During the recent ND House Education Committee hearing on Senate Concurrent Resolution 4032 (March 14th, 2007),1 I was struck by the importance of understanding suicide from a philosophical perspective in order to prevent suicide, and so I provided testimony to that end. Since ideas, like actions, have consequences, I began to wonder what philosophical ideas might lead to suicide.
I had first become interested in the philosophical, worldview, and religious aspects of suicide after reading the 2005 Youth Health Risk Survey Results for Bottineau High School in the local Courant newspaper (January 24, 2006).2 Regarding suicide, the article stated that 18.5 percent (32 students) of the 175 students responding to the grade 9-12 survey had felt so sad or hopeless almost every day for two weeks or more in a row that, during the past 12 months, they stopped doing some usual activities. The percentage of students who seriously considered attempting suicide during the past 12 months was 16.6 percent. The number of students who made a plan about how they would attempt suicide during the past 12 months was 14.9 percent, and the percentage of students who actually attempted suicide one or more times in the past twelve months was 15.3% (26 students). The percentage of students whose suicide attempt resulted in an injury, poisoning, or overdose that had to be treated by a doctor or nurse during the past 12 months was 6.9 percent (12 students).
The text of SCR 4032, introduced by Senator Richard Dever of Bismarck, reviewed the statewide suicide statistics and initiated an appropriate study:
WHEREAS, in 2005, 15 males between the ages of 10 and 19 committed suicide in North Dakota; and
WHEREAS, in a 2005 survey, 15 percent of North Dakota high school students and 14 percent of North Dakota seventh and eighth grade students reported that they had considered suicide; and
WHEREAS, in the 2005 survey, 12 percent of North Dakota high school students and 8 percent of North Dakota seventh and eighth grade students reported that they had planned a suicide; and
WHEREAS, in the 2005 survey, 6 percent of North Dakota high school students and 5 percent of North Dakota seventh and eighth grade students reported that they had attempted suicide;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF NORTH DAKOTA, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING THEREIN:
That the Legislative Council study ways in which schools and school districts can train teachers, counselors, and all other school staff to better identify high-risk students and ways in which schools and school districts can plan and provide programs designed to reduce the incidences of high-risk behaviors that can lead to suicide attempts; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Legislative Council report its findings and recommendations, together with any legislation required to implement the recommendations, to the Sixty-first Legislative Assembly.
In student numbers, these statistics tell us that roughly 6,900 North Dakota public school students are presently considering suicide!3 One school official stated that the peer pressure in Bottineau High School twenty years ago was 80% positive, but something changed during the last 20 years which reversed that proportion such that today only 20% of the peer pressure is considered positive.
In the United States, suicide is responsible for more than 31,000 deaths a year, which makes it the eighth or ninth leading cause of death.4 The suicide rate among young people has increased dramatically in recent years, making it the third leading cause of death among 15 to 24-year-olds.5 It is well known that the most predictive risk factor for a completed suicide is a psychiatric diagnosis where hopelessness is the most critical psychological variable.4
According to a study published in The American Journal of Psychiatry,6 religious affiliation is associated with significantly lower levels of suicide as compared to religiously unaffiliated people. This same study pointed out that countries with the highest levels of atheism, agnosticism and non-belief in God strongly correlated with countries that have the most liberal (or "progressive") laws, policies and practices.
If ideas have consequences and those philosophical ideas can be classified into worldviews, then teachers, counselors, and other school staff could be trained to identify high-risk students by identifying the worldview of each student. Worldviews can be identified through the use of a survey instrument and by people trained to identify the outward behaviors which express the various worldviews. By incorporating this two pronged approach (worldview surveys and staff training to identify worldview prompted actions), the SCR 4032 study could result in a plan which genuinely reduces the incidences of high-risk behaviors that can lead to suicide attempts.
