Shona Swartz
English II – B4
Ms. McKoy
11 September 2013
A
Silent Epidemic: Schools and Self Harming Students
Mary Hillery
claims, “You can't just tell someone who self-injures to stop –
it is not that easy.” How could ending self harm be so difficult?
Many people that have never encountered self mutilation do not
understand the struggles that may happen during or after harming
their bodies. I believe that students should be more aware of self
harm, but others may think differently. Some have an idea that if
students learn more about self mutilation, then they will want to try
it out or think it will solve their problems. However, if you are to
make people aware of the dangers self harm causes, then they will try
to stay away from it, and adults could be able to read the signs from
a child who does self harm. I want students to be aware of this
silent epidemic because I know many people that have gone through
self harm, and even the happiest looking people have their secrets.
Schools should
create awareness about self harm. The article, “Deliberate self
harm in adolescents: self report survey in schools in England”,
states, “Deliberate self harm was more common in females than it
was in males. In females the factors included in a multivariate
logistic regression for deliberate self harm were recent self harm by
friends, self harm by family members, drug misuse, depression,
anxiety, impulsivity, and low self esteem” (DSHA1). Self harm
impacts students in school because in many PE classes they are forced
to wear short sleeves, therefore, it would reveal their personal
secret to other students. That may cause bullying, resulting in more
self harm. Self harming students could have difficulty keeping up
their grades because of stress or pressure. The quote shows that many
experiences can cause somebody to harm their own body, meaning
schools should not ignore the possibilities of a child self harming.
Many students have no clue of self injury policies that are in place
for schools, or in fact if there are any at all. This information is
important because it lets readers know why some people might start
self mutilating. It also says that female self injuries are more
common, but it should not be forgotten that males self harm as well.
I want to research
more on self harm awareness in schools because there are several
teenagers who are dealing with self injuries that want help, but are
not sure how the schools can or will handle it. Should schools have
assemblies to create awareness about self harm? One perspective is
that schools should hold assemblies to create awareness about self
harm to decrease the amount of self harming students. Others would
disagree because they believe that telling young adolescents about
self harm will cause them to want to test it out. This may be true in
some cases, but I think if the school's employees are well trained
and taught about self mutilation and the protocols on self harm, then
there could be a less amount of teenagers who harm themselves.
Work
Cited
“Deliberate
self harm in adolescents: self report survey in schools in England.”
bmj.com.
23 Nov. 2013. BMJ. Web. 29 Aug. 2013.
<http://www.bmj.com/content/325/7374/1207>.
Hillery, Mary.
“Self-Injury - a short guide for Schools and Teachers Including how
to write a self-injury policy.” Scar-tissue. 2007.
LifeSIGNS. Web. 29 Aug. 2013.
<http://www.scar- tissue.net/schoolsipolicy.pdf>.
