Chapter 23
MENTAL HEALTH IN SCHOOLS
PART FIVE:
MENTAL HEALTH AND HYGIENE
Ø Mental Health in Schools.
Ø Helping Maladjusted Children.
The Chapter at a Glance
The mentally healthy child.
Mental health and school
education.
Symptoms and causes of
maladjustment.
Causes specific to school
environment.
Multiple causation of
maladjustment.
Mental
health refers to that condition of an individual which results from the normal
organization and functioning of his mind. A mentally healthy person is mentally
at ease. Conversely, a mentally unhealthy person is not at ease mentally. He
is rather mentally diseased.
Mental
hygiene is the science which lays down principles, methods and techniques for
the promotion of mental health. It performs two functions:—
(1)
The prevention of mental disease, and
(2)
The treatment of mental disease.
The Mentally Healthy Child
A
mentally healthy child is one who is adjusted to persons, objects and
situations around him. Some of the fundamental signs indicating the mental
health of a child are as follows: —
(1)
An all-round good and desirable behavior.
(2)
Feeling of being liked by other children and adults.
(3)
Feeling of being trusted by children, parents and others.
(4)
Feeling of security.
(5)
Absence of unnecessary fears.
(6)
Optimism, cheerfulness and a smiling attitude.
(7)
Contentment with own age level, with no wish to regress to baby-hood again.
(8)
Sense of identification with the group.
(9)
Eagerness for and enjoyment of group games.
(10)
Interests, hobbies and recreations.
(11)
Forgiveness and forgetfulness of "wrongs" done by others.
(12)
Kindness and sympathy towards associates.
(13)
Sense of independence and initiative.
(14)
Enjoyment of home life and association with parents and siblings.
(15)
Normal vigor and vitality.
(16)
Good appetite.
(17)
Good sleep, etc., etc.
Mental Health and School Education
Even
a casual glance at the picture of the healthy child which emerges in the
foregoing pages indicates that the development of these same healthy qualities
is the precise aim of school education as well. Indeed it would be no
exaggeration to say that helping children to develop into mentally healthy
persons is the major aim of education.
Identity of Aims
Many
authoritative writers have also maintained the same position, namely, that the
aims of modern education are identical with those of mental hygiene. Thus says Harmon:
“The aims of educational and
mental hygiene should be the same, the development and training of the
individual for effective living in a social environment. Both are concerned in
leading the child toward habits and attitudes that make the individual better
able to attack his life problems. The child comes to the school as a whole, and
it is impossible to separate his intellectual function from his motives, emotions,
and social adjustments. Teachers and schools
cannot ignore these facts and shirk their responsibilities. They must accept the mental-hygiene viewpoint and free their methods of practices that might cause pupil mal-development
and mal-adjustment."
Identity of Principles
Even with regard to the matter of
principles, the two sciences of education and of mental hygiene seem to be
identical.
"The principles of modern
education are identical with the principles of mental hygiene," Winslow
tells us. "Both are directed toward cultivating self-confidence,
self-respect, self-management, courage, the ability to take responsibility, the
ability to overcome difficulties and to carry things through to completion, friendliness,
sympathy and co-operation with others, the development and expression of affection,
tolerance of differences, the sharing of experience, the freer expression of
initiative and creative abilities and interests, freedom from the stigma of
guilt and shame, the ability to acknowledge an occasional defect frankly, the
honest facing of unpleasant realities, and a capacity for assuming and
submitting to authority in a spirit of good will."
Violation of Mental Health Principles
at Schools
If,
then, as it appears from these observations, these two sciences –education and
mental health-- are absolutely identical, the educational implication is that
the teachers should endeavor their utmost to turn the schools into such
congenial places as actually promote the mental health and well-being of the
children.
Do
contemporary schools come up to this expectation? Talking about American
schools Frank* says:
"Here
we see the child entering school at five or six, to face the demand for
standardized academic achievement, for rigid conformity and for adjustment to
his contemporaries, bringing to these encounters all the perplexities and
anxieties of his family background and training. It is evident that much of
what is now done in the schools is inimical to mental health, since the child
is confronted with more anxieties and exposed to frequent and devastating
humiliations. Thus many of the attitudes and feelings he brings from his family
training are crystallized and intensified by the school program and discipline.”
