NOVA SCOTIA
Time to teach psychology in high school
GOVERNMENTS all over the world are re-examining their education systems
to see whether their citizens are properly educated to deal with the
economic, health-care and other challenges on the horizon. I’d like to
argue for a change to Nova Scotia’s system that might help.
Our major economic challenges are well known: we are deeply in debt, our
health-related spending is out of control, increasing numbers of Nova
Scotians are retiring, and we have a shrinking pool of workers paying
into a system that will help care for older members of our society.
In terms of our health-related challenges, structural changes are
clearly needed. But other significant factors are often overlooked. Too
many of us are unable to go to work or school regularly, or to perform
to our potential when in the classroom or on the job. Mental illness is
a major contributor to these problems. But given that we’re currently
spending less than four per cent of our health budget on mental health
(the World Health Organization recommends 12 per cent), and we’re broke,
we appear to be stuck.
Any strategies to deal with our challenges also must consider the
following: 65 per cent of the jobs that are expected to be created
globally over the coming decades will require a university education;
and half of all jobs will soon be creativity-oriented as opposed to
routine-based ones.
Unfortunately for us, education systems in other nations (the U.S. for
example) have already made changes that I believe will give their young
strivers an advantage over ours in gaining entrance to universities,
excelling while there, and acquiring these much-sought-after jobs. More
specifically, they have given their high school students the opportunity
to study those topics that constitute the essence of education:
learning, thinking, motivation, and related matters. In short, they have
begun to offer psychology in their high schools.
Not surprisingly, lobbyists for these curriculum changes south of the
border met resistance from various quarters. A commonly expressed excuse
for maintaining the status quo was that ‘we can’t teach everything.’ But
upon seeing the benefits of the changes, many former objectors came to
embrace the view that psychology is to education as biology is to
medicine.
B.C. has followed the American example, and Ontario has moved in that
direction. Students in a few other Canadian high schools (including
North Nova High School in Pictou County) are currently able to take
locally-developed psychology courses, but these are not permanent
offerings.
What exactly are these students learning that others are not? Here are a
few examples:
Upon entering an examination room, test-takers should spend a couple of
minutes recalling the features of the room in which they studied the
relevant material. This exercise promotes memory retrieval.
Next, creative thinking is inhibited by brainstorming (surprise),
imposing deadlines or placing people under surveillance.
Next, stress is a significant contributor to our most expensive physical
health problems: diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and gastrointestinal
disease. It also destroys cells in the brain structure most involved in
learning and memory. But stress can be alleviated through strategies
such as recalling, each night, three positive events that occurred
through the day, fighting pessimistic self-talk, and learning how to
live in the moment.
They are also learning these alarming facts: 20 per cent of North
Americans will have a mental health problem this year; about 70 per cent
of these sufferers will have likely first noticed their symptoms during
their youth; almost half of their parents would have likely been too
embarrassed to tell anyone, or seek help for them; and, young people are
as likely to go online in search of (possibly dangerous) mental health
advice as they are to play games.
Fortunately, psychology students are also learning about the symptoms
associated with mental disorders. And they’re learning that most
sufferers who seek help from experts do recover.
There is so much at stake. Discrimination towards the mentally ill,
mostly by friends, co-workers, and family members, sadly, often prevents
those afflicted from seeking help.
American scholars have now written psychology textbooks for high school
students. And the American Psychological Association has established an
organization for the teaching of psychology in secondary schools. They
have done the groundwork for us.
What compelling reason can there be for Nova Scotia to continue to keep
psychology out of its high school curriculum? Research clearly shows
that this cannot be justified on economic grounds, and it certainly
cannot be justified on ethical grounds.
We must ask ourselves: Do our children and grandchildren deserve to be
healthier than us? Do they deserve to thrive in a knowledge-based
economy?
If you agree, please e-mail Education Minister Marilyn More at
educmin@gov.ns.ca and simply tell her that you want every high school
student in Nova Scotia to have the opportunity to study psychology.
Ted Wright
21 March 2010
http://thechronicleherald.ca/NovaScotian/1173328.html
