrifice and that they hope to obtain everything in an easy way. That studying at the university implies a personal cost and that it is necessary to be willing to pay it if you want to obtain results. In this way their demand is trivializes and a reality is denied.
Mental health studies in our country show troubling figures. WHO places Chile Among the countries with the highest burden of morbidity due to psychiatric diseases in the world, 23.2%. On the other hand the Ministry of Health in its reports of Mental Health care program refers that benefits to young people aged 15 to 19 increased by 24.9% between the years 2014 and 2018.
In reading these figures then we should ask ourselves about the type of society we want to build, a society in which academic excellence and rigorous professional training are compatible with a good quality of life.
We know that many of the factors that affect the mental health of young people are not directly related to the academic burden. The level of family income, gender, support networks, access to recreation and culture are variables that impact on the mental health of the population in general and also that of young people.
On all these variables we can and must work as a society. But what can we do specifically from our role as teachers? I think the first thing is to ask these questions and transform them into a dialogue with our students. Know their views, encourage collaborative work and above all listen to their concerns.
Young people are more likely to help us redirect our compass and give greater value to mental health.
The content poured in this opinion column is the sole responsibility of its author, and does not necessarily reflect the editorial line or position of the counter.
