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I think all schools should. I work in the adolescent unit of a mental health agency. We have an extention of our program called "The Student Assistance Program". It's a counseling service provided to students who have problems with social issues (in school and out of school), self esteem issues, family problems, etc. We teach social skills (which includes communication and social skills) and we're available to counsel them on just about anything else going on in their lives.
We work independantly of the school staff- our students are OUR clients. We're not guidance counselors- we're a seperate entity from the school system. We keep charts on the students and all Hippa laws apply so it's confidential.
It's a free service available to all the students in the schools that we're contracted with and we need parent permission before we can get involved with a student.
I personally think its a great idea and I jumped on the chance to be a part of it when I first heard of it. I think alot of us grew up with the idea of getting sent to the principals office if we were having problems with other students or we would make excuses to hang out with the school nurse (because we were trying to avoid something or someone we didn't want to face). Also, guidance counselors today are not quite the 'counseling' type in that sense. They do a great job with academic placement and testing but there is something seriously lacking when it comes to addressing the 'whole' person in schools today.
I think someone mentioned something about not having the time to incorporate these classes or counseling sessions into a regular class day. Well that's true. It's not always doable BUT considering the benefit of having this, I think it would be worth it to substitute one day of an elective class (home ec, lifeskills, etc) for one day of social skills training. The scheduling works at our schools with very little problem.
I'll include some links to the website of the materials that we work with in the schools. If you would like to bring this to the attention of anyone at your school, you can use the following info as a reference.....
Since the government through the schools, has taken over much of parent responsibility anymore, is not a bad idea. The kids are given meals at school, babysat after school, heck they might as well just stay the night! That way some social worker could sit them down after their government supplied supper and teach manners, too! Well, noone else doing it!
Other than learning how to type, I can not think of a better set of skills to have than basic communication. In a perfect world, all parents would teach their kids basic manners, interpersonal skills, and the ability to speak in public. Though many parents do not have a clue about these important issues.
Instead of teaching kids high math, so they can pass all the government mandated tests, they should be teaching them life skills, like manners, interpersonal skills and general communication. What do you think?
Unfortunately, I get to teach many students these things in college. Some never get it and cannot understand why they can't get a job....
Our kids' schools do have units on manner, public speaking and IP relationships. From kindergarten on up our kids have been expected to get up in front of their class and tell stories, show and tell, explain projects, etc. Our twins are very good at speaking in front of people, our 15 year old is shy and doesn't like to do that at all. They all have had to give speeches for different classes, etc. and have had opportunities to participate in school plays, etc. Speech and Debate are VERY popular extracurricular activities in our district--3 of the high schools in our district are ranked nationally.
In their Home Ec classes they have covered units on manner but that is one area that really shouldn't be taught at schools because of lack of time-parents should be doing this from day one with their kids.
Our schools also have flex time during the day and part of what they cover is being a teenager and how to deal with people. Once/week they have a topic and they discuss how that relates to their life and how to deal with things as they come about. It might be something like failing a test or being asked to do drugs. I have been VERY happy with this part of the curriculum at their school.
I think schools teach you how to become an employee.
There's so much else that's left out (public speaking, social skills, even basic finance...look at the mortgage mess out there).
In highschool, everyone use to read in class a little bit. I took a communications class in college...it was ok.
I also belonged to the group Toastmasters for a few years in college, that was a far better deal.
-More repetition than in a classroom
-More variety
-Possibility to network with professionals
-Just a nice environment
It's a pretty good deal if you want to become a better speaker (I only paid $80 a year). It's definitely an important skill.
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Some never get it and cannot understand why they can't get a job....
