If you ask students from two different schools in two different countries whether they are satisfied with their educational experience and whether they are happy with their day-to-day life at school, you may get markedly different answers.
The education system in American schools has less study time and more emphasis on sports, and schools try to create a sense of community. But there you can see that students are very dissatisfied with their education.
In Swiss schools, where students spend more time and focus on classes and studies, students may seem more satisfied with their education. what's the matter?
I myself have been a part of both of these systems: the American School in Ankara, Turkey and the Swiss School in Zurich, Switzerland. To get a better look at these two systems and compare their different impacts on students' mental health, we created two identical surveys and asked students at both schools what they thought and how they felt about their schools. Part of it.
Now, the sample size of this study is small. Administrators at each school distributed the survey to all students between the ages of 13 and 19. I received responses to the 20 questions I asked from 109 students at one school and 50 students at another school. The results may not be scientific, but when I looked at the responses a few weeks later, I was amazed.
Family ritual that ends in dysfunction
I always thought that American schools provided some degree of “family community,” but when I looked at the results I got from students in Ankara, I found that 78% of them had experienced depression, and 37% of them had experienced depression. They were often or sometimes bullied and 16% had thought about self-harm.
I was even more surprised when I saw the Swiss students. In schools that focused on grades and curriculum without prioritizing ‘family community’, 58% of students experienced depression. That's almost 20 percent less than American schools.
Slightly fewer cases (32.4%) had been bullied, but 21.4% had thoughts of self-harm.
I decided to listen to the opinions of experts.
Carmen Lahusen is a youth coach, mediator and social educator in Zurich, working with teenagers as young as 15 years old. One of her first questions that I discussed with her was whether the time spent at her school or working at her school plays a role in the mental state of her students. health.
“I think it's quality, not quantity that matters. Social well-being within the classroom and school is important,” Lahusen said.
Quantity vs. Quality
Considering what Lahusen said and based on the responses I got from my students, I first focused on “quantity.” I have found that students in American schools, as well as most schools that use the American education system, generally spend significantly less time in school. Pupils in Swiss schools have had up to three hours longer school days.
After looking at quantity, I decided to compare it to quality: their happiness. Most students in Swiss schools said they were mostly between 6 and 8 on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being very happy). The majority of students in American schools gave answers between 4 and 5 and felt much more unhappy.
Swiss students spend more time at school and get more work done on average (which may generally seem like a negative thing), but their mental health seems to have improved noticeably.
This discovery left me with a new question.
Why were American students at these schools dissatisfied with their system and why were Swiss students happier? To answer this, I asked students: “What do you dislike about the school system and environment?”
Who likes homework?
American students' responses varied widely. Most students complained about the large amount of homework (which may have something to do with the shortened school days), the rules being too strict, or the costs of being a student at the school (also taking into account costs such as food, school buses, etc.). High).
The response received from the Swiss school was quite different. A significant number of students were explicit in saying there was “nothing” they didn’t like about their school system and environment, while some even praised the system for “providing a good, traditional education.”
Of course, there were still complaints here, most of which had to do with early starts, lots of exams and general stress. Surprisingly then, it seems that when it comes to education, it is not “less is better” but rather more is better!
My research shows that education systems that try to reduce the “stress” of grades and avoid subject loads can end up with more students who are unhappy or depressed.
On the other hand, education systems where students generally spend more time in school and engage in more “intellectual study” may have students who are generally happier and more excited about going to school. Self-harm.
Can we blame the school for our unhappiness?
There is another question we should ask. Are students' levels of well-being, including depression, happiness and thoughts of self-harm, entirely due to the education system?
That doesn't seem to be the case for the Grade 12 student at Realgymnasium Rämibühl, who said he suffers from mental illness.
“I suffer from severe depression, but it has nothing to do with my school life,” the student said. “I don’t blame the school and in my experience they have been very proactive and understanding about my mental illness.”
Lahusen puts this into context. “Of course, a teenager’s happiness or unhappiness does not depend entirely on school, but acceptance within their peer group is very important,” Lahusen said. “For most teenagers, this contact only occurs at school, where they spend most of their day.”
School is important for students’ mental health, Lahusan said. “A positive and compassionate classroom atmosphere, where young students not only superficially know each other but also feel connected to one another, can certainly compensate for problems at home, although it cannot replace parental home,” Lahusen said.
the company you keep
In the end, my research led me to a completely unexpected conclusion.
Student integration, primarily within schools, is one of the most important factors affecting student mental health.
Swiss students spend much more time at school. This means spending most of the day with classmates.
So while the American system strives to create a “family community,” the true makeup of a family is a company of people who spend most of their time together.
In other words, the reason why Swiss students are happier may simply be because they spend most of their time together as a family.