The following is the closing paragraph from the essay entitled “Just Eating Is Not Enough” by Sarah Casey, which is a critique of the Maudsley Approach to treating eating disorders. The author ends by suggesting a first step that can be taken to help young people with eating disorders:

While families and patients can now choose from many possible ways to treat eating disorders, either through the Maudsley Approach or traditional therapy, one thing is clear: regardless of which form of treatment a patient decides upon, early detection is vital. In July of 2014, the Boston Children’s Division of Adolescent Medicine suggested that school screening for eating disorders would catch hard-to-detect cases at the earliest stage possible (“School Based Screenings”). Kendrin Sonneville, a researcher from Boston Children’s Hospital, says, “Early diagnosis leads to early treatment [. . .]. A simple screening in schools could give millions of kids a new chance for a healthy life” (“School Based Screenings”). School screenings could save millions of children from ever getting to the point of needing serious treatment for an eating disorder. Hopefully screenings will become commonplace, so that fewer families are faced with having to decide upon a treatment plan for their adolescent’s severe eating disorder.

To read the entire essay, click here: Just Eating Is Not Enough

What follows below is the final paragraph of Ada Bellantoni’s essay “Arm to Disarm,” in which the author makes the controversial claim that qualified teachers should be able to carry guns in schools in order to defend themselves and their students from school shooters. Bellatoni ends the essay with a call to action:

Congress must act now to avoid more tragedies from occurring and use our constitutional rights to keep America’s schools safe. Arming teachers will allow them to protect themselves and their students in the event that an armed assailant does enter their classrooms. Trying to hide students from someone intent on doing them harm is often ineffective; therefore, it is only logical that we help teachers help themselves. If we do not equip teachers with the right tools to protect their students, we are neglecting our responsibility to protect students and are ultimately failing America’s children. As NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre remarked In a New York Times interview conducted shortly after the Sandy Hook incident, “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun, is a good guy with a gun” (Kaufman).

To read the entire essay, click here: Arm to Disarm