Troubled Teens Resources

Boarding schools, troubled teen boarding schools and specialty schools most often offer a superior education to that of any public institution. In fact, more parents are investigating alternate education, giving rise to efforts to make such choices available to a far greater number of parents and their at risk teens.

“Many sources agree that, on the whole, American public schools are rotten. In 2000, a whopping 12 percent of graduating seniors were rated ‘proficient’ in science, and international surveys rank our graduating seniors 19th overall out of 21 nations. In 2002, the Washington Post summarized a different survey: ‘Nearly six in 10 of the nation’s high school seniors lack even a basic knowledge of U.S. history,’” says Gelerneter.”

Talking to parents whose troubled teenagers were turned around in a private boarding school, the question they are starting to ask is, do we need public education at all?

“Why not liberate all the vast resources we spend on public schools to be re-channeled to private schools chosen by the nation’s parents? Any public school offering an education that parents will actually pay for (of their own free will) would presumably be replaced by a private school offering essentially the same thing. But a vast array of new private schools would germinate also. And a vast number of failed public schools would disappear.”

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Take time this summer and investigate alternative educational options for your teenagers. You certainly won’t be alone.

Military boarding schools and other private schools can produce some unexpected benefits. Unlike your typical teen, troubled teens in boarding schools are not inundated with media 24/7. In many cases there are no media privileges except for those students who are at the top tier of their classes.
Many recent studies are bearing out what a thinking parent has recognized instinctively. Teens watching too much media and constantly connected to iPods and video games are experiencing more learning and behavioral problems than their unconnected counterparts.

“Our findings suggest that teenagers who spent a lot of time watching TV tend to be more likely to have attention and learning problems that persist and interfere with their long-term educational achievement,” said Johnson.

“Whether teens had existing attention or learning problems or whether they didn’t have them, they were at greater risk for later attention and learning problems,” Johnson said.

Johnson advises parents to limit the amount of time they let their children watch TV. “About one to two hours a day,” he said. “And they should be watching quality programming,” he added.”

Other data indicates that 40% of infants as young as three months old are regular TV viewers, the percentage jumping to 90 by two years of age. It is of such concern to many child professionals that they consider it one of the greater health risks children face.

You do not need to enroll your teen into a troubled teen boarding school to cut off media, but you can educate yourself with the newest data and start gaining control over the entire family’s media consumption.