COVID-19 & Youth Mental Health
Year 3, Week 21 (123 total reports)
31.08.2022-06.09.2022
REVIEW
What is the ultimate goal of education? For many fundamentalist conservatives it is raising children that think exactly like them. What if the goal of education is to raise curious, mindful adults who can develop creative solutions from complex challenges?
This Week’s Top Links
06.09.2022
The teachers who aren’t coming back to school this year
I coached my son’s little league team and like some other dads, I had no idea what I was doing. I knew I was a warm body and they wanted me more for my relationship skills with kids then my astounding insights into America’s favorite pastime. I accepted being recruited (very reticently) because my son was on the team, so I did what a dad does. It was a very long season filled with multiple losses and only a couple of hits. The kids were great sports about it and I still know some of them from all these years. I’ve no doubt you already know where this story is heading. Some of the parents—not all—made the time a nightmare. I already knew how little I knew and how incompetent I was, but those few took every opportunity to remind me of my shortcomings. The research in this article highlights 83 teachers who have quit or were quitting and cite similar reasons for leaving a profession they aspired to all their lives and children they love as their own. It’s the adults. The lack of gratitude, the lack of resources, and increasingly the hostility of school boards. In other articles below you will find teachers who now feel they have to advocate for children getting a balanced education and not just an education that revolves around political or religious ideology.
05.09.2022
I study America’s youth. Here’s what I found
https://bigthink.com/the-well/kids-youth-today/
The subtitle in this article says it all: “Today’s young people are intelligent and kind, but they are overworked and burned out.” We don’t burn out from doing too much—we burn out from doing too much of the same thing, usually with more outputs than inputs in our lives. Many youth today have lost all the enjoyable inputs to their lives that are meaningful. I’m not talking about social media, I’m talking about in-person friendships, participating in activities; hobbies, dances and sports. The chance to explore their inner lives with those that matter—their peers. None of us can sustain a life like that without burnout.
04.09.2022
8 classes that should be required for all students before they hit adulthood
https://www.upworthy.com/8-classes-that-should-be-required-for-all-students-but-arent-rp
The classes listed in this article focus on living the practical side of a healthy life in the community outside of school. Budgeting, working with bureaucracy (we all have to), developing critical relationships; all those things that we tend to think of as parental tasks—but if those practical aspects aren’t taught at home—does that mean youth don’t need them? No! It just means they won’t get them and they are far more likely to falter if they don’t have those skills than if they do. Not every child is going to have to use trigonometry in life, but every child will need to budget and manage their time. Let’s examine creating learning opportunities that focus on practical living. Children are healthier in schools—the pandemic has taught us that—but all too often, education focuses on teaching children to survive in the system of education rather than beyond the structure of the institution.
03.09.2022
The Books That Help Me Raise Children in a Broken World
If the conservatives that call themselves Christians and the political right continue to limit what books are allowed in libraries or school curricula, parents who want to raise mindful children will increasingly need to find books like these. I hope this is a starter list for parents who don’t want to raise stilted, close-minded children.
02.09.2022
Republicans think keeping kids as ignorant as possible is the key to academic excellence
Many fundamentalist conservative thinkers (there’s a contradiction in terms) have long-known that an advanced education raises open-minded human beings. This is one of the reasons that those conservatives are so angry that student debt is being repaid. But what if the goal of education is NOT creating automatons who believe every lie told to them or white-washed versions of history that leave out uncomfortable facts? What if the goal of education is to create a generation capable of thinking, questioning and coming up with their own solutions based upon the best research available?
01.09.2022
Don’t Teach Your Kids to Fear the World
Fear is incapacitating. Children who learn to fear the world feel less capable of making a difference in the world. Yes, we know the world is under a lot of stress today. But we need to model and exemplify realistic hope. A hope based on what-can-be-done in the midst of complex challenges.
31.08.2022
Jackson, Mississippi's Water Crisis Is an Object Lesson in the Cost of Doing Nothing
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a41029015/jackson-mississippi-water-crisis/
I include this article because it is an object lesson in what happens in a leadership void. Mississippi’s infrastructure can be said to be the most inadequate in the United States. It rates as the worst state in all the most critical areas of development. The situation in Jackson highlights that lack of leadership. It wasn’t just a void—it verges on negligence. The State (and City) has received millions of dollars in grants and loans designed to improve infrastructure, instead it used the funds on pet projects of politicians, including over a million dollars paid to Green Bay packer former quarterback, Brett Favre, for speeches never given. Now citizens face miles-long lines waiting to receive bottled water. This is a travesty of leadership and should serve as a civic lesson for generations to come.
