NEW YORK TIMES: For decades, schools across North America have taught about public health issues like the dangers of tobacco and drug abuse. But this academic year in one large Ontario school district, students are learning about a newly identified public health concern: concussions.
Last month, the Halton District School Board, near Toronto, started immersing its more than 4,000 ninth graders in a detailed course on concussions and other traumatic brain injuries. District schools are also teaching modified versions of the curriculum to some students in third and sixth grades. It is believed to be the first course of its kind to be taught across an entire school district in Canada or the United States.
“If we’re going to change the culture around concussion like we changed the culture around smoking and around drinking and driving, we need to get at our next generation of kids,” said Joanne Walsh, who helped devise the program as the school board’s health and physical education coordinator, along with Dr. Paul Echlin, a researcher on traumatic brain injury in hockey, football and other youth sports… (more)
