How many of you have done the Virtus program? If not, it's a program for adults working with children in many Catholic dioceses. The participants learn about the warning signs of child abuse, abuse prevention, and how to react to a reported case of child abuse. There are videos in it with interviews of convicted child abusers discussing their methods. They are disturbing to watch, but I learned a great deal about warning signs to be aware of. The Virtus program kept coming to my mind during class Monday when we discussed child abuse.
My high school students will most likely already know where and where not it is okay to be touched. However, I want to emphasize to them that child abuse is not okay and that it is not the fault of the victim. I debate about doing a modified ( because Virtus can be a bit disturbing at times) form of Virtus for them. At least it would raise awareness for them that child abuse does happen here, even to people in their own school. Maybe it would also open up an avenue for discussion about it.
What do you all think? Would Virtus be appropriate or helpful in educating high school students about child abuse? Could it help abused students feel more comfortable coming to tell me that they are being abused or help friends to disclose that a friend is being abused? I'm not really sure.
ED460 Personal and Social Well Being is a course taken by college students in education during their student teaching semester. Topics covered include: poverty, child abuse, bullying, drugs, alcohol, and tobacco, counselors' role in school, adolescents and choices, and the use of technology.
I think a modified version of Veritus would be beneficial for high school students. It is very eye-opening. I think it is important for everyone to realize that child abuse is a reality that can happen close to home. It would probably help students recognize if their friends were being abused or if there were questionable parents.
ReplyDeleteWhen I worked at Camp Tekakwitha( a Catholic camp for grades 5-12) we went through the Veritus training beforehand. I felt as if it were very beneficial for us to realize the reality of child abuse. For highschool students, this would still be a positive experience for them so they could realize what all goes on in the real world. It is important for them to be aware that there are many families out there that really need their help!
ReplyDeleteI have gone through Virtus training, as well. It had a helpful, eye-opening effect. At the same time, it had the effect of giving me a bad taste in my mouth for a while regarding humanity. Learning that a majority of child abusers are family members, family friends, or people who work with children (people who have a lot of access to the child and who the child and the parents trust) can easily lead to, first, anger at the fact that people could take advantage of a child's trust in that way. Second, that knowledge can lead to chronic skepticism of people and their intentions. The anger at people's unjust actions is understandable and good, but I don't think that automatic skepticism of people is all that healthy. There are many honest people who work with children and who are worthy of trust, and it would be a shame to not give them the trust they deserve.
ReplyDeleteMy suggestion, then, would be to present a modified version of Virtus to high school students so that they are aware of the issues presented and know what they can do about them. At the same time, the program would definitely need to be followed up with some good discussion that makes it clear to the students that it's okay to still trust people.
I had the same thoughts about Virtus training after the discussions that we had on Monday. We covered a lot of the same topics of what is and is not appropriate. I found the training to be somewhat helpful, although like you said parts of it were a little too intense. These parts would definitely not be appropriate to show in a school setting. However, I do feel like some of the materials and movies could be used for a lesson about harassment and types of abuse.
ReplyDeleteOne things that concerned me from taking Virtus was the emphasis that was put on touching and hugging. I almost became to paranoid about physical contact and even the simplist of actions could have been overanalyzed. While I understand that this is an important lesson, it is also important to allow, like Laura mentioned, a discussion so that students do not overanalze the actions of their peers. Trust is a very essential part of maintaining community as well as knowing the boundries.
Vicki, I too have been through the VIRTUS training, but not until I was a freshman in college. Even then, some aspects of it were slightly overwhelming. I think some elements of it could be very helpful in teaching high school students what to be aware of and watch out for. But, the VIRTUS training probably would not be appropriate for 9th or 10th grade students. You would really need to take into account the maturity level of the students in your high school class. The program may, as you suggested, need to be altered slightly.
ReplyDeletePerhaps you could use VIRTUS as a framework and develop your own program to inform your students about sexual abuse. It does have lots of relevant information and could be used as a guide, rather than using the actual program.
Oh I hated VIRTUS. It was a lot of good information, but the videos were a little gross at times. I think you should show students the video. Just like the woman who spoke to the 5th graders about bullying (she was straight forward, but not graphic), I think we need to be honest with our students. We need to make sure that we are not ruining their innocence (MTV can suffer with that) but, like you said, they may not be aware that people as close to them as classmates are being subjected to such things. I think the innocence thing is the kicker. I think it vital that kids are able to stay children for as long as possible, so we should protect them from bad things, but like the "Stranger Danger!" cry you hear around, we can tell them in other ways.
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