Empathy doesn’t come easily to everyone. It is built into humans’ brains at birth, but it also has to be learned. Schools need to teach and normalize mental health awareness so students can feel safer at school. According to a study by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Social Emotional Learning can lead to safer schools, which could decrease bullying, school shootings and fights.
If schools provide students with mental health resources from a young age, they will understand how to deal with their emotions instead of lashing out or burying their feelings. School shootings are so common that schools have drills every year to teach students how to protect themselves and stay safe. There is no excuse for children being terrified to go to a place of education. To help avoid these tragedies, schools can provide students with coping mechanisms. According to an experiment from the Synapse Lab, systematic coping skills lead to reduced emotional distress. Schools are going to continue to experience heartbreak before they realize that killers start out as children crying for help. Teaching empathy and creating a class or even a club to do that will make all the difference.
Another major problem in schools is the number of student fights. If people were taught to empathize with each other, there wouldn’t be as many petty fights in school. At Loy Norrix, it is not uncommon for many students to witness at least one fight by their senior year. In 2020, a Norrix student tried to attack another with a knife during final exams, according to News Channel 3. If students were taught proper coping skills, especially around exam season, these bursts of emotion would happen less. Giving students opportunities to have a safe space after school or even during school will help with the strain of the testing season.
Teaching empathy can also reduce bullying, which can reduce bullying-related suicides. According to CNN, 11-year-old Jocelynn Rojo Carranza was bullied and taunted for her parents immigration status. Her peers threatened to call Immigration and Customs Enforcement on her. She committed suicide on Feb. 8, 2026. If Carranza’s peers understood empathy from a young age, she would likely still be alive. It is vital for students to understand that making fun of someone hurts real people with real lives and real families.
Loy Norrix does provide therapy resources in the health center. However not many know about it, it’s not advertised or talked about. Resources like this should not be the bare minimum in schools. Not only should this resource be talked about more, all students should be provided basic information about how to deal with difficult high school situations.
Mental health classes were required at one point. Students took Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) classes during COVID, which could be continued. Teaching students how to deal with their emotions creates competent adults. If schools take initiative, these things could stop as a whole. Carranza’s school neglected to tell her parents about the bullying. It could have been stopped but instead it continued, and it will in all of our schools unless we do something to stop it. Promote mental health resources. Push our schools to teach empathy. Put a stop to violence. Including the teaching of how to cope with day to day life for a teenager could create a better school environment, as well as set people up for the world outside of high school.
