The emotions in school

I asked a couple of high school students in Lapu-Lapu City how they would interpret the title above, especially on managing it. The idea stemmed from a story I pursued a day before, a rare case of three students in a physical fight. It involved a female whose head was shoved to the blackboard. It was an alleged offshoot of jealousy, coming from a past relationship between two of the parties. The incident was caught on video that made rounds on social media.

As for the Department of Education, they said that they will be investigating the incident. Director Salustiano Jimenez specifically said that they are corrective and would not want to condemn the student right away. While I see where he is coming from, the feeling is not mutual for the family members of the female student. In a separate interview, her father was outraged by what he saw. He was determined to have the male student answer for his actions by filing a case against him. It is uncertain how they would go back to their classes considering the situation. I find it an isolated case, but one where we can learn a lot.

Managing emotions is indeed difficult, especially for an age group whose hormones are just starting to show. It is the time of their life where the highs and lows are extreme. Without proper guidance, they are found to express their emotions with their body. Sometimes this leads to untoward incidents, such as what was seen on video. It is hard to point out who to blame but there are many factors such as their parents, the environment they grew up in, influence, and media consumption.

Given these, it is then understood that it is crucial for every parent to fulfill their role in a child's life wholeheartedly. It is simply not just giving the basic needs such as food, water, clothing, and a home to stay, but by also being there for them as they grow up. Children need to see that their parents are best friends who can be their confidante. I read that great parents always take time to talk to their children about their day, no matter how messed up theirs was. It is a way of expressing that they mean the world to them, as translated in their actions.

The incident will be a precedent to the Department of Education as to how they will weigh on violence in schools. We hope that it will also serve as a wake-up call for both the parents and schools on how to give value to the mental health of the students. You see, studying is not just about memorizing concepts and ideas. The approach should be holistic, including how they should deal with others. It is crucial today with the unsupervised exposure of different forms of media. This situation becomes a challenge on how they should keep up with the times in addressing this problem. I guess the family is still the basic unit in society after all.