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> School avoidant behavior, also called school refusal, is when a school-age child refuses to attend school or has difficulty being in school for the entire day

by CPLX 3y ago

> School avoidant behavior, also called school refusal, is when a school-age child refuses to attend school or has difficulty being in school for the entire day. Several mental health experts told USA TODAY it has become a crisis that has gotten worse since the COVID-19 pandemic. > "There's no book on this, it's not spoken about," said Demsky, whose son declined to be interviewed by USA TODAY but gave his mother permission to share their story. "It's very scary and parents feel a sense of helplessness." As an old guy I have to say the entire way this is being discussed is completely baffling. I guess in the 90's when me and my friends didn't feel like going to school we were part of a pioneering trend or something. I should have written a book. Instead people got mad at me and told me to stop skipping school. They couldn't see I was a visionary at the time I guess. America keeps getting weirder.

foobarian 3y ago
I mean, we tell young people it's important to think critically. Well, this is what that looks like. Why is it a given that going to K-12 is somehow an immutable necessity, especially with the current curriculum and experience what it is? They are right to question it even if the answer ends up being that going to school has value.
- CPLX 3y ago
  I'm here to tell you that in 1989 we really didn't have any trouble with critical thinking on the topic of going to high school on any given Wednesday. Guided by key 20th century American[0] and British[1] thought leaders we were developing and refining these theories of "immutable necessity" in suburban cars and convenience store parking lots on a regular basis. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Oo8QzDHimQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Oo8QzDHimQ [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR5ApYxkU-U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR5ApYxkU-U
boeingUH60 3y ago
It's pretty weird that people are debating kids going to school, lol...If I told my parents when I was younger that I no longer felt like going to school, they would have bundled me there.
projektfu 3y ago
I skipped a good bit of school (also in the 90s), and frequently was punished for it, and consider myself to have only myself to blame. Nevertheless, I knew a kid, a younger brother of a friend, who had school avoidance, and it was palpably different. It was probably a situation of major depression manifesting as anxiety and defiant behavior. As the article says, it's not a concrete diagnosis. It's really more of a symptom with the same effect of putting education on hold. Knowing the parents, I am sure they tried to make him tough it out at first. I suppose you eventually go for psychiatry because the usual parenting strategies don't work. On every discussion of mental health, there seems to be one side that says "I recognize that in myself..." and another that says, "This is not a disorder". Whether it's about laziness vs executive dysfunction, social anxiety vs. awkwardness, autism spectrum vs. weirdness, depression vs saddness, or anxiety vs discomfort. Most mental health disorders are not trivial, and do not have easy solutions. While I don't doubt that some people want to become the authority on a new disease they discovered and name, I think most of the time the profession is actually trying to help people.

by CPLX 3y ago

foobarian 3y ago

I mean, we tell young people it's important to think critically. Well, this is what that looks like. Why is it a given that going to K-12 is somehow an immutable necessity, especially with the current curriculum and experience what it is? They are right to question it even if the answer ends up being that going to school has value.

CPLX 3y ago
I'm here to tell you that in 1989 we really didn't have any trouble with critical thinking on the topic of going to high school on any given Wednesday. Guided by key 20th century American[0] and British[1] thought leaders we were developing and refining these theories of "immutable necessity" in suburban cars and convenience store parking lots on a regular basis. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Oo8QzDHimQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Oo8QzDHimQ [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR5ApYxkU-U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR5ApYxkU-U

boeingUH60 3y ago

It's pretty weird that people are debating kids going to school, lol...If I told my parents when I was younger that I no longer felt like going to school, they would have bundled me there.

projektfu 3y ago

I skipped a good bit of school (also in the 90s), and frequently was punished for it, and consider myself to have only myself to blame. Nevertheless, I knew a kid, a younger brother of a friend, who had school avoidance, and it was palpably different. It was probably a situation of major depression manifesting as anxiety and defiant behavior. As the article says, it's not a concrete diagnosis. It's really more of a symptom with the same effect of putting education on hold. Knowing the parents, I am sure they tried to make him tough it out at first. I suppose you eventually go for psychiatry because the usual parenting strategies don't work. On every discussion of mental health, there seems to be one side that says "I recognize that in myself..." and another that says, "This is not a disorder". Whether it's about laziness vs executive dysfunction, social anxiety vs. awkwardness, autism spectrum vs. weirdness, depression vs saddness, or anxiety vs discomfort. Most mental health disorders are not trivial, and do not have easy solutions. While I don't doubt that some people want to become the authority on a new disease they discovered and name, I think most of the time the profession is actually trying to help people.