Schools Are Failing Our Kids, And It’s Not Just About Grades

Rebuilding Fun & Happiness: The Most Overlooked Mental Health Solution

Why Are We Raising a Generation That’s Forgotten How to Have Fun?

A few months ago, I was talking to a group of high school students about mental health. The conversation started with the usual topics; stress, anxiety, depression, but then one student said something that hit me harder than I expected:

"I don’t even know what having fun feels like anymore."

Others nodded in agreement. They weren’t talking about missing vacations or big adventures. They meant the simple things—laughing with friends, feeling carefree, enjoying the moment. Fun, for them, had become a distant memory.

And the numbers back this up:

• 1 in 5 Gen Z Canadians say they haven’t felt happy in the past year.

• In 2019, 74% of Gen Z had fun weekly—now it’s just 59%.

We’re losing something fundamental. If youth aren’t happy, engaged, or connected, what kind of workforce, communities, and leadership will we have in 10 years?

It’s time to treat fun, happiness, and social connection as the mental health priorities they truly are.

The Problem: Why Happiness Matters for Mental Health

Schools spend years preparing students for tests, careers, and productivity, but almost no time teaching them how to build fulfilling, connected lives.

Here’s what’s happening:

• Happiness fuels resilience. When kids feel joy, they handle stress better.

• Connection protects against anxiety and depression. Isolation is a breeding ground for mental health struggles.

• Purpose drives motivation. When students find meaning in their lives, they engage more in their future.

Yet, we don’t measure these things. We don’t prioritize them. And as a result, students are burning out before they even enter adulthood.

Where Schools Are Falling Short

A few years ago, we ran a volunteer program for high school students through the How Are You Feeling? course, which focused on emotional intelligence.

At the end of the program, eight young women (ages 14-17) told us it had changed their lives.

They realized how understanding emotions and connection mattered, and they were frustrated their school had never prioritized this. They asked us, “What can we do to help?”

We told them to advocate for change.

So they went to their school administrators, excited to share how much they had learned. They expected enthusiasm. Instead, they got dismissed.

"We already have social-emotional learning programs in place," they were told.

They left that meeting deflated. The school wasn’t interested in listening—not even to the students themselves.

And here’s the kicker: Of the 500 students who took our course, 94% said what they had previously learned about mental and emotional health in school was a waste of time.

Let that sink in. The very kids these programs are meant to help say they don’t work.

A National Imperative: What Needs to Change

This isn’t just about a few schools failing their students. This is a system-wide issue.

So, what do we do?

1. Make Mental Health and Happiness a Core Part of Education

• Schools must integrate emotional health, fun, and social connection into everyday learning.

• This isn’t about adding another course—it’s about embedding mental wellness into school culture.

2. Create a National Certification for School Mental Health

• We need a regulatory body that evaluates and grades emotional and mental health initiatives in high schools.

• Celebrate the schools doing it right and use their successes as models for others.

3. Let Students Lead the Way

• The best way to ensure programs work? Let students help design and grade them.

• If youth don’t find something valuable, it’s not working. Their voices should shape the solutions.

The Future of Canada Depends on This

Mental health isn’t an extra, it’s the foundation of everything.

We can’t afford to ignore it, dismiss students when they tell us what they need, or pretend schools are doing enough when kids themselves say otherwise.

If we don’t take action now, we’re failing not just today’s youth but also Canada’s future.

So, what’s working? What’s not? Let’s start the conversation. Happiness isn’t a luxury. It’s survival.