Middle and high school students becoming more isolated?

Students at Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools get polled every two years by health officials in order to keep a watch on activities that might put them at risk, such as drug abuse, alcohol use, anti-social behavior and smoking.

The poll is an important dipstick of the social and mental health of the some 130,000 students in the public school system, with many of them residing in Charlotte. The world over, middle and high school is often the most difficult environment in which a child will find him/herself up until that point in life.

There is bullying, peer-pressure, academic challenges, social isolation for some and exposure to anti-social behavior for others, and through all this students must develop their personality and find their place in the world, while teachers and parents provide often-conflicting advice and guidance or none at all.

An unsettling place indeed and the latest polls suggest that it is getting increasingly scary for students in middle school and that high school students are more likely to withdraw inwards and not report abuse or violence committed against them.

Consequently, there has been a 30% increase in the number of middle school students admitting to being the victim of acts of physical abuse on school grounds to 39% of students polled. In addition, over 10% of students skip school without telling their parents, because they feel unsafe at school.

That figure is up by over 100%.

In high school, 14% of students admitted to suicidal thoughts.

“The teen brain is not equal to an adult brain, yet teens are faced with making adult decisions,” Dr. Kristin Rager, medical director of Charlotte's Teen Health Connection told Charlotte news provider, Charlotte Observer.

A lot of this has to do with the emotions of parents filtering down to children, for instance, many students (23% of middle schoolers) reported feelings of helplessness and apathy towards studies because of the economy, and little guarantee of a job after high school.

An added worry is the influence of gangs, in the same way that parents influence students, so to do older siblings, and if they’re involved in a gang it may create an atmosphere whereby a younger sibling will want to mimic the older. 60% of students admitted to gang activities in school.

In addition, while bullying is going up (45% admitting to being bullied in high school compared to 28% in 2005), this may feed into the gang activity, if students are bullied by gangs, or gang members, reporting the abuse to school officials becomes prohibitive due to fears of increased abuse in retaliation.

It’s a concerning trend then, as students appear to be withdrawing, and not acknowledging support programs that are out there. In this regard, the onus is on parents to make sure they’re connecting with their children about school issues.