Should Students Get Mental Health Days Off From School?

With both Oregan and Utah recently passing bills to allow their students to take a mental health day has caused a huge debate. First of all, what is a mental health in the first place? We should see it as a way for students to be able to take a day off from school in order to get their mind in the right place to focus on their school work. Whether it be that they are having anxiety attacks, being bullied or even just feel like everything in their life at the moment is just overwhelming them. All these can be extremely distracting to a students mind and could set them farther back in their school work compared to being allowed to take a day off to reset their minds. Laux Eileen mentions in her article “Mental Health Day” that depression rates as well as anxiety are both on the rise. Eileen also brings up the importance of a quality of life and how that can impact one's education greatly. This is why having the addition of a mental health day is very important for students.