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Essay on developing emotional intelligence
Emotional intelligence introduction
Study of emotional intelligence
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Many people in today’s society face challenges within themselves. Some challenges deal with adults paying their bills, while others involve kids and their self-esteem. In the novel Cut, by Patricia McCormick, a young teenage girl experiences just this, self-esteem trouble. According to Angela Kennedy in the article “Self-Injury on Rise,” a shocking 25 percent of people who self-injure said they started by sixth grade or younger; 60 percent by seventh or eighth grade and 12 percent in ninth grade. Inside the book, the reader views Callie’s thoughts from a first person point of view. At first, everything seems normal as Callie runs in her cross-country meet. Things escalate quickly as she runs off the track to her house where she turns to self-mutilation. …show more content…
First, some people harm themselves simply because they can. A friend of Callie’s, Amanda, cuts herself and said to Callie, “Listen, I don’t see how what I do is so different from people who get their tongues pierced. Or their lips. Or their ears, for Chrissakes. It’s my body” (McCormick 37). She doesn’t see the harm in hurting herself which is why teaching this book could tell teenagers that this isn’t the path to go down and that there are other alternatives. She thinks that this is normal and a way to cope with her problems on a day-to-day basis. Amanda is one of the 1,400 out of 100,000, and growing, people who admitted to self-injury (Kennedy). Secondly, some people self-injure to cope with their feelings and tensions. Callie explains to her therapist about her father’s job situation and said, “’Now he just sells to companies nearby.’ I don’t tell you [her therapist] about how it seems like all the companies nearby already have computers, that for a while he took people out hoping they’d become customers and that now he mostly just goes out. ‘He has to work a lot’” (McCormick 111). Callie explained how her fathers situation seemed to cause her a lot of stress and how she seemed worried for him. To add, “some reasons why teens self-injure include: release of tension and feeling overwhelmed” (Styer). This is a lesson that could be taught in …show more content…
One may say that this novel shouldn’t be taught in schools, because this doesn’t happen to teenagers. However, it was found that of teenagers who have been sexual assaulted in their life, 70-90 percent of them experimented with self-injuring methods (Kennedy). Also, someone doesn’t have to be sexually assaulted to intentionally injure themselves. An untrue belief is that all self-injurers have been sexually abused, however this is not the case as many have a history of not being sexually abused in the first place (Styer). Another argument could be that this book shouldn’t be taught in schools because self-injury is a suicidal attempt. This is not true, because the person hurting themselves doesn’t intend on dying, but rather releasing the tension in their lives in order to cope with their thoughts. In the book, Callie is worried when a friend of hers is seriously injured and says, “’So she’s going to be OK?’,” while her therapist responds, “‘I can’t say. She will be, if she begins taking responsibility for her health, for her recovery here’” (McCormick 96). This concludes that not all people who self-injure are suicidal, because from this point on Callie became proactive and had a willingness to become better. In summary, many people may disagree and state that the novel shouldn’t be taught in schools; nevertheless, the book has life lessons that are
“Unteaching the Five Paragraph Essay” by Marie Foley demonstrates how a five paragraph essay formula disturbs the thought process of the students and limits what they can write. A five paragraph essay is an introduction with the main idea, with three supporting topics showing the relationship to the main idea, and a conclusion summarizing the entire essay. Foley argues that this formula forces students to fill in the blank and meet a certain a word limit. She noted that this formula was intended for teachers in the education system to teach an overcrowded class how to write. While it is beneficial for the first-time students learning how to write. In the long run, this standard destroys any free style writing, new connections between a topic,
Martha Ballard was a midwife in Hallowell, Maine in the early eighteenth century. She is the author of the diary that inspired A Midwife’s Tale by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. Martha Ballard was an extremely busy woman with her medical duties and was very serious about being a midwife. Nothing was trivial to Martha she was serious about her work and community. She was an independent woman of her time and valued her autonomy. Her job highlighted how compassionate and caring she was towards her community. She never turned anyone away, and she would help anyone in need regardless of race, social rank, or economic standing. She relied on her connections to the people in the community in many ways. Martha was a pillar of her community because of her
Humans are not born with a label, they are taught to adhere to certain principles after suffering judgement from others. It is often found that gender is a barrier that prevents humans from experimenting. One finds that he or she cannot partake in an activity in fear of being judged and labeled. The poem Bedecked by Victoria Redel criticizes people’s judgement on her son, as he does not conform to societal standards. Gender and their associated stereotypes are presented in the poem through mundane items, purposeful diction, and the the motif of jewels.