Unhealthy Conditions in Our Schools
Needless to point out, the
conditions in our schools are even worse on the whole than those operating in
most of the western schools. The quality of thought and behavior of our school
children is a clear indication of the fact that we have failed to inculcate in
them healthy outlooks and attitudes towards life.
Most
of our schools still emphasize the finishing of the prescribed courses, attending of lengthy periods, learning
by rote, cramming for examinations, etc. No particular care is being taken to
put adequate emphasis on the development of the human qualities and virtues
which our society needs so badly. This is only possible if our entire
educational system is completely remodeled so as to provide adequate
opportunities for the promotion of mental health and efficiency rather than
bookish knowledge and superficial ability.
Symptoms and Causes of
Maladjustment
An
adjusted individual is one who is able to meet adequately the personal, social
and vocational requirements of every-day life. Such a person is mentally
healthy. A maladjusted person, on the other hand, is one who fails to fulfill
the demands of self and society adequately. Such a person is mentally
unhealthy. A maladjusted child is obviously a serious liability to his family,
his school and the nation. He must be helped. In order to help him one must
know the symptoms and causes of his maladjustment.
Symptoms of Maladjustment
Various
kinds of symptoms are associated with various kinds of maladjustment. Some
common symptoms in serious maladjustments are as follows.
Such
symptoms as exclusiveness and introversion characterize such personality maladjustments
as shyness and over sensitivity. On the other hand, pugnacity, hyperactivity,
excitability, destructiveness and extreme extroversion characterize children
with self-assertive, aggressive, and domineering types of personality disorder.
Personality
disorders are the most frequent maladjustments occurring among children. Other
serious maladjustments include psychoneurosis* and psychosis. The main
symptoms of the former are fear, obsessions, repressions and indecisive
actions; and of the latter, indulgence in fantasies of regression to an
infantile level of existence, death, rebirth, displacing and replacing of a
parent, wealth, power, etc.
Causes of Maladjustment
A
number of causes might be responsible for the maladjusted behavior of a school child. The various causes can
be classified under two main heads as follows:—
A. General Causes present in the environment and the person of the child.
B. Specific
causes present in school situations.
The
general group of causes of maladjustment could be further sub-classified as
follows:
(1)
Environmental causes, and
(2) Personal causes.
The Environmental Causes
The
main environmental causes which usually become responsible for maladjustment
are as follows:—
(1)
Poverty.
(2)
Over-crowding at home.
(3)
Bad companions.
(4)
Lack of recreation or unsupervised recreation.
(5)
Poor heredity.
(6)
Parental discord.
(7)
Broken homes.
(8)
Mentally or physically diseased, defective or handicapped parents.
(9)
Criminal or immoral parents.
(10)
Over-ambitious parents.
(11)
Parental over-protection or rejection.
(12)
Death of one or both of the parents.
(13)
Lack of preparation by the parents for adequate education or vocational
training.
(14)
Lack of adequate schooling facilities.
(15)
Educational backwardness and ignorance.
The Personal Causes
The
personal causes of maladjustment, again, can be subdivided into two main
categories as follows:—
(1)
Physical causes, and
(2)
Mental causes.
(1) Physical Causes: The physical causes of maladjustment are those
personal factors which are present in the physique of the child. A child with
defective biological heritage or a physical handicap is liable to develop
inferiority feelings. Such an adverse development might make him bitter and
anti-social. Similarly, a physical disease might become responsible for maladjustment.
The common physical diseases which usually lead to maladjusted behavior are,
toxemias, post-encephalitic states, various types of infectious diseases,
including severe infections of the central nervous system, various kinds of
traumata, etc., etc.
(2) Mental Causes: The mental causes of maladjustment, on the other
hand, are those personal factors which pertain to the mind of the child. Thus
mental conditions such as feelings of inferiority insecurity, anxiety, strain,
stress, fear, worry, tension, conflict, frustration, etc. may cause
maladjustment.
