Path to Nibbana 15 :

Conclusion and Prospect

Battaramulla
Siri Sudassanarama
sadaham senasuna
Ven. Dr. Mirisse Dhammika thero

I have discussed stress among school children and its various aspects in Chapter One, and in Chapter Two I explored stress coping or reduction programs and strategies in schools.

I have discussed how modern adolescents face school, environmental and societal problems, and showed how these lead to overwhelming stress in school children, especially in high school children. Most stress reduction strategies for adolescents target their schoolwork, relationships with each other and to a certain degree teacher attitude. I also explained how adolescents succumb to feelings of helplessness and low self-esteem, how this kind of stressful situation may lead them to even commit suicide. It appears that while some children thrive under stress or cope with stress, others, which may make up the majority, suffer from it. For the latter, stress may take over their lives, resulting in physical, emotional and behavioural problems.

This tragic situation is becoming worse among school children in contemporary society. An appropriate example which I have discussed in Chapter One was the shooting and multiple-murder case at Columbine High School in Denver, Colorado. This incident clearly demonstrates how young students can succumb to stress in a devastating way: unbearable emotions and feelings such as anger, jealousy, hatred and lack of positive relationships with their parents, teachers and peers all conspired to drive the victims of stress to the tragic killing and suicide.

When young people have strong “uncontrolled” feelings such as anger and hatred, they may react with negative behavior, harming themselves or harming others. These negative emotions are often due to lake of positive relationships with other, which may lead to helplessness or insecurity, and even clinical depression. In extreme cases, these impel youngsters towards self-destructive or violent behavior against others. Kabat-Zinn notes:

Feeling threatened can easily lead to feelings of anger and hostility and from there to outright aggressive behavior, driven by deep instincts to protect your position and maintain your sense of things being under control. When things do feel “under control”, we might feel content for a moment. But when they go out of control again, or even seem to be getting out of control, our deepest insecurities can erupt. At such times we might even act in ways that are self-destructive and hurtful to others. And we will feel anything but content

As mentioned earlier on more than one occasion, “deepest insecurities” are not just psychological problems that individuals suffer from. They can have profound ethical and social consequences. Therefore, there is all the more urgent need to help our students cultivate a strong and positive sense of self. As I explored, there are various programs and activities in schools and outside the schools as well. In Chapter Two, I related Swick, Hoing and Abood’s key insights about making a strong self-image within a school population. Those suggestions are based mostly on external “control” factors of a stressful environment in schools. These are valid and important suggestions. However, as I have argued, since the stress prevention factors that students can have most direct control over are in their own minds, these stress-reduction programs could benefit from one additional component: cultivation of the mind. It is for this consideration that I introduces and explored the two Buddhist mediations.