tinual
academic
failure,
and
impulsive-
ness
are
frequently
seen
in
children
who
ultimately
take
their
own
lives.
Young
people
with
poor
impulse
con-
trol
may
commit
suicide
without
intending
a
fatal
outcome.!8
There
is
considerable
speculation
about
the
reasons
for
the
recent
increase
in
adolescent
suicide.
The
work
of
psychologist
Mihaly
Csiks-
zentmihalyi
presents
insights
helpful
for
school
personnel.
His
research
indi-
cates
that
teenagers
spend
little
time
with
adults—approximately
40
minutes
a
day
alone
with
their
mothers
and
less
than
five
minutes
alone
with
their
fathers.'”
Most
of
this
time
is
spent
in
repetitive
activities
such
as
eating,
shopping,
cleaning,
or
unwinding
from
the
tension
of
work
or
school.
Csikszentmihalyi
says
that
to
prevent
teenage
suicide
we
must
create
rea-
sons
for
adolescents
to
want
to
live.
Young
people
spend
from
five
to
seven
hours
a
day
alone,
and
four
hours
with
peers,
vet
it
is
through
contact
with
adults
that
they
acquire
the
values,
traditions,
and
skills
of
society.
School
personnel,
as
well
as
parents,
play
a
crucial
role
in
this
process.
Intervention
and
Remediation
Schools
can
take
a
team
approach
to
early
intervention
and
remediation.
This
intervention
team
should
include
the
administrator,
some
classroom
teachers,
special
services
personnel,
campus
chaplain,
and
the
classroom
teacher
who
refers
a
particular
student?!
Schools
can
provide
successful
men-
toring
or
advising
programs
to
help
foster
individual
students’
academic
and
personal
growth
and
nurture
a
purpose
for
living.
The
following
approach
can
help
guarantee
a
suc-
cessful
mentoring
program:
®
Identify
and
enlist
prospective
advisers;
®
Provide
training
and
orientation;
®
Clearly
define
relationships
between
advisers,
support
personnel,
and
students;
®
Allow
students
and
adviser
to
have
a
role
in
choosing
one
another;
®
Encourage
frequent
discussion
of
problems,
improvements,
and
unfore-
seen
developments;
®
Make
sure
that
employees
have
no
more
than
15
students
to
advise.
Crisis
Intervention
Plans
Each
school
should
have
a
plan
for
crisis
intervention
in
the
case
of
emer-
gencies
such
as
killings,
suicides
and
fatal
accidents,
rape,
or
even
the
natu-
ral
death
of
a
teacher
or
student.
On
one
SDA
college
campus
the
students
had
to
cope
with
the
sudden
deaths
of
two
popular
students,
It
was
evident
Research
suggests
that
school
per-
sonnel
can
use
counseling
and
student
involve-
ment
to
prevent
disruptive
behavior.
that
the
issue
still
remained
unresolved
three
months
later
when
90
percent
of
the
student
week
of
praver
speakers
struggled
with
the
issue
in
their
talks.
Crisis
intervention
could
have
helped
the
students
work
through
their
feel-
ings
and
find
peace
and
meaning
from
the
tragedy.
The
school
crisis
team
should
include
guidance
personnel,
school
psychologists,
administrators,
and
teachers.
During
the
initial
assessment,
the
following
areas
can
be
discussed:
the
intensity
and
nature
of
the
crisis;
the
emotional
needs
of
students
and
staff;
identification
of
the
high-risk
population;
parental
notification;
as
well
as
short-term
or
long-term
strategies.
Schools
may
have
to
improvise
if
certain
specialists
are
not
present
on
their
campuses.
Academy
or
college
guidance
personnel
or
psychologists,
hospital
chaplains,
Adventists
with
psy-
chological
training
who
live
in
the
community,
state
certified
public
school
personnel
who
are
well-
acquainted
with
Adventist
doctrines,
or
people
in
related
occupations
such
as
psychiatric
nursing,
mental
health,
or
counseling
could
be
called
upon
to
help
develop
a
crisis
intervention
team.
