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“I’m killing myself tonight. You did this to me.”


colinian

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The community magazine for the area where I grew up, Diablo Magazine, has an article about how teens are able to say what's really on their minds.

“I’m killing myself tonight. You did this to me.”

Inside the World of Teenage Confessions. What are East Bay kids saying online?

You can read it here. I think this is something every high school should have, as long as it's created and run by the students themselves and remains anonymous.

Colin :icon_geek:

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Interesting. I honestly don't know how active Facebook is at the school my boys go to so I don't know if something similar would work there. I suspect it'll be more challenging because the school is probably a lot smaller than the high schools being discussed in the article.

Still, I think it's a good idea if enough students participate.

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The school my boys go to has around 800 students from K-12 -- that is, the complete range from primary school through to the completion of schooling and heading to college/university or employment. Somehow, I think that's a little smaller than the schools you're talking about :tongue:

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I happen to know that year 7 at the school has 90 students. Admitedly, it's not a large school, but I don't think there are many schools in Australia that would come even close to the sizes you guys are talking about. The local secondary college is about twice the size, I think, with about 180 students in year 7. Extrapolate that out, and it's 720 students for years 9-12. And that's probably around average for the state.

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It's unusual to see an Australian brag that his is smaller than yours. :biggrin:

BTW, I attended a small-town school that went from K to 12 in one building, and my senior class was less than 50. Of course, that was when the dinosaurs roamed the earth...

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My highschool in Adelaide (late 1950s) had 1100 male students, years 8 -13. (Though year 13 was very small.)

Today, the highschool is closer to 2000 or more as it merged with the girls' highschool some years ago.

At present there is a political campaign for the forthcoming election which is contemplating an increase of student places to 3000 for this highschool.

Whilst most of the teaching staff were considered to be dinosaurs by us students, we did in fact manage to get a secular education, devoid of the influence of any religion being required study for graduation. I am aware of religious staff at the school, but they are perfectly at ease with keeping their views to themselves. This was achieved by setting aside one period a week for "religious instruction" with each denomination having its own classroom. A note from parents was required if they did not want their child to be exposed to any religious instruction. The Protestant class I attended was singularly lacking in convincing us of a need to pay much attention to the minister's sermons. I guess we learned about the Christian religion and its history without being formally indoctrinated into the world of fear and hatred. There was a room set aside for non-believers and atheists, but no one knew where it was except those who went there, and they never spoke about their lack of belief or where they were locked away whilst the rest of sang hymns and were bored to death by obviously fabricated stories of an afterlife.

When I was attending school, we boys were very intent on making certain that each of us was endowed with the appropriate size for our continued education which occurred at the bottom of the sports grounds. Aussie boys loved sports, and sported their talents at every opportunity.

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What I see here is an excellent example of how a thread that was very interesting was successfully highjacked into something that is completely different. Know what's amazing? I didn't have anything to do with it! I'm usually a prime offender because just as happened here, someone wrote something that was slightly off target while addressing the target, someone else picked up on that, and off it went.

I do the same thing, too much I'm afraid. Something aside from the main thread catches my attention and I comment on that. Nothing malicious about it; it's just the way my mind works. I'm happy to see that it works that way with others, too.

However, let me end this by saying, it's good to see the internet working exactly the opposite from how it's used for cyber bullying. As teens seem to spend so much time texting and online, forming virtual communities rather than real ones, this has to be an invaluable tool for them. I can imagine it's proliferating rapidly all over the country.

C

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However, let me end this by saying, it's good to see the internet working exactly the opposite from how it's used for cyber bullying. As teens seem to spend so much time texting and online, forming virtual communities rather than real ones, this has to be an invaluable tool for them. I can imagine it's proliferating rapidly all over the country.

C

Thanks, Cole. The article linked in my post, http://www.diablomag.com/March-2014/Im-killing-myself-tonight-You-did-this-to-me/, shows how the kids themselves are working to help other kids who are having problems coping. It's a good article to read, and if anyone here has or knows a kid in high school point them to the High School Facebook Confessions page where they can emulate what the kids in the article are doing. It can save a kid, and that makes the effort worthwhile.

Colin :icon_geek:

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I'm a firm believer that the Internet can be one of the best things that can happen for someone with problems. I didn't accept myself as a gay man until I had access to the Internet. By being able to first observe, and then, when I was ready, participate in gay forums (all while keeping my identity private), I was able to build up enough confidence to come out in real life.

I couldn't have done that without the Internet. I'm glad it's also being used to help other people with other problems.

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I'm a firm believer that the Internet can be one of the best things that can happen for someone with problems. I didn't accept myself as a gay man until I had access to the Internet. By being able to first observe, and then, when I was ready, participate in gay forums (all while keeping my identity private), I was able to build up enough confidence to come out in real life.

My joke was that I couldn't come out until I saw the 1982 movie Making Love, and realized I could still be myself and yet be happy as a gay man. I didn't wind up as hot as Harry Hamlin, but that was a good role model. :icon1:

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