Remarks To The Faculty
Southwest Secondary School
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Date Unknown - In The Late Spring Of 1990
By C. Everett Koop, MD, SCD
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Southwest Sec. School
Mnpl. Minn.
For the past -- weeks this school has played the role of gracious host to my [ . . . ] Kathy Sulkes[?] and Kate Tapley[?] -- and me is we have put together a 1 hour prime time TV Special on Health that will be one of a five part series to be shown on NBC in the Fall.
This show [ . . . ]th of adolescents [ . . . ] shows that harsh teen [ . . . ] this one will be differ[ . . . ]
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At the outset we had to disabuse ourselves of some common misconceptions.
First, we put aside the notion that adolescence is a time of natural good health, a time when children blossom beautifully into young adults, a time of high energy and well-being.
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You may not know it, but adolescents are the one group of American society whose health has not shown improvement over the last 70 years.
Our challenge today stems from the nature of the adolescent health problems.
No longer infectious or other "physical diseases" linger out there to prey upon unsuspecting and innocent victims, the threats to adolescent health lie in the realm of behavioral problems.
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It is what adolescents choose to do that brings them to the health problems that they suffer.
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Some of the problems of adolescent health often can be traced to the growing gap between adults and adolescents in communication and understanding.  We want to highlite [sic] that.
Adolescents seem to think differently.
They seem to be inherent risk-takers.
All evidence to the contrary, they have a sense that they are immortal.
So they have an seemingly instinctive response to tune out an admonition that begins with "don't."
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Adolescents
Indulgence and Neglect.
Adolescents are criticized for not living up to society's expectations, but then society has not conveyed to them what it expects of them.
There are many cracks in our society, and adolescents are prone to fall through them.
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Added to all these problems stemming from an uncertain place in our society, most adolescents, at one time or another, suffer real and unique problems in health.
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However we put the show together it will be designed to help both adolescents and their parents.  We hope you like it.
On behalf of Kathy and Kate I want to thank[?] [ . . . ] -- the teacher, the students and their parents.  We love the kids in this school and they'll always be in our hearts.