Education Week: "One in 12 high school students have attempted suicide" …

Mar 4, 2018, Education Week: No Place for Social-Emotional Learning In Schools? Are You Sure? http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/finding_common_ground/2018/03/no_place_for_social-emotional_learning_in_schools_are_you_sure.html Back in early January, I wrote a commentary for Education Week (read it here) that focused on ways that those of us who care about SEL can get critics to understand why it's important that schools focus on SEL. If you read the blog, and scrolled down to the comments, you saw that I did not win everyone over. I actually had some people e-mail me to send support because they were appalled by the comments. Unfortunately, I was not surprised by those comments. I was actually expecting them because I have heard those same arguments before. Unfortunately for the naysayers, they don't understand what schools are actually experiencing with their student populations. To the naysayers I ask, "If schools could just focus on academics, don't you think they would?" Given the fact that they have standards and curriculum that they are struggling to find the time during the day to cover, don't you think that they would prefer that all students come to school healthy and ready to learn? Let's begin with some staggering statistics from the American Psychiatric Association, National Institute of Mental Health, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. • 1 in 4 people are diagnosed with mental illness over the course of a year in the U.S. • Half of all chronic mental health conditions begin by age 14. • Half of all lifetime cases of anxiety disorders begin as early as age 8. • More than 60 percent of young adults with a mental illness were unable to complete high school • Young people ages 16-24 with mental illness are four times less likely to be involved in gainful activities, like employment, college or trade school. • Those with a psychiatric disability are three times more likely to be involved in criminal justice activities. • Each year, 157,000 children and young adults, ages 10-24, are treated at emergency departments for self-inflicted injuries. • One in 12 high school students have attempted suicide. …