Causes Specific to the School
Environment
Some
specific factors associated with the class-room atmosphere, activities and
personnel are also causally related to maladjustment among children. Some of
the specific causative factors falling under this group are as follows:—
(1)
Uninspiring curriculum.
(2)
Inadequate teaching methods.
(3)
Rigid class-discipline.
(4)
Unfavorable class-room atmosphere.
(5)
Adverse reports.
(6)
Lack of adequate guidance.
(7)
A maladjusted teacher.
(1) Uninspiring Curriculum: A curriculum which is un-stimulating, dull
and lifeless affects the mental health of the child very adversely. Boring
books and difficult academic work may make a child antagonistic to the school
and, in fact, to-all education whatsoever.
Rigid
and difficult syllabi make all the more severe demands on children with low I.
Qs. They find the books and the class work rather very taxing. Says Prescott:
"A
child who has found continuous difficulty in learning the things which he saw
other children learn in school ......... a child who has been confused over and
over again by the complexity of the material and energy factors met in earlier
experience can hardly be expected to mobilize his knowledge and integrate his
energy output into effective behavior patens. Children need to feel adequate in
capacity and skill to meet a fair proportion of the situations which they are
called upon to face. They need to obtain a fair balance between success and
failure in their realization of their hopes and desires."
Need for Curriculum Research: Such
factors deserve the special attention of our educationists. No planned and
methodical research has so far been conducted in our country on curriculum
planning. Most of our school syllabi and text-books appear to be utterly out of
tune with the hopes and fears of children. They are also largely responsible
for the growing tide of failures and maladjustments at our schools.
Recently
this neglected field has attracted a great deal of official and public
attention. The Implementation Unit of the Education Commission had set up a
Curriculum Committee comprising top-ranking educationists. The Committee
surveyed the situation and made extremely constructive recommendations to
effect improvements. Steps are now being taken to implement these
recommendations.
(2) Inadequate Teaching Methods: Unsuitable teaching methods, betraying
utter lack of knowledge and understanding of the child and the psychology of
learning, may cause maladjustment among school children.
Some
of the prominent characteristics of inadequate methods are: emphasis on
recitation and cramming; a complete lack of effort on the part of the teacher
to make the lesson interesting and stimulating by
giving illustrations, concrete examples, eliciting class participation by group
discussions; ignorance of or indifference towards the modern teaching techniques,
devices and opportunities, e.g., audio-visual aids, educational films, etc.
(3) Rigid Class-Discipline: Imposing undue bans and rigid restrictions
on the thought and behavior of children in the class is the traditional way of
maintaining discipline. Such stern measures' usually fail to achieve their
purpose. Restricting the freedom and liberty of young students is very
unnatural as well as unwise. It incites them all the more to revolt against all
discipline and adopt aggressive attitudes. Some sensitive types of children
might even retreat to excessive brooding and introversion as a reaction against
too strict class discipline.
Another
serious defect in our class discipline is the rigidly uniform and inadequate
handling of disciplinary cases. Most of our teachers display a complete
ignorance of knowledge of the child mind when handling cases of mischief,
indiscipline, truancy, etc. Maintaining of rigid, uniform and punitive attitudes
towards all types of children in the class, regardless of their individual
differences, is an unwise policy and a very common cause of maladjustment.
(4) Unfavorable Class-room Atmosphere: Unfavorable class-room
atmosphere could be of the following four categories:—
(a)
Educationally unfavorable atmosphere.
(b)
Emotionally inadequate atmosphere.
(c)
Environmentally unsuitable atmosphere.
(d)
Socially unhealthy atmosphere.
(a) Educationally
Unfavorable Atmosphere: An educationally unfavorable class-room atmosphere
is one which places undue emphasis on memory, marks, examinations, prizes,
academic achievement, and the pass percentage. Negatively, it provides no
specialized facilities for the gifted and the backward and other varieties of
exceptional children. Consequently, all those children who feel helpless to
cope with such an uncongenial atmosphere are most liable to develop
maladjustments.
