Suicide is the second leading cause of death in Canada for people between the ages of 10 and 34, and statistics indicate 90% of youth who committed had a diagnosable mental illness. The symptoms of most mental illnesses begin during adolescence and can severely impact how they relate to others, and their development of life skills. Depression, bipolar mood disorder, anxiety disorders, and schizophrenia often start in teenage/young adult years and these are very important years to gain a number of important competencies, which are very important for later years. Poor mental health is strongly related to other health and development concerns in young people, such as causing delays of losing a year in school, lower educational achievements, or getting into self-destructive behaviour, such as substance abuse & violence. If not found early on it could cause them a very hard time in life, holding them back from reaching their full potential and creating the best life for them. If not found, they can not be treated. Failure to properly treat early, can cause a very serious ramification on their later life. But if found and treated, they have larger chances of growing towards their potential, maintain physical health and well-being, better handle lifes ups and downs, make better life decisions and much more.
Teachers are a very large important part of a students life. The way they treat their students greatly affects the students success rate. It will affect how much they want to be in class, how confident they feel about getting engaged & asking questions when they don't know what to do. Say a teacher was impolite to certain students, clearly picked favorites or showing obvious distaste. She/he would have a very low success rate in the students she showed distaste to, and a higher rate in those she chose to show kindness to. This is why I believe that kindness should be mandatory, and all students should be treated the same, even if they aren't doing as well as other students. I also believe the act of HUMILIATION should be completely forgotten in schools. If a student isn't doing well and a teacher realizes so, she/he should not purposely center a student out in front of an entire class. Chances are they are already not feeling amazing about not doing well, and by humiliating them, this may cause them to be afraid to participate or even GO to class. An alternative to this would be to pull aside a students if it was necessary to talk about it. If students feel accepted and somewhat understood by a teacher, they will be more accustomed to asking questions and seeking help when needed, instead of pushing it aside and doing poorly in that class or subject. Schooling is a very important part to life, it not only teaches students subjects, but it also teaches how to socialize, how to cope with people and stress, and if teachers are horrible in the understanding way, it has a possibility of completely ruining the schooling experience. Teachers should be picked carefully because of this large impact.
We need to make schools more cognizant of their peers mental health states. Schools should have mental health taught not only for those who are mentally unhealthy, but for those who surround the mentally unhealthy and everybody else, who are all at a possibility of picking up a MD from everyday things. Teachers as well as students should be taught that those with mental issues are not less important, or MORE important than those without. They should also be taught how to politely act around those who have MD's; these are manners that should be aimed towards those who are and aren't affected by mental health. Those in this class will be taught the respect for each other and themselves, and once this is learned the school as an entire will be a better environment, thus helping students feel more open to reaching out and supported. This not only makes the school environment feel safer and more accepting, but increasing the marks of those scared to ask questions or participate. Through this participation, students will bond with their fellow students reducing feelings of isolation. All of those participating in this class should be taught a positive outlook on themselves, those surrounding them, life, and everything else. They should be taught to be as optimistic as possible, in attempt to keep their minds mentally HAPPY, affecting how mentally healthy they are. This will provide youth with higher self-worth and confidence. In the long run, this could somewhat shape our future society for the better.
I believe that schools around the world should have a mandatory mental health class, starting in grades early as grade one. These classes should hold assessments on students minds and thinking patterns. Teachers and those who are trying to give the students knowledge, do not test to see if there minds are properly fit to with take information, if the information is overloading to a point that concentration is too difficult to bear. This class could put a label of some sort on the type of thinking patterns and the amount of information they can with take so that teachers can keep in mind which students to focus on mainly or classes a person would not be fit for. In a way we have a system to help with information amounts and difficulty (essential, applied, academic) but with a class like this is could be more effective and a student wouldn`t push themselves to hard to be in a higher class than they should be, causing them to over-stress, and not take in information properly. This class should also teach about self worth, self respect, and helping those who are in very poor mental states should be comforted in a sort, by being assured that they are mentally healthy, and if they are not then they can receive the help they need. This class would not only help within classrooms, but would help in the students lives. If the student can build their mental health, they could be confident and could feel better and more secure about their life giving them motivation to continue in times that seem difficult, and strive to be their best.
The choice that was made in my group was to let the scientist live, because he held the most knowledge on the growth of life and could help with the world's regrowth, the army leader to keep the survivors safe or at least give a piece of mind, and the fact that they have survived harsh living positions. The third person picked was the lawyer, for the pure fact that they had to large downfalls, & had talent in debating, which would help with decisions made by the survivors. Mehsheed poled the votes, gaining herself the position closest to leadership within the group. Labeling me as the old lady caused me to have very significant value in the group, because I was more likely to die sooner than the group, & I was not as strong or as fit because of my age. We place value on people by what they have to give & their abilities.
I agree with the results the series of quizzes came up with for me. The quizzes though true, did not really tell me more than I already knew about myself. They showed that I am very introverted and pretty much in my own little world, they show that my own emotion distracts me from being completely rational. These qualities helped one of the quizzes label me as a INTP (Introverted Intuitive Thinking Perceiving) personality type. They showed me that I could make the needed decisions I would need to live on minimum wage with a child. The information I received put me at ease in showing me that many other people have the same personality type.
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Gemma HaggertyCameron Heights Collegiate Institute |