I noticed that a majority of the posts were limited to the assigned core texts we were given, or something pertaining to technology. I found it very surprising that suicide prevention was not mentioned on the blog at all because this is a topic that will always be relevant, especially to us right now in our teenage years. I drew my inspiration for this post specifically from one summer day when I was out with some friends, and one of my friends mentioned that in her health class they were talking about suicide prevention, which I found to be rather ironic. School teaches us about suicide prevention when school itself often causes teens to be suicidal. According to an article by Amy Tran on the same website where you can find the long reads, one in twenty five kids attempt suicide each year, and one in eight have thoughts of committing suicide. I feel as though while we would prefer to make technology the main culprit for the reason many teens are committing suicide, school also plays a huge factor. I feel as though this group specifically can understand how the stress from all the AP classes, the tests, and the need to succeed and be the best at everything can often cause an immense amount of pressure. All of this pressure causes stress and can even lead some to suicidal thoughts or the feeling like they are burnt out and want to give up.
-Julissa Martinez
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ReplyDeleteI liked that you brought up this topic because it's really important and relevant. I feel like suicide is something happening to often now especially with teens in high school because they start to feel the pressure from parents, teachers, and college. I think a lot of us lose sight of the importance of balance we need to balance school with enjoying life. Our minds and bodies need a break sometimes so we can't constantly be working. I think that when we set that balance we actually do better in school and don't stress too much so we don't think about suicide. I don't even believe that suicide should ever be an option because we're here for a reason and we will make it through all the hurdles thrown our way.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree, suicide is a big problem in teenagers, especially in these past few generations. However, school alone is not the main issue, rather it is the children themselves and sometimes even the parents who cause these terrible acts of self harm. School does not push you to over work yourself and take 4+ AP classes, rather you as the student push yourself to do that and sometimes students push to hard and begin to stress themselves out. This leads to students taking drastic measures to eradicate this stress by taking their own life.
ReplyDeleteSometimes though it is not the students fault, but rather the parents. Parents can often be overbearing without knowing it and push their children into doing things that they are not prepared for. This is ultimately lead to the same thing, the student becomes overly stressed and takes drastic measures to stop the stress.
That is why we as students should pace ourselves in the school environment and try not burn ourselves out of learning or worse. Also, on top of the class is not everything in the world, even if you are going to a four year. Top twenty to thirty sends the same message that you are smart and a hard worker. Lastly, schools should offer a course for parents that tells them of the heavy demands of AP classes and the same course should be administered to those who are new to these types of classes.
I agree that sometimes we do put the pressure on ourselves, but I would also like to respectfully disagree with you when you say that school does not put the pressure on us. School does play a part in our choosing to take advanced classes. Schools are always telling us that in order to be successful we need to get into a good university or college, and to do that we need to take AP classes. In addition to taking AP classes our counselors tell us that we need to be in sports and extra curricular activities to even be noticed by the prestigious universities we may want to attend.
Delete-Julissa Martinez
I agree with what you're saying because I feel like some of the causes of suicide is not just bullying and depression. Schools put a lot of pressure on students and the pressure and expectations they see in us can cause so much stress and so much spiraling thoughts that it's really tiring to deal with. I've seen many posts and jokes about normalizing no sleep, constantly overthinking about tests and accepting being disowned by family that it's harrowing to think how so many people can relate to this and laugh about it. Some kinds only ever fail because they've accepted their mistakes and just gave up as a whole and some kids can't accept those mistakes and just give up on themselves entirely. Yes, a lot of schools and parents expect so much that sometimes kids just can't take the pressure anymore and the thought of just giving up because they can't meet those expectations is the only thing left to do.
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