This Week’s Links
06.09.2022
The teachers who aren’t coming back to school this year
8 Essential Middle Grade Books About Immigrants
https://bookriot.com/middle-grade-books-about-immigrants/
What ‘Happiness’ Really Means To Your Life, Work, And Wellbeing
These sites offer thousands of free online classes on just about everything
School Mask, Vaccine Mandates Are Mostly Gone. But What if the Virus Comes Back?
Being the only one masked in the office can be hard. A psychiatrist suggests these tips
https://www.inverse.com/mind-body/wearing-a-mask-at-work
Yet Another Curveball in the COVID Mutation Nightmare
An Impassioned Plea from the Mom of an Autistic Kid: Please Include Us in Your Plans
https://www.sheknows.com/parenting/articles/2610008/include-autistic-kids/
Curiosity: The neglected trait that drives success
05.09.2022
I study America’s youth. Here’s what I found
https://bigthink.com/the-well/kids-youth-today/
After Teaching For 11 Years, I Quit My Job. Here's Why Your Child's Teacher Might Be Next.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/teacher-shortage-quit-public-schools_n_630e5a85e4b0dc23bbec8261
How To Survive Suicidal Thoughts, From People Who Have Been There
https://apple.news/ABZMtGYYmToevx8_GyMzSHQ
Dad puts mic on his 4-year-old while snowboarding. Her 'we all fall' song is pure joy.
https://www.upworthy.com/dad-puts-mic-on-four-year-old-snowboard-rp
04.09.2022
8 classes that should be required for all students before they hit adulthood
https://www.upworthy.com/8-classes-that-should-be-required-for-all-students-but-arent-rp
Teachers union boss Randi Weingarten admits educators HAVE become 'social justice warriors' - as she slams Republicans for banning woke books and issues
5 New Books on Finding Peace in Good Times and Bad
https://nextbigideaclub.com/magazine/5-new-books-finding-peace-good-times-bad/35596/
Remote learning might have helped protect teenagers’ sense of community during COVID-19 school closures
How To Deal With People Who Think You're Arguing Every Time You Try To Express Yourself
https://www.yourtango.com/self/people-think-youre-always-arguing
03.09.2022
The Books That Help Me Raise Children in a Broken World
Strengthen Your Mind with Generosity
https://tricycle.org/dailydharma/strengthen-your-mind-with-generosity/
A Kindergarten Teacher's TikTok About Trump Is Breaking The Internet
If Your Kid is Struggling in School, They Aren’t Alone; The Pandemic Erased 2 Decades of Academic Progress
https://www.sheknows.com/parenting/articles/2618902/kids-struggle-school-pandemic/
8 ways to help your kid with their anxiety, according to child mental health experts
https://www.insider.com/guides/parenting/how-to-help-kids-with-anxiety
Brooklyn Public Library Offers All Teens a Free eCard to Access Banned Books
https://mymodernmet.com/brooklyn-public-library-free-ecard/
Florida school board to vote if it’s “age appropriate” for seniors to learn LGBTQ people have rights
Mississippi Officials Gave Millions In Welfare Money To Rich Folks But Ignored Looming Jackson Water Crisis
https://newsone.com/4401023/mississippi-welfare-scandal-water-crisis/
CDC Recommends New Omicron COVID Boosters
https://www.cnet.com/health/medical/cdc-recommends-new-omicron-covid-boosters/
02.09.2022
Republicans think keeping kids as ignorant as possible is the key to academic excellence
From Reopen to Reinvent: (Re)Creating School for Every Child
How to Boost Serotonin, Your Happiness Hormone, Naturally
https://www.prevention.com/health/a40904216/boost-serotonin-naturally/
01.09.2022
Don’t Teach Your Kids to Fear the World
The Psychology Of Defense Mechanisms, Explained By Experts
https://www.mindbodygreen.com/articles/defense-mechanisms
5 Mindset Blocks That Stop You From Learning From Your Mistakes
Math and reading scores plummet on national test, erasing 20 years of progress
https://www.chalkbeat.org/2022/9/1/23331852/math-reading-scores-drop-naep-pandemic
Long COVID: How researchers are zeroing in on the self-targeted immune attacks that may lurk behind it
Everything you need to know about the updated Covid-19 boosters
https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/01/health/covid-omicron-booster-explainer-wellness/
31.08.2022
Jackson, Mississippi's Water Crisis Is an Object Lesson in the Cost of Doing Nothing
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a41029015/jackson-mississippi-water-crisis/
The Relationship Between Dopamine and ADHD
https://www.verywellmind.com/the-relationship-between-dopamine-and-adhd-5267960