What a tragic and sad article.
I imagine I will keep the information in mind and watch for what might be early warning signs amongst my students and or colleges. I have always viewed suicide as a permanent solution to a temporary problem. I feel empathy for those who chose to take the path of suicide, and I wish they could discover another way to cope or deal. Several of the men I served with in Iraq have chosen to take their lives since returning home. In 2013, the VA did a study on the number of veterans committing suicide, and discovered that 22 veterans a day, or one every 65 minutes was committing suicide. I don’t point this out to in any way marginalize the suicide rate amongst college students, but rather as more information to be aware of.
Having seen and done terrible things in a foreign country, I often reflect that nothing I’m dealing with these days holds a candle to the past, and therefore – I can handle anything.
I thought it was enlightening to hear the article point out the over-parenting and how that is actually not preparing children for becoming adults. This is something I have thought in the past, but it was nice to see someone else pointing it out, with evidence, rather than just a feeling or perception. Personally, I felt pressures from parents, while growing up, to be successful, but I left home three days after graduating high school, and haven’t lived there since. Something I try and do in my classroom with my students is find that point in the procurement of the material where the student struggles to get the answer, but are capable of finding it on their own. It is within this struggle, that I think the most learning occurs, and the confidence that they are capable of finding solutions, it being created. It seems there are a lot of parents out there of the millennial and generation X kidos that probably needed to let the kids struggle a little more, and thus mature more.
Wheeewwww – time to find a comic or funny movie. 🙂
3 comments for “Suicide – what a terrible waste”