Developing World Class Schools and Graduates
Franklin was interviewed on Eye on New Mexico on Sunday discussing a number of topics dealing with bullying, dropout prevention and connection with increasing graduation rates. They have posted the 1/2 hour interview on
https://www.kob.com/article/stories/S2726022.shtml?cat=500
Franklin Schargel
Schargel Consulting Group
www.schargel.com
505/823-2339
Russian teen suicide rates are the third highest in the world drawing comments from the Russian president, Mr. Medvedev.
Over 24 hours starting on April 9, there were at least six deaths. A girl, 16, jumped from an unfinished hospital in Siberia, while five others hanged themselves: a boy, 15, who died in the city of Perm two days after his mother found him hanging; another 15-year-old, who killed himself on his birthday, in Nizhny Novgorod, a city on the Volga River; teenagers in the northern city of Lomonosov and in Samara; and a 16-year-old murder suspect who used his prison bed sheet to kill himself in Krasnoyarsk.
There have been at least 10 more cases, including a boy, 11, found hanging under the roof of his house in Krasnodar.
Though growing prosperity has tamed Russia’s high rate of adult suicides, the rate of teenage suicides remains three times the world average. Experts blame alcoholism, family dysfunction and other kinds of fallout from the Soviet Union’s collapse, as well as the absence of a mental health structure and social support networks to help troubled young people.
A report by the United Nations Children’s Fund released late last year said Russia, with 143 million people, ranked third in the world in per capita teenage suicides, trailing two other former Soviet republics, Kazakhstan and Belarus. Around the world, an average of 7 out of every 100,000 teenagers commit suicide every year. In Russia, that number is 22 per 100,000, and in two regions, Tuva and Chukotka, more than 100 per 100,000. Yearly, more than 1,700 Russians between 15 and 19 take their lives, according to the report.Under Russian law, every school must have at least one psychologist on staff, and there is a national telephone hot line for people to call if they are having suicidal thoughts. But beyond those measures, little effort has been made to address the problem at the federal level.
In February, Pavel Astakhov, Russia’s children’s rights ombudsman, called the situation “catastrophic.”
Mr. Khlomov said Russian parents and teachers all too often dismiss teenagers when they express suicidal thoughts, treating such talk not as a cry for help, but as an attempt at manipulation. This further isolates young people, he said, reinforcing the conviction that no one will ever understand the way they feel.
The death of one person by suicide is tragic. It is worse when young people commit suicide, especially when they have most of their lives ahead of them. Suicide is the 3rd leading cause of teenage death in the states. I have written an article dealing with how schools can prevent suicide which you will find in the “Resources” section of this website. If suicide is a problem or potential problem in your school/district, search this website for an article that I have written on preventing suicide.
Franklin will appear on Eye on New Mexico, KOB-TV this Sunday, August 12, 2012 right after the Olympics at 4:30PM. He will be discussing educational reform as well as his latest book, “Preventing School Violence: A Guide for Educators, Parents and Students”.
Residents of New Mexico and Northern Texas can receive the show as it is being broadcast. The show will be archived and readers of this website will receive notice as to where and when as soon as it is available.
The Detroit Free Press reported that a 7-year-old hanged himself. His 14-year-old sister discovered the body. The mother reported that her son was depressed because other students were bullying him at his school as well as the recent family separation. This death follows the death of a 6-year-old in 2010 in the state of Oregon. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control reported (in 2009) that 265 children between the ages of 5 to 14 had committed suicide. In December 2011, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder signed anti-bullying legislation. In Illinois, the legislature voted down an anti-bullying law because the legislators claimed that this curriculum “can lead to homosexuality”.
This report clearly indicates that children of all ages need to be taught, both by parents and schools, that bullying is not OK. Also when a child is depressed or talks about suicide, whatever the cause(s), everyone must take it seriously. I suggest that educators check this website for a discussion on what parents and schools can do to prevent suicide.
The Census Bureau has released data that for the first time in U.S. history more than half of all babies born last year were members of minority groups. Hispanics, blacks, Asians and othr minorities in 2011 accounted for 50.4% of births, 49.7% of all children under 5 and slightly more than half of the 4 million children under 1 year old.
While minorities had 5.9% fewer children last year than in 2010, births among non-Hispanic whites fell 10.1%. The nation’s largest minority group -Hispanics, the median age is 27.6. For whites, it’s 42.3 and for Blacks 30.9.
The population of children under 18 shrunk by a quarter million last year – the same amount as the over-85 population increased.
Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire are the oldest and whitest states. Utah and Texas are the youngest.
The growth of the nation’s diversity has huge implications for education. The growth of school-age Hispanic children, especially those about to enter kindergarten, poses a big challenge. Most states vote on school budgets and with the growth of an aging white population, and the shrinking of under 18-year-old population, state funding for schools will be facing huge challenges. There may be a greater need to provide ESL classes as well as teachers who have the ability to speak Spanish.
I recently spent some time visiting both Cambodia and Vietnam and saw some of their schools. Both countries (while different from each other) have some things I believe we can learn from.
Observations of both: Like most of the rest of the education world, there is a shortage of teachers. This is caused by the low pay in each country. Many of these dedicated people are forced to take other jobs which pay better or, like our guides) quit. As in much of the developing world, there are fewer teachers and fewer schools in rural areas. Students in primary schools go to school for a half a day in order to better “use” their limited resources. In Cambodia, high school costs $10 a month. While this doesn’t sound like much, for many families, this puts secondary school education out of reach.
I was particularly impressed with the Vietnamese treatment of their Special Education students. These students are identified early and are educated separately. They are given career education classes during the day and academic classes during the afternoon and evening. We saw blind students being trained to play musical instruments and taught to sing. Other Special Education students were being trained to weave or sculpt. These students were being trained to be productive workers as soon as they left school.
Class sizes were high – 40 in primary schools in rural areas and 15 in the inner cities. Teachers believed that they were unable to deal with all of these students in such large classes. While we saw “teacher aides” in some classes, they were missing in others.
Universities were broken into specialties. Students who wanted to become teachers go to a Teaching University. Those interested in Engineering went to an Engineering University and so on.
According to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey. the unemployment rate in 2011 had the national average at 7.6% but those without a high school diploma had a 14.1 percent. Those with a high school diploma had a 9.4 percent unemployment rate.
The median weekly earnings for those without a high school diploma averaged $451 ($23,452 a year). Those with a high school diploma averaged $638 a week ( $33,176 a year). That is almost a 30 percent increase for 4 years of high school completion.
Think your students and would be interested in these figures?
Franklin has been invited to present a session entitled “School Leadership & Cultures That Build Graduation Rates” at the SREB Conference to be held at the New Orleans Convention Center.