Students of Westlake High School

Westlake High School: a place known for its academic excellence and pressuring atmosphere. I’ve been going to Westlake for almost 3 years now, but i’ve been part of this community ever since I was born. As I started getting older, something became painfully obvious about the world in which I was raised, and that is that everybody relatively acts and dresses the exact same way. Throughout my years in this community it has become very clear to me that the lack of individuality and “herd mentality”  between students at Westlake greatly contributes to poor mental health.

What is herd mentality? Well, merriam-webster defines it as “the tendency of the people in a group to think and behave in ways that conform with others in the group rather than as individuals”. We see this everywhere, especially in high school. The act of “masking” who we are in order to better fit in with a group isn’t a new idea, and it's something you probably do whether you notice it or not. For example, one of my friends recently had to work up the courage for weeks to wear a pair of jeans to school, just because she didn’t think she was the type to be able to “pull them off”. You heard that right, weeks. All for a pair of jeans. Now the crazy thing is, if you’re a student at Westlake, you probably know exactly what I'm talking about. In fact, in a survey that I gave to my peers, 96% said that they have chosen to not wear something to school that they have otherwise felt comfortable in because of their own fear of judgement from others. This constant pressure that students at Westlake feel to be perfect can be detrimental in many ways. According to the poll given to my peers, 72% of students at Westlake feel that the pressure to conform with others negatively affects their own mental health.

A 2019 study at Pew Research Center found that 70% of teens see anxiety and depression as a major problem among their peers. That exact same study found that 76% of teens feel some sort of pressure to fit in socially. I have no doubt whatsoever that the high percentage of students experiencing mental health issues at Westlake correlates with the lack of individuality amongst it’s students. With all of the academic stress that students here are already experiencing, the fear of judgement and scrutiny from others only adds to the anxiety that these students face, and the fear of not being accepted can cause worsening depression in those with other risk-factors for mental illness.

Now i’m not trying to invalidate those who do express themselves fully at Westlake. There are tons of people who have completely come out of their shell and who are truly their 100% authentic selves, but even these people must admit that at some point they have faced some kind of scrutiny for being who they are. And to anyone who genuinely does feel like they truly fit in at Westlake, thats awesome. Keep wearing your aviator nation and golden goose, but stop criticizing others for having interests that differ from the norm.At the end of the day we all only spend 4 years here at this school, and while these may be some of the most influential years of your entire life, theres still so much room to grow after you graduate. Through responding to my anonymous poll, one of my peers summed this up perfectly by saying, “I often feel like many students feel insecure to express themselves. My sister said that after she left high school, she noticed so many of her peers changed their style and began to truly express themselves differently than they did in high school.” Clearly, the lack of individuality amongst students at Westlake can have detrimental effects on mental health for students who already feel “out of place”, but graduation gives everyone an opportunity to reinvent themselves into a more confident version of who they are.