Teen girls are being ‘inundated’ with ‘messages’ that don’t affirm who they are: Quisha King
Florida moms Quisha King and Laura Zorc reacted to the CDC’s alarming new data that U.S. teen girls are facing increased sadness on ‘Fox & Friends Weekend.’
Two Florida moms are sounding the alarm on the CDC's disheartening new study that revealed 57% of high school girls experience persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness – the highest level reported over the past decade.
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In an effort to determine the root of the societal shift, Quisha King placed blame on the public school system, calling it a "hub" for harm.
CDC data reveals 57% of high school girls experience persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness. (iStock)
"They're being inundated with ideas that don't affirm, really, who they are. They're saying 'no, who you really, truly are, that's not really good enough.' And I believe that the public school system is the hub for all this harm is happening to our little girls," King said on "Fox & Friends Weekend."
Mom Laura Zorc bolstered King's assertion, noting the detrimental role social media can play in the development of young girls. In another alarming study, approximately 84% of teenagers between the ages of 13 and 18 are using social media, according to The Common Sense Census: Media Use by Tweens and Teens.
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"We definitely are seeing a huge problem on social media. And I'm going to tell you that schools need to implement policies on these phones, having phones in schools, because what we're seeing are the bullies are pulling out their phones," Zorc argued to co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy.
To illustrate her point, Zorc referenced the tragic case of Adriana Kuch, who was viciously bullied at school, leading her to commit suicide.
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"And like we saw in the situation with the New Jersey student, that they actually videoed that, and then they posted it. And so that made the bullying linger. The school districts are inconsistent with their policies on bullying. And I think we could do better," she said Sunday.
Rachel Campos-Duffy agreed, saying social media enables bullies to revictimize in a "permanent" way.
In seeking a solution, Zorc argued that school district policy reform is the key solution to solving the nationwide surge.
"What we're seeing here, a lot of this victim and these kids are being victimized in their schools. That's true. And we have to stop that. The way that we stop that is we implement smart policy, and that means we have to get the right school board members elected on the local level, because we're seeing on a national across the board these issues happening," Zorc said.
A school bus is shown in Rancho Bernardo, California May 12, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Blake - S1BETDRCBDAA (REUTERS)
"We know social and emotional learning is not working. Critical race theory is putting our kids against each other, so our school districts are teaching hate. Our kids are coming to school angry, and now we're surprised that are our girls are being victimized by bullies. And so, we really need to look at the policies that the school districts are implementing," she concluded.
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