(b) Emotionally
Inadequate Atmosphere: A class-room atmosphere is emotionally inadequate
wherein anxiety, fear and frustration constantly dominate the minds of the
pupils. Maladjustments are the inevitable outcomes in such an emotionally uncongenial
class-room.
(c) Environmentally Unsuitable Atmosphere: Similarly, a dirty,
stinking, and unventilated class-room, depriving the children of legitimate
physical comforts, is the most unsuitable type of atmosphere from the
environmental point of view. Such an inadequate atmosphere provides no incentive
either for studies or for good behavior. It might rather induce children to
various types of maladjustments.
(d) Socially
Unhealthy Atmosphere: In a socially unhealthy class-room atmosphere,
quarrels, disputes, noisy talk and other forms of indiscipline are the order of
the day. Such an undesirable atmosphere is mostly favorable for the
development of delinquent and immoral types of maladjustment among the
students.
(5) Adverse Reports: In many schools, teachers keep Students' Progress
Reports. Such adverse remarks made by the teachers on some students' reports
as: "class conduct unsatisfactory", "a nuisance in the
class", "dirty and untidy", "dull", "careless in
class work", "home work irregular", etc., is liable to make them
feel that the teacher is bent upon pointing out the darker aspects of their
personality.
These
adverse reports are usually sent to the headmaster and the parents. Imagine the
frustration of a child who finds that his teacher not only penned those unfriendly
and derogatory remarks on his Progress Report but also publicized them amongst
his class-mates, other school teachers and parents. This hurts his ego rather
severely. When a child's self-respect is bluntly hammered like that serious
maladjustment is but the natural outcome.
(6) Lack
of Adequate Guidance: Most of our teachers feel puzzled over such problems
as understanding children's complicated problems and difficulties, helping them
to choose the right subjects, providing further incentive to the bright child
and bringing the backward up to the standard of the class, judging the
aptitudes and providing the necessary incentives for appropriate vocational
training, etc.
A
teacher must possess the necessary knowledge and technique needed to guide
children in these and various other problems. Lack of adequate knowledge of
child guidance on the part of the teacher can lead many children to
maladjustments.
(7) The Maladjusted Teacher: It is a matter of common observation that
adjusted teachers produce adjusted pupils. Maladjusted teachers, on the contrary,
infect their classes with their own undesirable traits and trends.
In
a study conducted by Hart*, children were asked to describe the desirable and
undesirable personality traits in their class teachers.
The traits which the children
appreciated most in their teachers were:
+
helpfulness in school work,
+ cheerfulness,
+ friendly attitude,
+ interest in and understanding of
pupils,
+ patience and fairness.
The traits in the teachers which they
considered undesirable were:
_ unhelpfulness in school work,
_ nagging,
_ over-criticism,
_ partiality,
_ unreasonable attitude,
_ unfairness, etc.
Baxter
observed a close resemblance between the emotional health of the teacher and
that of the students. He found that a class where the teacher was maladjusted
was composed of pupils who were mostly nervous and irritable. On the other
hand, an atmosphere of friendliness, cheerfulness, calm and relaxation
prevailed in a class where the teacher had an adjusted personality.
Multiple Causation of
Maladjustment
These
are some of the main causative factors which are usually responsible for
maladjusted behavior among children.
It may, however, be remembered that
maladjustment seldom results from a single factor. Usually a number of
unfavorable factors combine in leading to this undesirable development. Thus,
for instance, when a child from a mentally unhealthy home faces inadequate
situations in the school as well, there is more likelihood that he may develop maladjustment as compared with a child in the same school
whose home conditions are relatively better.
Role of the Home and the School:
According
to the experience of the author if the general conditions at home are favorable
on the whole to the development of adjusted behavior, there is usually less
chance for undesirable factors outside the home to drag a child into maladjusted
behavior.
The
school atmosphere figures next in importance. At the school, the personality of
the teacher and the association of class-mates make quite a lot of difference.
In any case, whatever the source of maladjustment it is never caused by a
solitary factor working in isolation from a number of other adverse factors.
Maladjustment, therefore, is a phenomenon of multiple causation.