The Nehemiah Institute has a 70 question worldview survey7 which has been used since 1988 to identify the worldviews of students in public and private schools. The test categorizes student worldviews into the socialist, secular humanist, moderate Christian and biblical theist categories using questions concerning politics, education, economics, religion, and social issues.
The secular humanist worldview is of special interest to those diagnosing the tendency of students toward suicide in the public schools. To see the connection between worldview and suicidal tendencies, teachers, counselors and staff would need to be trained to identify the several aspects of the secular humanism worldview. In brief, secular humanism is a worldview which promotes theological atheism, philosophical naturalism, biological spontaneous generation, moral relativity, legal positivism, and political globalism.8 Where people learn and then believe that there is no God (theological atheism), they tend toward despair and hopelessness (Ephesians 2:12).
That at that time ye were without Christ…strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: Ephesians 2:12
Where students are taught philosophical naturalism, which denies the supernatural and relies primarily on science as its source of knowledge, they are further left without hope to improve their seemingly impossible family, health or other circumstances and have no reason for living beyond what is naturally experienced (1 Timothy 6:20).
O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called: 1 Timothy 6:20
A belief in biological spontaneous generation, the theory that non-living matter is, or at least was, capable of producing life, leads students to ask, “ If I evolved from non-living matter through random mutations without an intelligent designer, what is the purpose of life?” and not find satisfactory answers.
For those who view secular humanism as mere fiction, the references confirm its existence and propagation by twentieth century intellectual leaders. The US Supreme Court concluded in Torcaso v. Watkins (1961) that “Among religions in this country which do not teach what would generally be considered a belief in God are Buddhism, Taoism, Secular Humanism, and others.”
The key point here is that a student’s worldview, their approach to understanding God, the world, and man’s relationship to God and the world has a bearing on suicidal thoughts and actions. Personal, family, local, district, state, and national surveys and research programs could be designed to further demonstrate to the students, parents and school staff exactly how the suicidal thoughts of their family or constituency is influenced by their worldviews.
It is my hope that the ND Legislative Council will consider, during their study over the next two years, the philosophical and worldview roots which lead to suicide, so that the most effective measures for the prevention of suicide can be realized for the sake of those 6,900 North Dakota young people who are currently contemplating suicide.
Dr. James Bartlett taught and conducted research in engineering and education at North Dakota State University for 17 years and now is the Executive Director of the North Dakota Home School Association (http://NDHSA.org) & the Biblical Concourse (http://BiblicalConcourse.com). Dr. Bartlett and his wife Lynn homeschool four boys in the Turtle Mountains of North Dakota and can be reached at 701-263-4574.
References
1. Senator Dever, “North Dakota Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 4032 with House Amendments, Sixtieth Legislative Assembly,” http://www.legis.nd.gov/assembly/60-2007/bill-text/HGJP0200.pdf (March 31, 2007).
2. Scott Wagar, “Youth Risk Survey taken at Bottineau High School,” Bottineau Courant, 24 January 2006, sec. A.
3. North Dakota Department of Public Instruction, Office of Management Information Systems. Enrollment Projections By District Type, December 28, 2005. http://www.dpi.state.nd.us/finance/resources/bytype.pdf (March 31, 2007). 2007 Enr7 + Enr8 + Enr 9 + Enr10 + Enr11 + Enr 12 = 47,587 students x 14.5% = 6,900.
4. Christine E. Reilly, “Cognitive Therapy for the suicidal patient: A Case Study,” Perspectives in Psychiatric Care, Oct-Dec 1998.
5. National Institute of Mental Health, http://www.infoplease.com/spot/mental4.html (March 31, 2007).
6. Kanita Dervic, Maria A. Oquendo, Michael F. Grunebaum, Steve Ellis, Ainsley K. Burke, and J. John Mann. "Religious Affiliation and Suicide Attempt" (161:2303-2308, December 2004). http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/161/12/2303 (March 31, 1007).
