"Children
Are Crashing Out," ARCA Organizer Says
The Antonio Ricardo Cannady Act (ARCA) initiative will pressure Congress and
the United States Board of Education to mandate emotional intelligence courses.
"Children are not only taking the lives of each other, but also the
lives of adults, and for the traumatized children who do make it into
adulthood, it's only a matter of time before they self-destruct and it's
not always because of a mental illness, but for their lack of not being
able to control their emotions due to the nonexistence of emotional
intelligence never intentionally taught in the home or public school."
These are the words of Antonio Ricardo Cannady, the organizer behind the
Antonio Ricardo Cannady Act (ARCA) initiative, who says that it's not only
necessary that Congress and the United States Board of
Education intervene and vote ARCA into federal law and that it's
their duty to do so.
The Antonio Ricardo Cannady Act, or ARCA, is an initiative that will seek
to impose a federal law that mandates every U.S. school district to require
students to complete emotional intelligence course(s) to ascend from grade,
middle, and high school levels. Students must complete one emotional
intelligence course at the 5th-grade level, at the 8th-grade level, and at the
12th-grade level with an average grade score of at least a B-average to
graduate and proceed to the next level.
Mandating ARCA into federal law will give young moldable minds a fighting
societal chance because they will not only know but also understand what it
means to stop, breathe, and think, something most children are deprived of
being taught. After all, single parents are too busy earning a living to raise
their children, and the educational system isn't required to do so. This
imperative lack of education is the primary reason children react violently in
triggering situations instead of the healthier way of doing things, which is to
respond.
READ MORE: How to raise emotionally intelligent kids to conquer stress
Here is an example of ARCA at work in the classroom. Imagine a ten-year-old
boy in the fifth grade taking part in a semester-long exercise that teaches him
how to deal with life's rejections, especially in romance, in a healthy manner.
Then, he repeats this exercise in the eighth grade and finally again in the
twelfth grade. He now has the tools to manage his emotions ingrained within his
neurological pathways. This is how you protect women. This is how you reduce
crime in certain areas. This is how you better society. It's all about
emotional intelligence; it's vital.
"I understand what it's like to lack emotional intelligence, and my
chaotic and checkered past reflects that, but now it's critical that we shift
the outcomes of countless young minds for the better, and maybe some adults,
too," Cannady says.
As social media continues to addict and raise our children, society is
witnessing the horrid consequences of what it means to lack emotional
intelligence. As single parenthood continues to be glamorized, Congress and the
U.S. Board of Education must adapt the U.S. education system to match
what's transpiring in society or watch as America's youth continues to decline
while under their watchful eye.
Learn more about ARCA. Visit www.arcact.info to view the PDF and the petition.
The Antonio Ricardo Cannady Act (ARCA) is a
community activist organization that envisions a better tomorrow for the youth
and society through the collaboration amongst the community, congress, and the
U.S. Board of Education through implementing mandated laws to elevate emotional
intelligence amongst the youth.
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