“Character education programs teach children how to listen to their sixth sense. These programs teach life skills — they teach our youth how to love themselves and, equally important, how to care for others.”— Pam McNall, CEO and founder of Respectful Ways.
Over the last few years, I have had the privilege of being a volunteer mentor to Pam McNall. The experience has been worthwhile for both of us. We both have learned a lot.
I have numerous public school teachers in my family. They are not in this occupation for the money or because it is easy. It is not. All are very dedicated and motivated to help school children. However, some are finding it to be more difficult than when they began their careers. And, in this age of cellphones and the internet, McNall has taught me a tremendous amount about why our school kids are having such difficult behavioral problems.
They attach their self-worth to social media likes and comments — and spend up to 10 hours a day online. Science has proven that this level of brain imbalance can have lasting effects — physically, mentally and emotionally. Student mental health, anxiety and depression are at an all-time high in U.S. schools. But prioritizing trauma-informed care is not happening. In fact, the number of behavioral specialists and counselors available for hire in public schools is below recommended levels. The question remains: Where are students to turn if they don’t have the emotional help they need nor programs available like Respectful Ways?
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
According to Sen. Emanuel Jones, D-Decatur, “Georgia has the eighth highest rate of unintentional shootings by children in the United States.” That disturbing situation is not something we Georgians want to discuss, but we must. Jones has introduced a bill to address the problem via both mental health measures and reasonable gun control, such as safe arms storage. On the other side of the isle, House Speaker Jon Burns, R-Newington, has introduced a school safety bill, pushing the law enforcement end and establishing a student mental health database.
Our society must do something meaningful about school violence at the source now, not later. By teaching life skills and social skills, we can intercept a tragic situation before it evolves into a shooting. Otherwise, we should all be afraid for current and future generations of America’s students. It is clearly a nonpartisan issue.
We need our youth to recognize when something just isn’t quite right. However, listening to your intuition takes practice for young people. It takes reasonable social skills, plus emotional intelligence, to accomplish that aim.
A student’s brain is like a muscle; it must be exercised or it will deteriorate. If we don’t teach our girls and boys how to empathize with others, they will never develop — or will lose — that precious ability. We do not need kids pulling out their cellphones to record a school fight. Instead, our children should know that they must do something about it. Because they understand that it’s morally wrong to stand by and simply do nothing.
Families and religious institutions can help us to obtain this goal. But they cannot do it alone. As McNall stated, a significant part of the solution lies in establishing student well-being programs at our schools. We must fix this problem at the source through character education and teaching emotional intelligence at our schools, which will make all the difference in the world to that struggling kid thinking about bringing a gun to school.
Jack Bernard, a retired business executive and former chair of the Jasper County Commission and Republican Party, was the first director of health planning for Georgia.
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