Warning: This article may contain a form of triggering content and will discuss main events from the show.
Even though it may appear as though the initial hype about the controversial show, “13 Reasons Why," is over, I recently just finished the series. Despite the show focusing on the deteriorating mental health of the main character, Hannah Baker, and its impact on other characters, her depressing story reveals major issues that plague society indirectly related to mental health.
The show highlights how society’s position on sexuality, bullying, politics, economic state and pressure to succeed all play a critical role in her death. It is arguable which character’s should have received a tape due to the fact that many characters have either a clear intent to destroy the self-esteem and persona of Hannah Baker (i.e Bryce Walker, Marcus) or unfortunately become engulfed in specific events (i.e Sheri, Ryan Shaver). However, what is not arguable is the disgusting but accurate portrayal of the American public school system.
Coming from someone who has now been out of high school for officially a year, I can honestly say high school is probably a mixture of the best time period of my life versus the absolute worst. Most of my major successes occurred while I was in high school (i.e getting into my dream college, having good grades, etc.), however, my mental health suffered deeply due to my own internal battle with my sexuality.
Now that I am in college, high school looks like a hell hole compared to my college experience thus far. In my opinion, the show accurately represents the American public school system because it reveals the irresponsibility of counseling services (or lack thereof), and the hierarchy that schools claim not to have.
Where do I begin with the irresponsible actions of the “counselor,” Mr. Porter? Out of all characters, I believe he needs to take a majority of the blame for Hannah’s death.
I understand the idea of human error. I understand that the conversation portrayed in the show did not necessarily mean that Hannah would go home that day and slit her wrists in a suicide attempt. However, there were clear signs of suicidal thoughts, depression, anxiety, and overall lack of will to live that Hannah expresses to him. It was his job to address these emotions and provide her with tools to overcome or cope with them. Unfortunately, he refuses to dig deeper and does not provide her with the services she needed. I understand that legally he himself could not continue to pursue the case about the supposed rape. However, if I learned anything from college orientation, all potential rape cases need to be turned over to the proper authorities to investigate it.
Clearly, Mr. Porter does not do this. Not only does he not provide Hannah with options to address her mental health, he overall fails her, adding just another reason why she feels that she should not continue to live. This irresponsibility of counseling services in the American public school system is prevalent all around the country. From my experience, the guidance counselors in my school hide in their office barely took the initiative to meet us, never discussed mental health, and did the bare minimum to help with the college process. For most students, this is the only form of support they receive, and these so-called “guidance counselors” continuously fail their students, like Mr. Porter did, due to their irresponsibility and lack of will to help.
Another accurate representation portrayed in the show is the hierarchy that dominates the American public school system. Even though at times the show over exaggerates the specific characters in the hierarchy, the concepts behind it were accurate. The show correctly portrays the selfish character of students who are solely participating in school events to get into college, Marcus and Courtney for example, the self-absorbed students who peaked in high school and will go on to make poor decisions, also known as Bryce Walker, and lastly the “outcasts.”
The outcasts in the show have a mixture of students who fall into the wrong hands and others who in my opinion should not have received blame for Hannah’s death. In my opinion, Alex would be included in this group of outcasts due to his physical appearance, Clay due to his ability to look past the drama of high school, Ryan because he finds his niche in writing, Tony because his sexuality makes him come off as mysterious and Tyler for his suspicious use of photography.
All the cliques, bullying, and disgusting behavior of students can be found in the American public school system. From my personal experience, my high school was clearly separated based off of which “group” you were in. However, I was lucky in the sense that yes, a lot of bullying did occur, but it was not as physically based as seen in the show. This does not mean that this is the case for everyone. Once again, I was one of the lucky ones.
The bottom line is that the public school system does absolutely nothing to attempt to remove these cliques and harvest a society based off of diversity, acceptance, and inclusion. I hate to break it to you Principal ******, bringing in a speaker to talk about bullying is a sad and poor attempt to take care of the issues that I know are still relevant in my high school. Now that I am on to bigger and better places, I cannot help but put a majority of the blame on the administration of my high school for the bullying and lack of success that students have after graduating that god-forsaken place.
Overall, I think “13 Reasons Why” not only brings awareness to the mental anguish that is caused by high school and outside factors but also should be used as an accurate example of why the administration of the American public school system needs to be fixed. Clearly, there are issues that plague high school systems across the nation and from my experience, principals and counseling services put in a pathetic amount of effort to “combat” these issues.
