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Friday, March 29
The Indiana Daily Student

Kids these days

Kids these days

The Editorial Board has received some alarming news.

It’s the kind of news that makes your hope for the future, if not your faith in humanity, decline drastically.

The cinnamon challenge, where someone tries to swallow a spoonful of cinnamon in fewer than 60 seconds, is still a thing.

At least that’s what Carmel Clay Schools seems to think.

To battle this horrific trend of spice abuse, the school system has finally decided to let parents in the loop.

Because it’s not like this has been going on for almost two years now.

Carmel staged a meeting for parents to learn about current trends and slang popular among children nowadays.

Jim Ginder, health education specialist for the Hamilton County Health Department, was present at the meeting.

He shared with parents the potential dangers of some trends ranging from the cinnamon challenge to zombie cucumbers, which is a code name for a hallucinogen.
Now we’re all learning together.

Carmel isn’t the only school system looking to educate on more than just academic topics.

Ten miles away, Noblesville West Middle School is trying to raise awareness of bullying.  

Through the “Majority” program, they encourage bystanders to become “upstanders” by standing up for bullied children.

But where most programs focus on preventing bullying, Noblesville is concentrating on intervention.

Brandie Oliver, assistant professor at Butler University, has developed a program for a student after he or she has been “identified” as a bully or victim.

So what is the key to intervening with bullying? Changing the terminology.

Instead of calling a bullied child a “victim,” he or she is referred to as a “target.”

And those who bully aren’t a “bully” but a “bullier,” or “a student who has exhibited bullying behavior.”

That’s an unnecessary mouthful, but if it works, it works.

Our big question is why aren’t the parents being included in this campaign?

Why not create just one big Introduction to Anti-Bulling and Teen Trends for Parents and Guardians 101?

It seems that if you’re going to bring parents in to teach them about Jimson Weed,
then you could at least mention efforts to curb bullying.

Studies find that a child’s home environment influences his or her behavior as a bully.

If parents are included in these efforts to stop the act, the programs could become more successful.

And in the long run, they’d make middle and high school much less miserable.

Both school corporations are doing good through their efforts.

It would simply be more effective if all school systems, not just Carmel and
Noblesville, combined efforts to protect kids in all aspects.

And someone should tell the parents about Urban Dictionary.

It may traumatize them at first, but anything to keep the children safe.

­— opinion@idsnews.com
Follow the Opinion Desk on Twitter @ids_opinion.

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