She’s been labeled the “Provocative Doctor” and as she speaks about the problems surrounding today’s youth you can immediately sense how she received that label.  Having a PHD in Clinical Social Work, Dr. Elisa English has built a practice that targets issues such as suicide, depression, but most importantly she wants to give guidance and empowerment to today’s youth.  Her passion for youth allows her to commit an hour of her busy schedule to me to discuss youth issues.  She does so in her limousine right after landing to attend an event in Washington DC. 

Although we have never met in person, not only do I hear from her voice her passion and conviction, but can visualize her facial mannerisms.  Her words keep me engaged as her presence is inspiring, educational and most significantly “provocative.”   In our brief time together Dr. Elisa explores teen violence, entertainment's influence on youth and how parents can be more involved.

Q:  Take us inside your world and some of the issues that you see are becoming more problematic?

A: Near and dear to my heart is all the work we do with young people.   Myself, as a teen mom certainly understand the issues that teens face in terms of isolation and alienation.  Young people do not have a voice in society today.  They are pretty much talked to and not talked with, so there lies a break down in the relationship between teens and adults.  Growing up in East New York [Brooklyn], my son’s father was murdered and I had to identify the body at 19 years old.  I remember the process like it was yesterday.  There was never any time for grieving; I was kind of thrown back into school.  No one really asked me if I was in pain or how I was going to tell this to my son five years from now.  We have a people that have really accepted abnormal behavior as normal.  We need to really move beyond that and understand young people are developing, they're learning, they're curious and they learn from what they see and hear.  We [Adults] model what they do and need to take more accountability.

Q: Our society has gotten to the point where it is acceptable to be rude.  However, too many people look at this as a school issue rather than coming from the home. How do you deal with that challenge?

A: It is pretty natural for people to want to blame someone else for something that is not going right.  The parent or caregiver never sees themselves as having something to do with why the child is acting a certain way.  Problem is also they blame other children.  If society doesn’t start to take ownership of the kind of environment we created for our youngsters; such as children are raising themselves…parents are out of the home because the economy is extremely bad right now.  No one is really around, so they are pretty much raising each other and society fails to take ownership.  If you give a child discipline for the most part they will obey that.  They also don’t like phonies.  We as adults tend to say “don’t drink… don’t smoke,” but they see adults drinking and smoking all day long.  So, what is the message you are actually sending?

Q: Another influence is television. One of the most popular TV Shows is Jersey Shore where teens watch some unethical behavior.  There are not too many shows out there that teens can truly learn from. Can you name some?

A:  This whole thing around media literacy is extremely important.  The impacts of TV and media outlets are extremely influential to our children.  Today certain behaviors are played out on television.  It’s not that Snookie or Situation is a problem on Jersey Shore.  It’s not their fault, but look at all the adults behind the show.  Who is paying for advertising during the show?  Who is the Program Director?  Who is the Casting Director and who writes the reality show?  It is reality of reality to a certain degree.  When kids see Snookie getting paid up to $20,000 an episode for this kind of buffoonery then they say “why should I go to school? What’s the purpose to come out and be unemployed"?  This is their reality in their mind.  It is very tough to fight media outlets.  Media outlets are raising our youngsters.  We need to put more pressure on media outlets to be more responsible.

Q:  Everything is about money. So, how do you get the Movie, TV and record labels to change the content? 

 
A:  The whole financial component of this [entertainment] business is tremendous.   Therefore you are fighting a major entity when you are talking about the bottom line, which is the green.  The second part of it is no one is forcing these youngsters to stand up.  I have been on video sets were hundreds of them are standing in their underwear, sometimes butt naked.  Part of it is we as adults are creating the outlets for them to even do that.  Another component is how to you teach youngsters to value themselves and not these people they see on TV.   There has been some movement on what type of lyrics have been produced today.  Rap has taken a big hit.  No one is really buying music the way they used to. 

Q: There is also the issue of parent denial and not seeing the early warning signs and the school administration when it comes to these issues.  How do you feel about this?

A: I think at a certain point parents become afraid of their own children.  I think you have communities of people that are afraid of their own children.  I say that openly because you have communities where children pretty much run the place.  At a certain time adults will not go out to get groceries.  Adults will not ask a group of youngsters to move that are blocking a sidewalk.  We walk with our heads down.  The responsibility of the parent is to make sure their child doesn’t go down a developmental path that has a negative outcome.  Most parents just say there child is going through growing pains.  They need to identify when a child has multiple suspensions, is no longer interested in school, or spending way too much time in front of the TV.  Parents aren’t necessarily as engaged; they don’t know how to divide up their time between working and holding down a household.  You normally start to see the break down between 8 to 14 and at that time it is too late.

Q:  There is also the hypocrisy of our government.  We have been hearing how we need to be more competitive against the educational systems of other countries, but yet continue to take money out of our own.  We are not building schools, but building jails.

A:  Absolutely!  The idea of making the school year longer suggests school is a childcare center versus being a learning institution.  We need to make sure they deliver a curriculum that is engaging and meaningful that the children will be interested in completing in order to be a productive citizen.  I think the curriculum is antiquated, youngster are communicating with people all over the world, so I do not think that [longer school year] is the issue.  Parents have an awesome power if they realize their strengths.  We need to organize more to push for curriculum that stimulates our children.  What does it mean to be competitive in the world we live in today?  Do youngsters even understand what that means?  I don’t think the United States is taking up the issue in a way that has any long term impact.