District must do more for mental health
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s a person who has been dealing with mental health for almost as long as I can remember, I feel very strongly that the district as a whole should be doing more to support its AMELIA HAVILL students. Even starting at the elementary school level, the district can and should be instituting a curriculum regarding mental health, which can be as basic as a counselor spending a day with each class, doing activities as simple as having students turn to the person to their left and sharing something they like about that person, or talking about the importance of going to an adult when
they feel sad. If the schools had been doing something like this when I was in elementary school, I know that I could have been saved from a lot of pain and suffering, and hope that, by instituting a similar policy, the district can prevent other students from going through what I went through. At the middle school, students take a sex-ed course, and two courses about substance abuse. Yet there are no courses on mental health. If the school finds that middle schoolers are mature enough to discuss topics like sex and drugs, why shouldn’t they be taught about their own mental health? After all, mental health is something they will most likely experience long before they start having sexual intercourse.
In both the middle and high schools, students are encouraged to go talk to a counselor if they are experiencing symptoms of depression, but many find it embarrassing and don’t go. Even with the new social worker, which is a huge step forward, the lack of education regarding mental health leaves many students with the idea that having issues with their mental health is the result of something being "wrong" with them, when, in reality, it just proves them to be a person. If the schools just started talking more openly about mental health, they could save many of the children from a lot of suffering, especially by starting at an early age.
doesn’t mean that black lives don’t matter anymore. We shouldn’t go silent, if anything, now is the time to speak up and demand a change. Now is the time to get loud about the matter. Everyone has gone silent, we should get loud. People who tend to go against the BLM movement, often make erroneous arguments that I would like to address. “All Lives Matter.” All lives can’t matter until there is justice for all lives. All lives still matter, but not all lives are facing adversity right now. If a house was on fire and the firefighters showed up to put it out, they aren’t going to spray every house in the neighborhood with water because “all houses matter,” they are only going to hose down the house that is on fire with water because that is the house that needs help at the moment. Black people need help at the moment. “Blue Lives Matter.” You can choose your occupation. You can’t choose the color of your skin. Cops decide that they want to be cops. Black people can’t decide that they want to be black. Cops signed up for their job and they are expected to do it right. If they don’t do it right, lives are lost and that is on them. “They were a bad person anyways.” Bad person or not, they didn’t deserve to die. Police shouldn’t kill people even if they are bad. They should just arrest them without using excessive force, their
lives still matter. Just because they have done wrong in the community doesn’t mean that they should be punished by death. No one deserves to die by the hands of the people who are supposed to protect us. We should feel safe to go to the cops even if we have done wrong. They should help us not hurt us. “I don’t see color.” We want to be seen and we want to be heard. Just because you don’t see color doesn’t mean that others don’t see color. It doesn’t mean that it is not there. We tend to embrace our race and culture, all we want is to feel safe while doing so. Just because there is an increase in black on black crime rates, doesn’t mean that police can kill black people. That isn’t going to stop the crime rate and it isn’t solving anything. If anything, it is causing more problems. No justice for black people should feel like an injustice to all people. No justice for black people IS an injustice to all people. White people standing up for black people doesn’t make them weak, pathetic, hypocritical or racist. It makes them strong, courageous and brave. It shows that they are recognizing the injustice in our community and they are wanting to do something about it. They want to make a difference. You should, too.
Don’t forget that black lives still matter
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attended a BLM protest where I walked around my community in Maryland and passed the courthouse and police station. It was very moving for me ALYSHA WALLACE because I could feel how serious everyone was about wanting change. I could feel how strong the emotions were. People were crying out for change to our police station. They were chanting demands for justice on behalf of all black people. The cool thing was that, not everyone there was black. There were white people, Asian people, Latinos and so many more. People of all races came together for the sake of black people. For the sake of our society and community as a whole. For the sake of our future. Students should be more involved in the BLM movement in the community to stop police brutality against black people by using their voice and taking a stand. Being a police officer is a choice, but being a person of color is not a choice. The movement is a great opportunity for people to stand up for what THEY believe in and NOT what society tells them they should believe in. Just because BLM isn’t trending anymore
OPINION BLUEPRINTS
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