7. Dan Smithwick, “PEERS Worldview Test,” Nehemiah Institute,(March 31, 2007).
8. David A. Noebel, Clergy in the Classroom (Manitou Springs, CO: Summit Press, 2001).
I had first become interested in the philosophical, worldview, and religious aspects of suicide after reading the 2005 Youth Health Risk Survey Results for Bottineau High School in the local Courant newspaper (January 24, 2006).2 Regarding suicide, the article stated that 18.5 percent (32 students) of the 175 students responding to the grade 9-12 survey had felt so sad or hopeless almost every day for two weeks or more in a row that, during the past 12 months, they stopped doing some usual activities. The percentage of students who seriously considered attempting suicide during the past 12 months was 16.6 percent. The number of students who made a plan about how they would attempt suicide during the past 12 months was 14.9 percent, and the percentage of students who actually attempted suicide one or more times in the past twelve months was 15.3% (26 students). The percentage of students whose suicide attempt resulted in an injury, poisoning, or overdose that had to be treated by a doctor or nurse during the past 12 months was 6.9 percent (12 students).
The text of SCR 4032, introduced by Senator Richard Dever of Bismarck, reviewed the statewide suicide statistics and initiated an appropriate study:
WHEREAS, in 2005, 15 males between the ages of 10 and 19 committed suicide in North Dakota; and
WHEREAS, in a 2005 survey, 15 percent of North Dakota high school students and 14 percent of North Dakota seventh and eighth grade students reported that they had considered suicide; and
WHEREAS, in the 2005 survey, 12 percent of North Dakota high school students and 8 percent of North Dakota seventh and eighth grade students reported that they had planned a suicide; and
WHEREAS, in the 2005 survey, 6 percent of North Dakota high school students and 5 percent of North Dakota seventh and eighth grade students reported that they had attempted suicide;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF NORTH DAKOTA, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING THEREIN:
That the Legislative Council study ways in which schools and school districts can train teachers, counselors, and all other school staff to better identify high-risk students and ways in which schools and school districts can plan and provide programs designed to reduce the incidences of high-risk behaviors that can lead to suicide attempts; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Legislative Council report its findings and recommendations, together with any legislation required to implement the recommendations, to the Sixty-first Legislative Assembly.
In student numbers, these statistics tell us that roughly 6,900 North Dakota public school students are presently considering suicide!3 One school official stated that the peer pressure in Bottineau High School twenty years ago was 80% positive, but something changed during the last 20 years which reversed that proportion such that today only 20% of the peer pressure is considered positive.
In the United States, suicide is responsible for more than 31,000 deaths a year, which makes it the eighth or ninth leading cause of death.4 The suicide rate among young people has increased dramatically in recent years, making it the third leading cause of death among 15 to 24-year-olds.5 It is well known that the most predictive risk factor for a completed suicide is a psychiatric diagnosis where hopelessness is the most critical psychological variable.4
According to a study published in The American Journal of Psychiatry,6 religious affiliation is associated with significantly lower levels of suicide as compared to religiously unaffiliated people. This same study pointed out that countries with the highest levels of atheism, agnosticism and non-belief in God strongly correlated with countries that have the most liberal (or "progressive") laws, policies and practices.
If ideas have consequences and those philosophical ideas can be classified into worldviews, then teachers, counselors, and other school staff could be trained to identify high-risk students by identifying the worldview of each student. Worldviews can be identified through the use of a survey instrument and by people trained to identify the outward behaviors which express the various worldviews. By incorporating this two pronged approach (worldview surveys and staff training to identify worldview prompted actions), the SCR 4032 study could result in a plan which genuinely reduces the incidences of high-risk behaviors that can lead to suicide attempts.
The Nehemiah Institute has a 70 question worldview survey7 which has been used since 1988 to identify the worldviews of students in public and private schools. The test categorizes student worldviews into the socialist, secular humanist, moderate Christian and biblical theist categories using questions concerning politics, education, economics, religion, and social issues.
