Does it matter if your child is happy at school? Research says, yes!
According to the European Online Journal of Natural and Social Sciences, there is “a significant positive relationship between happiness and achievement of students.” The authors of the study also found a significant correlation “between happiness and the progress of students… an increase or decrease in happiness increases or decreases the level of academic achievement.”
In other words, happier students learn better.
In a case study at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School, a K–12 school near Washington, D.C., Research Schools International found:
• For students of all ages, happiness is positively associated with intrinsic motivation — a personal drive to learn.
• Happiness is positively associated with GPA for students in grades 4–12.
• Happiness is predicted by students’ satisfaction with school culture and relationships with teachers and peers.
Neurological researchers find similar correlations.
“People experiencing positive emotions perceive more options when trying to solve problems, solve more non-linear problems that require insight… collaborate better and generally perform better overall,” says Dr. David Rock.
Find a school that listens as well as speaks, a place that values your child as a unique, irreplaceable resource.
But happiness is only part of the story of how your child succeeds in school. It’s also important that your child is taken seriously. In many schools, student grades and test results are upheld as important, but their unique way of relating with the world is not. This can cause students to tune out — or to become externalized perfectionists and people-pleasers. Both can contribute to the youth mental health crisis being measured across the country.
Instead, when students are encouraged to find and use their voices, when their contributions are genuinely sought and valued, their sense of happiness and confidence grows. They become invested in the community that is investing in them. “Real life” stops being what happens after graduation, and becomes what students are living right now.
How often does your child have an opportunity to speak and act in meaningful ways? Do they have access to a school culture of shared conversation, where they can engage with others about issues, problems, and dreams that matter most to them? When you visit a campus, can you perceive an atmosphere of mutual respect between students and faculty? What happens when the community faces a challenge? Do students feel free to speak their minds with adults and administrators? How does the school respond to student activism and concerns?
Seek an environment where your child can risk being their real self.
Research demonstrates that the ability to be vulnerable is a key component to happiness. Those who report the highest happiness levels are those most willing to experience “uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure.”
The Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning observes that students hold back from taking academic risks “to avoid feeling helpless and inadequate, which are the very actions that successful thinkers must [engage in]... Despite growing up as risk-takers in other aspects of their lives, many students fail to maintain a willingness to take risks in a school environment.”
According to Educational Endeavors, when taking risks results in success, students' self-esteem grows.
Perhaps even more importantly, students need to learn the value of risk-taking, even when those risks result in failure. A willingness to fail requires an educational atmosphere that the Coalition of Essential Schools describes as “unanxious expectation.” Otherwise, the fear of looking foolish can keep students sitting on their hands for years — not a comfortable state to be in emotionally and not a state that fosters intellectual breakthroughs.
Find an environment that helps students feel a sense of purpose and meaning in community.
Relationships are fundamental to students’ happiness. As psychologists Daniel Gilbert and Matthew Killingsworth note: “If I wanted to predict your happiness and I could know only one thing about you, I wouldn’t want to know your gender, religion, health, or income. I’d want to know about your social network - your friends and family and the strength of the bonds with them.”
Researchers Martin Seligman and Christopher Peterson have also found that people share a deep desire to use their strengths in the service of “something larger.” Working toward shared goals and the common good strengthened the key bonds between people.
Does your child’s school prioritize the larger world? How does its mission play out in daily school life? Does the school have a strategic plan in place? Look for programs, projects, and policies that go beyond lip service to “responsibility” or “good citizenship” to building authentic connection to the community and the region where students live.
As an essential complement to looking outward, the best schools also help students look inward. Self-reflection and writing are two of the most essential skills students can practice, crossing all academic disciplines."
Watkinson School
180 Bloomfield Ave., Hartford
860-236-5618
Watkinson.org