Over the years, I have been writing about misconceptions regarding the schooling process. The purpose of these posts is to explain why I disagree with various comments that I have heard people make about schooling. These are meant as personal thoughts rather than conclusive proof, and I will admit that I'm not always the best at explaining my thoughts. Regardless, I have decided that I should be willing to share these posts when I encounter someone online who makes an argument that I have already discussed.
Supposedly, schools are safe places. We frequently hear this regarding such things as gender and sexuality. Their views on these issues are not even close enough to establish schools as safe spaces. Personally, I considered schooling to be the most unhealthy activity in which I have ever engaged.
When I was in school, my teachers pushed the idea that letting them control our childhoods was vital to our futures. To put this another way, if we didn't let them control our childhoods, they would destroy our futures. This resulted in a culture of fear that was actively promoted by my teachers.
Getting answers wrong could hurt our grades, which could hinder our ability to get into a good college. If we couldn't get into a good college, we wouldn't have good job opportunities. Students developed a fear of being wrong. This fear was not applied exclusively to facts. We were also fearful of developing the wrong beliefs, thoughts, and opinions. Even when we weren't being tested, we didn't want to get on the bad side of authoritarian figures who are boasting about their ability to destroy futures.
Using fear to force the embrace of total control over our lives clearly qualifies as emotional abuse. Emotional abuse can take a serious toll on the mental health of students. Simply put, schools are systematically assaulting the mental health of their students.
One-on-one personal attention can be even worse. This allows teachers to attack an individual's mental health more directly. On multiple occasions, I caught myself instinctively taking deep breaths as a coping mechanism for the abuse I was receiving.
Schools aren't limited to emotional abuse. It has been estimated that one in ten students will be sexually abused by their teachers. This has undeniably become a serious situation.
Studies have shown that suicide rates among school-aged children tend to track the school year. Most of these studies don't try to establish a cause, but I have a hard time believing that the abuse that I have seen isn't a part of it. Mental health can clearly play a role in suicidal actions.
Suicides aren't the only way that mental health can end lives. Some students may resort to drug abuse, which can lead to fatal overdoses. Some students may become more violent. This makes them threats to the lives of others instead of just themselves. When you look at the implications of the mental health crisis being caused by our schools, something should be obvious. Our schools can and occasionally do have lethal consequences.
The bottom line here is that our schools are killing children. By no stretch of the imagination does that qualify as a safe place. I would say the exact opposite. Schools provide an incredibly dangerous environment for children.
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