MAKE MENTAL HEALTH A CORE CLASS
The Issue
Every single day I try to think about why teenagers find it necessary to bully. Maybe they don’t have a good home life, or it’s due to peer pressure, or they were taught to by parental guidances. And then one day last year, during my freshman year, I had the idea that maybe if teens had some sort of bigger picture on what bullying really does then maybe there would not be as many cases.
If the Education system had a required Mental Health course, we could possibly make a difference- give the students a chance to see that they things they say and do, have causes and that it also has effects. All teens could have an outlet to truly feel like they are not alone. There are many adolescents who have strange feelings, like they are the only ones who feel this way.
Most teenagers with ADHD go undiagnosed because they were educated on the signs, if these kids could be educated on the signs of ADHD, OCD, Autism, Depression, Bipolar, etc. then possibly we would have an increase in student achievement as they would finally have the sources they needed to get diagnosed and put onto medications, therapeutic help, or attention help.
From an article on meganmeierfoundation.org, you can see the statistics that 1 in 5 middle school and high school students have reported being bullied. And students who are bullied are 2 times more likely to commit suicide. In 2020, there were about 1.3 million suicide attempts with the youngest being only 6 years of age, and about 87% of these were due to cyber bullying. If children this day and age were educated on what their actions and words can do to others and what they can be caused by then maybe the suicide rate in our society would not be as prominent.
I am only 16, I graduate in two years and soon it won’t be my problem. That is until I have children, and I’m scared to let them go to public or private schools because there’s always a chance no matter what I teach them as a parent, that one day they will come home asking me if they are fat, or ugly. Or if they come home with bruises they didn’t leave with. Or I will notice them skipping meals or walk in on them hurting themselves. No parent should ever have to witness this deterioration and yet so many already have. It has to stop.
I am asking you to sign this petition because the suicide rate among children is sky rocketing every single day. Thank you so much for reading, I hope that you will help me try to make this world a better and safer place. Especially for our children.
(art credit: Ryan Johnson)
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The Issue
Every single day I try to think about why teenagers find it necessary to bully. Maybe they don’t have a good home life, or it’s due to peer pressure, or they were taught to by parental guidances. And then one day last year, during my freshman year, I had the idea that maybe if teens had some sort of bigger picture on what bullying really does then maybe there would not be as many cases.
If the Education system had a required Mental Health course, we could possibly make a difference- give the students a chance to see that they things they say and do, have causes and that it also has effects. All teens could have an outlet to truly feel like they are not alone. There are many adolescents who have strange feelings, like they are the only ones who feel this way.
Most teenagers with ADHD go undiagnosed because they were educated on the signs, if these kids could be educated on the signs of ADHD, OCD, Autism, Depression, Bipolar, etc. then possibly we would have an increase in student achievement as they would finally have the sources they needed to get diagnosed and put onto medications, therapeutic help, or attention help.
From an article on meganmeierfoundation.org, you can see the statistics that 1 in 5 middle school and high school students have reported being bullied. And students who are bullied are 2 times more likely to commit suicide. In 2020, there were about 1.3 million suicide attempts with the youngest being only 6 years of age, and about 87% of these were due to cyber bullying. If children this day and age were educated on what their actions and words can do to others and what they can be caused by then maybe the suicide rate in our society would not be as prominent.
I am only 16, I graduate in two years and soon it won’t be my problem. That is until I have children, and I’m scared to let them go to public or private schools because there’s always a chance no matter what I teach them as a parent, that one day they will come home asking me if they are fat, or ugly. Or if they come home with bruises they didn’t leave with. Or I will notice them skipping meals or walk in on them hurting themselves. No parent should ever have to witness this deterioration and yet so many already have. It has to stop.
I am asking you to sign this petition because the suicide rate among children is sky rocketing every single day. Thank you so much for reading, I hope that you will help me try to make this world a better and safer place. Especially for our children.
(art credit: Ryan Johnson)
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Petition created on April 14, 2023