SCHOOLS CAN SAVE LIVES

I believe there are SO many contributing factors as to why we see so many tragic events take place...not just in schools, but in movie theaters, in homes...in plain sight. Rather than pointing fingers or raising concerns about things such as gun laws, I rather talk about A SOLUTION. After giving it thought each time we have a traumatic shooting massacre in our country or teenage suicide, I believe that schools are one of the biggest solutions to the problems - schools can save lives!

Times change, people change, customs changes, and therefore, we need to change with them. Growing up, not every mom worked. Today, a majority of households have two working parents. A majority of households have only one parent. Perhaps there are even numbers of households that do not have a set standard of values that our parents once held. Perhaps some parents do not have the means to parent. Perhaps a single mom has to work nights to save her family's home and feed her children. Time for parenting is lost.

Teachers are incredible human beings. They dedicate their lives to grow children. I have the pleasure of knowing some of the greatest teachers who have hearts of gold and caring souls! What I've learned is that when you sign up to be a teacher, you are not signing up just to teach a class, but to nurture children. YOU become the part-time mom and dad to an entire classroom. Some of the children may not require this luxury, but often times, a lot of them do. So, with that, I hope that all teachers embrace that position and realize that yes, they are ARE making differences in the lives of children and teenagers...and they need to keep in mind that what they do can effect their lives greatly!

Now I don't know about you, but I remember dreading having to be pulled out of class one by one to go to the nurse for hearing tests, eye exams, and that once a year "wear-a-bathing-suit-to-school-day" so that spines could be checked for Scoliosis. Sure, these are all part of a child's development and it's wonderful to have these or have had these exams take place in the school. What I never seen implemented though was a mental exam. Granted, there are guidance counselors available and I commend them, but I believe that in the year 2012 going on 2013, we need more than just guidance counselors in our schools who are available to reach out to. I believe that there must be laws in tact where there are certified psychologists who DO pull ALL children out of class one by one at least a few times a year to assess them mentally and check in to their MENTAL development as well as their physical development. I'm not just talking about elementary schools, but middle schools, and most importantly high schools! I DO believe that teachers should be trained to look for particular behaviors of certain "brain" diseases - things like depression, anxiety, aspergers, autism, personality disorder, bipolar disorder, and so forth! Teachers should be paid more money for including that in to their list of daily duties, but that's a discussion for another time. I'm sure though, that it's not too difficult to have a teacher compile a list of the children in his or her classroom and possibly help to identify some patterns and behaviors that they see in their children which can serve as a guide to aid a psychologist who can then assess the children. Things like this NEED to be done!

What angers me are articles I read AFTER tragedies occur when gunmen or murderers are remembered as "the weird kid", "the quiet kid", "the kid who didn't have many friends", "the shy kid", "the troubled kid". My question is...if you are able to "label" them now...why couldn't you HELP them back then? 

Maybe there are plain evil people in the world, but I also believe that a lot of  this so called "evil" often stems from a disorder in the brain or the way a child's life was molded. I wonder over and over again why more is not done to bring awareness to mental illness, why more research is not done, why we disregard mental illness instead of helping those suffering from it. I think a lot of it is due to the stigma mental illness carries. Mental Illness should not carry a stigma! It is a DISEASE just like diabetes is a disease. One cannot help that they have a problem. One should be treated for their illness. You wouldn't take a kid who has diabetes and constantly put candy in front of him, would you? What if you didn't know he had diabetes and you kept handing him candy? Wouldn't you want to know NOT to feed the child sugar? Wouldn't you want knowledge on how to help care for this child? Wouldn't you want to help this child before it was too late? Why is that child with diabetes different than a child with a mental disorder? Wouldn't you want to identify a disease that an innocent child has? Wouldn't you want knowledge on how to help care for this child? Wouldn't you want to help this child before it was too late?

Open your eyes, world! Take the stigma away from Mental Illness! Help treat it and defeat it so that those children do not grow up to take lives...including their own. Help to treat it so that these problems are not masked or that these sufferers do not self-medicate with alcohol and drugs. I know that I personally would have trouble sleeping at night knowing that a young adult suffered years of torture in his or her mind that could have been treated if someone just spoke up and got them some help. Put the help IN schools. Do not leave it up to the parents. Parents have a hard time coming to terms that their children may have a stigmatized "problem". Parents rather run from that than help their child because it is not of the norm. But yes, it has become of the norm!

Children are always the future and the future depends on how they are taught and cared for. Schools are where children spend most of their lives, so why not let the schools save lives?!