A Message to All Australians Who Care About Our Youth:

Let me tell you about an idea I have had for many years, an idea that I truly believe will help young Australians, the future of our country, to be the very best they can be. The idea revolves simply around a few sheets of paper, bound together, forming a small and compact book or booklet, one that might slip easily into a pocket.

Nothing remarkable so far… but let us imagine Matthew, a new year 8 student and the recipient of this book on his first day, looking past the suitably modern cover design and opening the book, flicking past the “Message from the Prime Minister” and perusing the contents.

“20 amazing lives” – he flicks to page 4 and starts reading… “Mandyam Srinivasan builds flying robots that fly like bees and can even collect honey! He never dreamed he’d…” and the inspiring stories keep coming – scientists, humanitarians, business leaders, tradespeople and more. That night he will dream of becoming a great scientist, building the robots of the future.

But the bell rings and the book is dumped unceremoniously into the bottom of his bag, and does not emerge to the surface until three weeks later. Matthew is sitting disconsolately at a bus stop late one afternoon, after waiting in the library for the bullies to give up and go home.

He flicks open the book and scans the contents again…“Bullies – What You Can Do”. He casts a furtive glance around to make sure no-one is looking, and continues reading. “Bullying is a common experience at school and just about everyone is bullied at one stage or another. The first thing to do is, no matter how embarrassing, talk to someone about it. Here’s what actually happened when Ben was bullied on his first day at school…”

Matthew’s parents notice he is cheerful at dinner for the first time in a week. He hasn’t talked to them yet, but he has a proactive plan to deal with his bullying problem, and hope for a more pleasant day to day life in the school grounds.

Over the next five years the pages in that little book become dog eared, the print fades, and idle doodles cover every page. But Matthew will call upon that book as a first port of call more than a dozen times as he:

• Looks for advice on deciding his subjects for grade 9,
• Wonders why his voice isn’t changing and everyone else’s is,
• Struggles to deal with increased workloads,
• Looks for ways to increase his reading speed, and
• Develops a budget to save enough money to buy his own bike

As Matthew gets to the later years of school, his needs and challenges will change, but the book will still be there for him, as he:

• Tries to make sense of his parent’s divorce,
• Writes his first resume and tries to get his first part-time job,
• Develops a time management plan to balance his ever increasing activities,
• Makes up his own mind about drugs and alcohol, before his friends do it for him,
• Decides how to try and help his friend, who Matthew thinks is being abused,
• Faces the challenge of maintaining a healthy lifestyle including plenty of exercise and good nutrition,
• Deals with the suicide of a student in his grade,
• Fights through his own period of depression, and
• Starts to take an interest in what he will do after school

Of course, some books may end up in the bin on the very first day, but most will end up somewhere in each student’s home or locker. And having been taken through the contents page on their first day, each student will have a vague recollection of there “being something about alcohol” in that little book.

And in the privacy of their own home, away from all the peer pressure, some of those students will dig those books up, and read with intense concentration that page, explaining everything “how it is”. And that student may well live a fulfilling life, avoiding forever the trauma of ending up in a wheelchair after a near-fatal drunken pool accident.

One of two grade 11 girls on a downwards spiral of self-induced angst and pity may just recall having read something about dangerous peer pressure a couple of years ago. One weekend, in a moment of relative clarity, she may re-read that section. Her friend will still suicide two weeks later, but she herself, teetering on the brink, will have been pulled back from oblivion.

There are over 1.2 million high school students in Australia. If a book like this can just tip the balance in one life or death situation, then it will be worth it, for there is nothing more tragic than a young life snatched away.

But it would do far, far more than that. For every issue a teenager can face, it would provide instant first response assistance. Most importantly, some teenagers who otherwise would not have sought help for any number of issues would use it first – no judgemental parents, no peer pressure. And, as anyone in the field will tell you, taking that first step is by far the most important.

The huge advantage of such a book over any other possible solution is its completeness and ease of access. Positive programs educating kids about drugs, depression, careers, and everything else exist piecemeal all throughout Australia. But each program covers only one specific issue, and it is hard to have to go searching every time a new problem arises.

You can think of it as an “everything in one place” information first aid kit for teenagers.

This book will serve as a faithful helping companion to any student who merely remembers its existence in a messy corner of their bedroom. And it will have the websites and phone numbers of all the positive programs that exist, as the ‘next step’ towards getting help.

The idea is simple. This is a small, compact and hardy book that every high school student gets on the first day of school, supported by a website. The whole class spends 15 minutes reading it on that first day, so they get to know the contents. Then they take the book home, or store it in their locker. And for the rest of those formative teenage years, they have an “all-in-one” first point of call for information on any issue they may face, supported by a website and posters around their school.

The Plan and Where You Come In

I have already drafted a book outline with more than 70 topics including bullying, drugs, depression, family problems, health, food, sleep, employment, budgeting and many, many more. The plan is to involve the community of teenagers, teachers and parents in creating this book. This means you decide what topics should be covered, what format the book should be in, and critique the articles I write on each topic until I get it just right. I will be sticking closely to the Neutral Point Of View approach used by the online Encyclopaedia Wikipedia – the point of this book is not to preach but to inform our youth.

But Before I Can Do That I Need Your Help

A project like this can only work if it is supported by enough people. Consequently, I am initially looking to obtain pledges (a 20% deposit) from schools around Australia to purchase 20,000 books for 20,000 students. In return, I will pledge to keep the unit price of the books to $5 per book for those who pledge their support. The project will only go ahead if we reach at least the 20,000 mark, or if a government steps in, or if we accept advertising. The model I’m following is similar to Crowd Funding, which is a modern trend in producing projects – you can read more about Crowd Funding here.

The project will go ahead once school pledges reach a total of 20,000 books.

So What Can You Do?

Teachers and Principals

Provide a 20% deposit, which is fully refundable if the pledge threshold is not reached and the project does not go ahead. So if you’re a small high school and you’d like the book for all 200 of your students, you’d contribute 0.2 * $5/book * 200 books = $200. This money will of course be taken off the final amount when the books are delivered to your school. My registered Australian business will provide you with a full tax invoice. Payment can be made through credit card via PayPal, cheque, or bank direct deposit.

Everyone

Get the word out! Tell everyone – your family, friends, teachers, students, colleagues. Talk, e-mail, phone, fax, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and YouTube are all great ways of spreading the word. You can use the links at the bottom of this page under “Share and Enjoy”. Link to WiseTeens.com from your blog, website or school webpage.

Tell the government. Tell the media. You can download a flyer here to distribute around your school or work. The more people who know about it, the better the chance the project can go ahead.

And comment! Any ideas or suggestions are very welcome.

I am NOT looking for donations

The request for a small deposit from schools is to signify intent – that the school is interested and willing to go ahead with the purchase of books. The project does not need and will not accept donations from other parties – your good intentions are very much appreciated. Instead, please help by spreading the word as much as possible. Thank you.

If you have a favourite school then you are of course free to pledge for books for the school.

Check Back Regularly

I will provide a running tab of the pledges made by schools around Australia, as well as any other points of note, such as media coverage, new developments and so forth.

All the best,

Michael Milford, PhD