Physician, Heal Thyself; Teacher, Heal Everybody Else

Recently, Dr Richard Kidd, AMA Queensland’s Chair of General Practice, called for school children to receive ‘death education’ in class, in order to demystify the concepts of ageing and dying. Dr Kidd suggested that this should be added to science, legal studies, health and other subjects.
Apparently, Dr Kidd is under the impression that teachers have nothing but time, and that for portions of each lesson science teachers, for example, are sitting around with nothing to teach while their students surf the net. In truth, teachers at every level are struggling to fit all of the material in already crowded curriculums into the relatively short period of time they have with their students.
It is unsurprising that a doctor would not appreciate the finite qualities time has for most people, as anyone who has had cause to visit a doctor’s surgery would know. Time for doctors is not so much a fixed thing as a vague concept, much like the horizon, able to be seen perhaps, but never realised.
Indeed it is nothing unusual to make a medical appointment for, say, 10 AM, and yet not actually lay eyes on the doctor until 11:45 AM, hopefully on the same day. Einstein famously observed that there was no such thing as absolute time, and the medical profession has heartily embraced that concept, which probably accounts for its view that there is no end of subject matter that can be stuffed into a six-hour day.
For teachers this view is not an option, as many parents are keen to occasionally see their children, and so are not supportive of 14-hour school days six days a week, which are definitely on the cards if items keep being added to the list of things teachers are expected to impart to students.
The list of subjects which teachers must cover during class time grows with each passing fad. In addition to the standard reading, writing and STEM subjects, teachers are expected to cover things like nutrition, conflict resolution and personal safety.
They are also expected to get the kids fit, pass on strategies to deal with bullying, anxiety and depression, and encourage personal development, good mental health and–of course–practise ‘mindfulness’, which these days is next to godliness (something else even our secular state schools are expected to pass on).Think this might have anything to do with poor NAPLAN results?
Now, the AMA would like to add instruction on death, despite the massively crowded curriculum and the fact that the subject itself is a minefield. Treated differently by almost every culture on the planet, it is hard to imagine how the subject could be approached in schools without offending/terrifying/antagonising at least one student in the class. Cultural and religious disparities on this most final of questions are intensely personal and obviously best dealt with by parents.
In fact, that is the hallmark of every new topic added to the teaching workload-something that parents are supposed to do, but would rather outsource to the school. Eating properly, being active and dealing with personal fears (not to mention spiritual education) are things kids learn from family and loved ones, not via textbooks and tests.
Resilient and happy children require involved and committed parents and carers, and no amount of brilliant and compassionate teaching can make up for disinterest from those who are closest to kids. Talking to children about death (and other difficult subjects) is part of parenting, which is in every facet both a duty and a privilege. No sensible parent trusts that topic to anyone else.
Teachers’ time with students is limited, much as our own time here on Earth is limited; they cannot afford to waste either doing the job of the parent.
