Nov 10, 2018, Annapolis (MD) Capital Gazette: Melissa Ellis: How Anne Arundel schools can help prevent future mass shootings https://www.capitalgazette.com/opinion/our_say/ac-ce-column-ellis-20181109-story.html Melissa Ellis is the Anne Arundel County Board of Education member: …What if we made improvements in our society that would reverse the trend we see in America’s youth of increasing incidents of anxiety, depression, substance abuse and violent behavior? An individual who is fulfilled in life, who has meaningful relationships, who has purpose, will likely never be the next mass shooter. I believe that if our goal with education was to develop individuals rather than to teach kids to perform academic tasks according to the latest, ever-changing standards, the result would be students who are academically successful and socially and emotionally developed and prepared for adulthood. If we were more focused on developing the mind than having students jump through academic hoops, we would create experiences in school that allow students to grow socially and emotionally as well as intellectually….
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Childhood Lost
Children today are noticeably different from previous generations, and the proof is in the news coverage we see every day. This site shows you what’s happening in schools around the world. Children are increasingly disabled and chronically ill, and the education system has to accommodate them. Things we've long associated with autism, like sensory issues, repetitive behaviors, anxiety and lack of social skills, are now problems affecting mainstream students. Blame is predictably placed on bad parenting (otherwise known as trauma from home).
Addressing mental health needs is as important as academics for modern educators. This is an unrecognized disaster. The stories here are about children who can’t learn or behave like children have always been expected to. What childhood has become is a chilling portent for the future of mankind.
Anne Dachel, Media editor, Age of Autism
http://www.ageofautism.com/media/
(John Dachel, Tech. assist.)
What will happen in another 4 years? How can we go on like this? This is a national (and international) problem of monumental proportions. We have an entire new class of children who cannot be accommodated by the system: many are manifestly neurologically impaired. Meanwhile, the government and the medical profession sleep on regardless.
John Stone,
UK media editor, Age of Autism
The generation of American children born after 1990 are arguably the sickest generation in the history of our country.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
It seemed to me that with rising autism prevalence, you’d also see rising autism costs to society, and it turns out, the costs are catastrophic.
They calculated that in 2015 autism cost the United States $268 billion and they projected that if autism continues at its current rate, we’re looking at one trillion dollars a year in autism costs by 2025, so within five years.
Toby Rogers, PhD, Political economist
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