Lauren Alleyne uses the rigid form of the sonnet to navigate through the healing process after being sexually assaulted. Ten years after that night, she writes the sonnet sequence Eighteen, which deviates from the typical sonnet form in the aspects of the speaker, subject, and format. Playing off of the standard sonnet form, Alleyne is able to recount the emotions of that night during the first sonnet in the sequence. The typical sonnet tends to objectify the female body or one’s lover; in this sequence, the sonnets address what happens when an individual acts on these objectifications and assaults Alleyne. Alleyne deviates from the standard subject and speaker of the typical sonnet form to begin the healing process; the process begins
Have you ever wondered what life was like for a maid in the 1960’s? Well, the book The Help, written by Kathryn Stockett, gives the reader a somewhat fictional and interesting view on the lives of maids who work for white women. The book follows the points of view of three different women, Ms. Phelan, a white women, Minny and Aibileen who are both black. Many things are happening in the town of Mississippi that they live in, like how many people were building bathrooms for the blacks because they did not want to use the same one. Or how the blacks were being treated horribly. Ms. Phelan decides to write a book about what it’s like to for black maids to work for white women. She was inspired to
Kress, Victoria, Drouhard, Nicole. (2006). Students Who Self-Injure: School Counselor Ethical and Legal Considerations. Professional School Counseling, 203-208. Retrieved March 12, 2014, from www.schoolcounselor.org
CPI spoke to Devlyn who is in the 10th grade and recently won a contest for writing a short story novel published by Wekiva High School. She has a lot of friends but few very good friends. CPI addressed the allegations with Devlyn, who denies self-harming and having suicidal thoughts. Devlyn indicated that the PGM disciplines her verbally, and the only time she has spanked her was when she was 8 years old. She indicated that she has a good relationship with her parents and her PGM. According to Devlyn the last time she tried to harm herself was when she was in 7th grade because she felt lonely. When she has feelings of harming herself, she will talk to her mother, but has no thought of harming recently. She plans to get involved in counseling
Why do people hurt themselves? In a journal article from the American Journal of Psychotherapy, Louise Ruberman notes that about 2.1 million teens suffer from nonsuicidal self-injury, or NSSI. Young women between the ages of 14 and 18 years old take part in NSSI due to poor development of the relationship with their mothers, childhood abuse, and psychiatric disorders. Although there are multiple ways of causing injury to oneself, cutting of the skin as a means of self-mutilation is said to be the most common (Ruberman 119). We will start out by examining the problems that occur during the relationship development between a mother and a daughter at a young age.
Suicide is when someone takes their own life because they feel like there is no other way out or that they do not matter. In addition to the novel, a Netflix original TV series has come out based on the book. The executive producer Tom McCarthy explains, “...When you get a piece of material like this that’s actually about something? You take that seriously and you really hope the discussion begins and will continue.” Sheff echoed that sentiment in his Vanity Fair piece: “I’m proud to be a part of a television series that is forcing us to have these conversations, because silence really does equal death.” The TV show and book are forcing people to have conversations about suicide, which is helping society because as Sheff put it, silence equals death. With this in mind, making students talk about it at school could break down imaginary walls that divide students and mold schools into a more encouraging place for kids to go to. Also, Based off of the article ‘13 Reasons Why Controversial Depiction of Teen Suicide Has School Counselors Picking Up the Pieces’, The book Thirteen Reasons Why “has also been lauded for starting a conversation about suicide, which is the second leading cause of death among teens.” The quote clearly states that suicide is the second leading cause of death among teens, so this topic is very relevant to the school and the students inside of it. This
Too many children who try and speak about the way they’re feeling are being let down or simply ignored. As a result of this neglect many young people are resorting to self-harm as a way to cope or in some extreme cases think about ending their own
There are many cases where girls and boys hurt themselves because they are insecure about themselves. They feel too ugly or too fat. These kinds of people live in depression. They do not feel good about themselves. People like this tend to harm their bodies. The fact that they become depressed makes it even worse. One good example is Bulimia nervosa. It is an eating disorder where the person eats and tries to take it back as soon as they can. This is mainly caused by lack of confidence. The person probably feels like they are fat. Many other kids cut themselves due to lack of self-love. Another good example is if you are being bullied. Being bullied really hurts feelings it makes you feel like you are not good enough. There are tons of kids who are depressed due to the fact that they are being bullied constantly. Many times kids stay like this and do not speak up because they are afraid. However they are only making it worse. They live by depression every day. Anyone can stand up and put a stop to bulling. I’m very confident that if you put an end to being bullied you’ll also put an end to the depression you suffer. Depression can influence our actions. We must love our selves. God mad us all different but we are all beautiful in our own ways. We must love our bodies and treat them as
My purpose for writing this essay has been to examine the standard approaches to understanding self-injury and then apply a semiotic approach to the self-injury. The teenagers that I give as examples are individuals whose behavior has defied explanation and treatment through the conventional means. I find some freedom and hope in viewing their behaviors as being more symbolic.
Styer, Denise M. "An Understanding of Self-Injury and Suicide." Prevention Researcher Integrated Research Services, Inc., Vol. 13, Supplement. Dec. 2006: 10-12. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 16 Apr. 2014. .
Some say that the teenage years are one of the most challenging and trying times in an individual’s life. Many changes take place, both emotionally and physically, which sometimes can give the feeling of excitement… or in other cases… complete confusion and utter turmoil. Because emotions tend to run high during this period of life due to hormones, some teens resort to an unhealthy way of coping to deal with their emotional pain. This unhealthy way of dealing with emotional pain is also known as self injury. Self injury (or self harm) is widely known to take place during the teenage years up until the early years of adulthood (ages 14-24)when judgments become more defined, criticism becomes harsher, and limits are tested. The transition from childhood to adulthood may sound exciting and adventurous to some, but to others, it’s a nightmare they wish they could wake up from.
Some students admitted to hurting themselves on purpose because of being stressed or upset by banging their head or body on an object, cutting themselves, stabbing themselves, as well as hitting, biting, or burning themselves (Blazer, 2010). When the effects of the pressure and stress on students is this drastic, it is extremely important that something is done about it. Its time that students were encouraged to become well-rounded individuals instead of focusing on having a perfect GPA. Its time to make school something that the students can look back on and think that it was a meaningful time where they learned a lot about life instead of a time where they thought they would have a break down because they got a low score on a test. School should be a time to make mistakes in a safe environment that they can learn from, not a place where they are petrified to make a mistake for fear of retribution on their grade cards.