Visitacion Valley Middle School Essay

Stress for students is at an all time high. From more competitive college entrance exams, to constantly being compared to students on the other side of the world. Expectations pile on to these adolescents like packs on a mule. Something somewhere has to break. Usually it 's the students’ mental state that breaks. From developing anxiety and depression to starting fights in class, overwhelmed students create a breakdown of the learning institutions from one district to another. School faculty, police officers and parents all struggle to find a solution. ( initial taste of topic given, easy on detail) One of San Francisco 's toughest schools thinks that they have found the savior of solutions to student stress. It’s not as complicated as one would think. Visitacion Valley middle school in San …show more content…
Hallways were warzones. School yards were the obsidian Gates of Hell. “One day children came in to find three dead bodies dumped in the schoolyard” (Leach). It was a toxic environment to say the least, with drugs and gang violence as common as rubber erasers and pencil shavings. When the Quiet Time program popped in to take a crack at these tough students, not many teachers gave the program a second thought. Everything had been tried before, all ending with the same results. How was a simple program of silence and deep breathing going to cure such complex problems as school violence and the never ending stream of stress? It was impossible. Quiet Time however, was successful in reaching the students. Not only were the students willing to give the program a try after a small amount of coaxing, but behavior made a complete turn around. The first year of Quiet Time in the middle school, suspensions plummeted by a remarkable 45% (Leah). Two years later attendance was at the mind-bending rates of over 98% (Leah). Meditation rendered this school nearly