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The return to in-person learning, after the COVID War-related closures and other interruptions that began in the 2019-20 school year, has been marked, in many American schools, by behavioral issues, even in those schools thought least-likely to experience such problems.
An article in The Wall Street Journal on 10 December begins by describing one in a series of recent brawls in a Shreveport, LA high school with an enrollment of some 1,600 students; unusual, uncharacteristic behavior in a school regarded as “academically strong,” and with a 99 percent graduation rate.
Around the nation, other schools are experiencing increases in unruly behaviors such as talking in class, treating adults and one another disrespectfully and strewing trash about, to more serious issues. In Dallas, disruptive classroom incidents have tripled compared to pre-COVID levels; in Albuquerque parents were advised about a “a rise in violence and unacceptable behaviors,” and the National Association of School Resource Officers reports an increase in gun-related incidents.
Peter Faustino, on the board of the National Association of School Psychologists, says that a normal full academic year’s worth of mental health and behavioral incidents have occurred in just the first three months of the current school year; “I think the pandemic was like an earthquake and I think we are seeing that tidal wave hit shore,” he said.
Some schools are attempting to address the problem with more staffers patrolling the halls, or more counselors. Dallas has eliminated student suspensions, replacing them with counseling. Some school districts have implemented extended holiday closures called “mental health days.”
All that time away from school has stunted many students’ emotional and social maturity and discipline; some have yet to experience a “normal” year of high school. Dallas has instituted a 45-minute social-emotional learning session each morning for elementary school students.
That school in Shreveport is where “Dads on Duty” was formed; fathers of students volunteered and organized to patrol the school and its grounds, to provide discipline and role modeling.
TRENDPOST: The mental health of students, teachers and school staff has been one of the unintended casualties of the COVID War that we had long forecast… proving once again that the cure can be worse than the disease; see:
- “SCHOOL LOCKDOWNS KILLING STUDENTS” (2 Feb 2021)
- “SCHOOL SHUTDOWNS = CHILDREN SUFFERING” (17 Nov 2020)
- “LOCK KIDS DOWN, SCREW THEM UP: SHOOTINGS SHUT DOWN 20 MICHIGAN SCHOOL DISTRICTS” (7 Dec 2021)
- “PITY THE COVID-WEARY TEACHERS” (16 Nov 2021)
And all these stresses have been imposed on the segments of society at the very least risk from COVID-19; see “VAX KIDS? THE COVID RISK IS ‘TINY'” (13 Jul 2021) and “MORE EVIDENCE KIDS DON’T SPREAD COVID TO ADULTS” (17 Nov 2020).
TREND FORECAST: Not just in America but around the world (with certain notable exceptions, like Sweden, which didn’t lock down schools, didn’t require masks, and recorded no COVID child deaths), we may be seeing the first signs of a new “lost generation”: young people whose emotional growth, social skills and self-control have been permanently stunted.
It’s a condition not easily remedied, and one from which some—and society at large—may never fully recover (because these damaged children will pass their emotional shortcomings to their own children).
Again, as we note in this and other Trends Journals, there are prolific OnTrendpreneur® strategic opportunities to create new sounds, styles, products and services to lift their spirits.