What would you talk about if there was a time in your school day to talk about teen issues, share your thoughts, and discuss concerns with your peers?

I think that at school, there should be some sort of place where kids can go to talk to someone, not an adult, but someone more close to our age, but with a little more knowladge. Like someone in college. It shouldn't be after school, kids have sports. It should be a period our of the day that kids can go to, an assigned class. Like an elective. Maybe like a semester one, or even quater. I know that at the HS I go to they have one for abused kids, and family problems, even acholic familys. But not just to talk about your everyday problems to your peers and someone to just give advice and help, with complete secrecy. Like the diary project.
Devils Kiss

Well that depends. If the issues were really personal than I would keep my mouth shut and not say anything. But if it was something really broad like condom use or racism in schools than yeah that would be great. It seems that discussions in school are always based on what's happened in the past. Teachers need to know how teens feel about things. Than they'll never realize why we are the way we are. But some teachers are so un-open to other ideas. They think what they feel is right. And when teachers understand that teenagers have views too.. than that's a good time to start open discussions about important things in school!
Marie

I wouldn't share any of my personal life with teachers. I think it's none of there buisness. In my experience, they never have taken care of school related problems so I suggest they take care of what they are getting payed to do before they mind other people's buisness.
Queen of The New PlanetVegeta

i think it would be a great idea, but the teacher would have to be someone who was able to get a discussion going which would be a hard thing because like alice said, in most of those classes either the teacher talks all the time and no one listens or nobody talks because nobody will open up on their own. the teacher would have to be someone that the teens could trust too and talk to.
angel whispers

I disagree with Megra and Alice n' Wonder. School, as you claim, should be a place for schoolwork only. I don't think so. If you are going to spend so much of your time every day at this place, wouldn't it be good to be able to talk about issues, your feelings, or your fears? Megra- what you said about being thrown in a group with random people....maybe thats whats best. In order to make people feel like they are equal, important and most of all- basically the same as everyone else, they should connect to people that are different from them. I think its a wonderful idea. Teens are amazingly articulate and smart, and have an incredible range of emotion that adults don't always posess. Small things and big things weigh on our minds. It'd be nice to share them and build friendships. Its scary, I guess. Thinking about sharing your feelings with people you don't know- don't like even. But I'd bet the farm it would be worth it in the end.
Mysteryhorse

I agree with Megara. In those kinds of classes, the teacher does all the talking (or none) and the students do not open up to one another. I go to my friends and to my poetry for counseling. Perhaps an extra-curricular club would be more ideal, which addresses each other's problems---like a support group that meets after school once a week. But I don't think we should take up class time.
Alice 'N Wonder

I really don't know what I'd talk about...guys, I guess. I really think that there should be a time devoted to talking about issues. Some people keep everything bottled up and I know it would help.
ciara

I think the idea to talk about teen problems in class would be great. It would give us a chance to hear other people's problems and opinions. It's a great opportunity to relate with other people your thoughts and then discuss it with them. I would definately talk about school violence and peer pressure and how it's affecting teens today
Nicole*

Thats an AWSOME idea, I think that would be great to talk about our poblems and concerns we have, and so we could help them out. Talking about relationships,sex,love,drugs,school,family,friends is an everyday thing we have 2 think about. Great idea.
Daisy*

I think this would be a great idea. This way teens could get more involved in what goes on in their lives, and learn to make better decisions when it comes to peer pressure, etc. I would look forward to school so much more if we had a class like this, to help us and to get to know eachother better, and to allow us to get involved.
hgfdsa

Ok, so this isn't exactly answering the question, but I don't think that there is TIME in the school day to talk about teen issues...I don't mean to sound like a snob or anything, but I think that school should be for schoolwork. And even though I'm just as stressed as anybody, I think that I deal better with my "thoughts and concerns" by writing them down or talking about them with my friends, which I can do on my own free time. School would probably just assign groups of random ppl that you'd never feel comfortable opening up to anyway, I know, my middle school tried it. It was called "Advisor/Advisee" and we had small groups with a teacher. Guess what we did? Played basketball, cause my advisor was a gym teacher, while she checked once in awhile to make sure our grades were ok. Well, if you ask me, that's not advising, and just because I get good grades doesn't mean that I don't have my own "issues" too, but I just think that they don't belong for discussion in school...sorry if I was too long here, later.
Megara