MA school implements course on "how to be happy"

[Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Bodies for Biden]

A school in Massachusetts recently adopted it, but I only found out through local news. So pardon the date of the article.

Laurie Santos wants to help teenagers, and the rest of the world, feel happier.

Santos, the psychology professor behind Yale University’s most popular course, recently launched a free six-week version of the class aimed at teenagers, called “The Science of Well-Being for Teens.” It was developed to address rising rates of anxiety, depression and suicide rates for kids between ninth and 12th grade, Santos says.

Lesson No. 1, she preaches in one of the course’s pre-recorded lectures: Our brains lie to us about what makes us happy.

“For adults, this may mean pursuing money or success at work, and for teens this might mean focusing on the perfect grades and getting into the best colleges,” Santos tells CNBC Make It. “The problem isn’t that we’re not putting work into feeling better — it’s that we’re doing the wrong things, prioritizing the wrong behaviors.”

Instead of focusing on reaching a financial milestone or perfect GPA, aim to program your brain with thoughts and behaviors that make you feel better, Santos recommends. Regularly connecting with friends, taking care of your health and learning how to accept negative emotions all contribute more significantly to your wellbeing than having the right job, car or relationships, she adds in a course lecture.

[...]

There’s also a negative correlation between high GPAs and self-esteem, Santos notes, citing research from author Alfie Kohn’s book “Punished by Rewards.” A separate 1998 University of Clemson meta-analysis found something similar: There’s almost no correlation at all between high GPAs and salary growth over the duration of your career.

Put together, the message is clear, Santos says. Students with the highest grades are often less happy — and happiness a better indicator of success than quantitative measures like grades.

[...]

A 2001 study published by the American Psychological Association spent a decade analyzing Catholic nuns, who were between the ages of 75 and 102 when the study began in 1991. Of the 678 nuns who participated in the study, 180 provided journals they’d written between the ages of 18 and 32, and researchers found that those who’d recorded positive feelings early in life and throughout the study lived longer.

Out of the happiest quarter of nuns, 90% lived to be 85 years or older, researchers found.

CNBC

Before someone panics about "coddling": these are the types of mental health initiatives that can help prevent a school shooting. They're not taking everybody's guns.

[Del Tachi]

Based.  I love this. 

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Fascinating stuff.

[jojoju1998]

Covid really cratered Kids.

[Ragnaroni]

Be happy or else!

Reading this, maybe make this an elective or even mandatory (I'm sure you can remove something). Maybe offer consel if someone needs it?

[Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Bodies for Biden]

Be happy or else!

Reading this, maybe make this an elective or even mandatory (I'm sure you can remove something). Maybe offer consel if someone needs it?

I mean, who actually desires to be anything but happy?

Also, the studies cited in this article are really fascinating. I wanted to make a point about the religiously devout, namely nuns, being happier and living longer, but this isn't the religion board.

Plus I worked my ass off all through high school. I made high honors seven out of eight semesters, while receiving special ed services which a lot of people don't think is possible. A hand-up can go a long way. But it still wasn't enough, I couldn't get to the top schools, then I realized that I'm better suited for small colleges anyway (or online). But I was rarely happy in school, constantly under pressure from myself. And that left a lasting impact. So I'm really not surprised that kids with higher GPAs are more likely to be unhappy.

[Born to Slay. Forced to Work.]

At CU Boulder there’s like a science of happiness class or whatever similar to this and the person I know who took it says it made her the most miserable of any class ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Meclazine for Israel]

Once I get my $18M reparations from the lefties in California, I am moving to MA.

Enrolled.

[Fuzzy Bear]

Be happy or else!

Reading this, maybe make this an elective or even mandatory (I'm sure you can remove something). Maybe offer consel if someone needs it?

I mean, who actually desires to be anything but happy?

Presumably no one.  One of the signs of impending relapse in addicts and alcoholics who have achieved some remission is the "Immature wish to be happy".  They have no idea what would make them happy and know only that drugs, at a minimum, reduces the intensity of their emotional pain.

This is probably a good idea. 

[DaleCooper]

At CU Boulder there’s like a science of happiness class or whatever similar to this and the person I know who took it says it made her the most miserable of any class ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

That sounds like a dreadful psychology course. From the description, this basically sounds like a class that teaches students basic social and life skills, which they desperately need. Kind of depressing to say this on Mother's Day, lol, but clearly American parents are failing their children terribly, so if it takes a class in school to force them to be social, make friends, be healthy and respond to negative feelings the way a normal person would, then that's just what we'll have to do.

[Pheurton Skeurto]

Here's how to be happy:
Catch the football, win the game
Pass the test, grab diploma
Hug mom, feel empty

Put your passion on hold
Find a cheerleader, fall in love
Sign the paper, buy the house
Fix the tie into a noose
Tie the noose

Show me someone who's got life figured out
You're either full of ignorance, or full of doubt
The difference between me and all my friends:
They've got time to waste; I've got time to spend
And I spent it all on you

Here's how to be happy:
Grow your hair out, quit your job
Fight your boss, crash your car
Dump your girlfriend, get evicted
Play some riffs, smoke a cigarette
Drink a beer, listen to Black Flag
Smile through it, and laugh through it
And smile through it, and laugh through it

[HillGoose]

imagine being able to believe that happiness is a real thing

life is not about being happy, it is about doing ur duty

[Hermit For Peace]

imagine being able to believe that happiness is a real thing

life is not about being happy, it is about doing ur duty

I don't know about duty. When I became of marriage age a woman's duty to her husband was pretty outrageous. Housewives duty was to wait on their husband and their children hand and foot. Cook meals, do the ironing, clean the house, get the groceries, wear pearls around their neck and be ready to jump in the sack when hubby came home. It was your duty to service your husband when he wanted it.

No, I'd rather be happy.