I have strong convictions about the division of groups in our society, racial and religious tensions and the seemingly
lowered level of moral conduct between people in general. Our young people especially, need more of a sense of purpose
and direction in their personal lives and too often lack the training to have good principles to guide them to make more
moral and positive choices.
Character development, coping and interpersonal skills, learning healthy and productive attitudes towards life or in essence -
mental health, used to be taught in the home and in the pews of churches, synagogues or mosques but nowadays due to the
lessening of religion as an influence and less intact homes, these lessons are not being taught as much.
We are all aware of problems in society but especially among our youth, such as drug abuse, destructive sexual activity, high drop out rate,
violence and bullying, low self esteem which too often results in suicides and the rash of horrible school or gang shootings.
Therefore, The following character traits should be taught in all schools for grades k thru 12:

1) Honesty

2) Humility

3) Kindness

4) Respect

5) Gratitude

6) Tolerance

7) Compassion

8) Responsibility

9) Persistance

10) Loyalty

The manner in which such education can be administered, in my opinion, should be in the form of weekly class discussions
in which all children are invited but not forced to participate. Teachers with additional training on how to run a group discussion
that deals with this subject matter would require more training and more pay. Such class discussions would facilitate healthy
attitudes towards learning academic subjects as well. As it is said, healthy body healthy mind. That is the justification for mandated
physical education in schools and I would add - healthy emotional mind healthy cognitive mind. That should be the justification
for mandating mental health education. This form of health education would be much more comprehensive than what is taught now
in classes regarding sex education, mental hygiene or anti bullying.
It is a well known phenomenon that ethnic and racial groups
in this day and age still self segregate in schools and society at large. By having children get to know each other on an emotional
level from these group discussions from a very early age, our schools and eventually the graduates of these schools, will build truly
understanding and integrated societies.