Crisis
intervention
strategies
include
the
following:
®
Identify
those
most
likely
to
need
help,
such
as
friends
of
the
victim,
shy
or
withdrawn
students,
and
particular
classes
or
grade
levels;
®
Make
sure
that
someone
is
availa-
ble
at
all
times
for
individual
or
group
counseling;
®
Provide
teachers
with
the
skills
thev
need
to
talk
with
students
about
the
tragedy;
®
Assist
teachers
or
other
staff
members
who
feel
unable
to
hold
class
discussions
or
to
cope
with
the
tragedy
themselves;
®
Make
a
list
of
resource
materials
and
distribute
it
to
teachers,
parents,
and
students;
®
Invite
specialists
to
help
individu-
als
deal
with
their
own
reactions.”
24
ADVENTIST
EDUCATION
e
DECEMBER
1990
-
JANUARY
1991
School
personnel
can
take
the
fol-
lowing
steps
to
prepare
for
and
cope
with
disasters:
®
Meet
regularly
to
help
one
another:
®
Designate
a
crisis
team
member
to
write
press
releases
and
develop
strategies
for
dealing
with
the
media;
®
Assign
team
members
to
tele-
phone
specific
persons
in
the
commun-
ity
such
as
the
pastor
and
parents,
or
answer
incoming
calls
about
the
crisis;
®
Allow
teachers
some
time
out
to
nurture
the
healing
process;
®
Recognize
that
the
crisis
will
spill
over
into
unrelated
areas,
causing
interpersonal
conflicts;
®
Allow
more
personal
space
to
those
affected
by
the
crisis.
It
is
natural
for
teachers
to
believe
in
and
to
trust
people.
However,
violence
is
a
fact
of
life
in
today's
society.
Because
of
this,
schools
must
develop
plans
to
prevent
violence
and
deal
with
it
when
it
occurs.
They
must
provide
assistance
to
heal
the
psychological
and
physical
damage
that
occurs
from
these
tragedies.
Through
their
trust
in
the
Lord
and
their
confidence
that
all
things
ultimately
work
out
for
good
to
those
who
love
God,
Christian
teachers
and
administrators
can
offer
healing
and
hope
for
a
better
world
where
“there
shall
be
no
more
death,
nor
sorrow,
nor
crying;
and
there
shall
be
no
more
pain,
for
the
former
things
have
passed
awav”
(Revelation
21:4,
NKJV).
0
Dr.
Dale
Johnson
is
Superintendent
of
Education
for
the
Washington
Conference
of
SDA,
Bothell
Washington.
He
formerly
served
as
Professor
of
Education
and
Acting
Chuir
of
the
Department
of
Education
and
Psychology
at
Walla
Walla
College,
College
Place,
Washington.
REFERENCES
!
D.
Foley,
“Danger:
School
Zone,”
Teacher
(May
1990),
pp.
57-63.
2
Thid.
*
R.
Lawrence,
“School
Performance,
Contain-
ment
Theory,
and
Delinquent
Behavior,”
Youth
and
Society,
17
(1985),
pp.
69-95.
4
J.
R.
Gaddy
and
L.
E,
Kelly,
“Down
Safe
Cor-
ridors:
Eliminating
School
Disruption,”
NASSP
Bul-
letin,
17
(1984),
pp.
13-17.
5
W.
Elrod,
“Discipline
and
Corporal
Punish-
ment
in
Indiana
Public
Secondary
Schools,”
Con-
temporary
Education,
54
(1983),
pp.
141-144.
®
GG.
Spinack,
J.
J.
Platt,
and
M.
B.
Shure,
The
Problem
Solving
Approach
to
Adjustments
(San
Francisco:
Jossey-Bass,
Inc,
Pubs,
1976).
7
A.
P.
Goldstein,
R.
R.
Sprafkin,
N.
Gershaw,
and
P.
Klein,
Skill-streaming
the
Adolescent:
A
Structured
Leaning
Approach
to
Teaching
Proso-
cial
Behavior
(Champaign,
Il:
Research
Press,
1979).
#
E.
N.
Nuttell
and
J.
Kalesnik,
“Personal
Vio-
lence
in
the
Schools:
The
Role
of
the
Counselor,”
Journal
of
Counseling
and
Development,
63
Continued
on
page
46