The secular humanist worldview is of special interest to those diagnosing the tendency of students toward suicide in the public schools. To see the connection between worldview and suicidal tendencies, teachers, counselors and staff would need to be trained to identify the several aspects of the secular humanism worldview. In brief, secular humanism is a worldview which promotes theological atheism, philosophical naturalism, biological spontaneous generation, moral relativity, legal positivism, and political globalism.8 Where people learn and then believe that there is no God (theological atheism), they tend toward despair and hopelessness (Ephesians 2:12).
That at that time ye were without Christ…strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: Ephesians 2:12
Where students are taught philosophical naturalism, which denies the supernatural and relies primarily on science as its source of knowledge, they are further left without hope to improve their seemingly impossible family, health or other circumstances and have no reason for living beyond what is naturally experienced (1 Timothy 6:20).
O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called: 1 Timothy 6:20
A belief in biological spontaneous generation, the theory that non-living matter is, or at least was, capable of producing life, leads students to ask, “ If I evolved from non-living matter through random mutations without an intelligent designer, what is the purpose of life?” and not find satisfactory answers.
For those who view secular humanism as mere fiction, the references confirm its existence and propagation by twentieth century intellectual leaders. The US Supreme Court concluded in Torcaso v. Watkins (1961) that “Among religions in this country which do not teach what would generally be considered a belief in God are Buddhism, Taoism, Secular Humanism, and others.”
The key point here is that a student’s worldview, their approach to understanding God, the world, and man’s relationship to God and the world has a bearing on suicidal thoughts and actions. Personal, family, local, district, state, and national surveys and research programs could be designed to further demonstrate to the students, parents and school staff exactly how the suicidal thoughts of their family or constituency is influenced by their worldviews.
It is my hope that the ND Legislative Council will consider, during their study over the next two years, the philosophical and worldview roots which lead to suicide, so that the most effective measures for the prevention of suicide can be realized for the sake of those 6,900 North Dakota young people who are currently contemplating suicide.
Dr. James Bartlett taught and conducted research in engineering and education at North Dakota State University for 17 years and now is the Executive Director of the North Dakota Home School Association (http://NDHSA.org) & the Biblical Concourse (http://BiblicalConcourse.com). Dr. Bartlett and his wife Lynn homeschool four boys in the Turtle Mountains of North Dakota and can be reached at 701-263-4574.
References
1. Senator Dever, “North Dakota Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 4032 with House Amendments, Sixtieth Legislative Assembly,” http://www.legis.nd.gov/assembly/60-2007/bill-text/HGJP0200.pdf (March 31, 2007).
2. Scott Wagar, “Youth Risk Survey taken at Bottineau High School,” Bottineau Courant, 24 January 2006, sec. A.
3. North Dakota Department of Public Instruction, Office of Management Information Systems. Enrollment Projections By District Type, December 28, 2005. http://www.dpi.state.nd.us/finance/resources/bytype.pdf (March 31, 2007). 2007 Enr7 + Enr8 + Enr 9 + Enr10 + Enr11 + Enr 12 = 47,587 students x 14.5% = 6,900.
4. Christine E. Reilly, “Cognitive Therapy for the suicidal patient: A Case Study,” Perspectives in Psychiatric Care, Oct-Dec 1998.
5. National Institute of Mental Health, http://www.infoplease.com/spot/mental4.html (March 31, 2007).
6. Kanita Dervic, Maria A. Oquendo, Michael F. Grunebaum, Steve Ellis, Ainsley K. Burke, and J. John Mann. "Religious Affiliation and Suicide Attempt" (161:2303-2308, December 2004). http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/161/12/2303 (March 31, 1007).
7. Dan Smithwick, “PEERS Worldview Test,” Nehemiah Institute,
8. David A. Noebel, Clergy in the Classroom (Manitou Springs, CO: Summit Press, 2001).
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