The new generations lack greatly in skills learned in the past–for instance, how to “rest your eyes” while advertisements play on the television. But that’s too easy. Violence is a large factor in high schools. So, what would be a fun way to grasp attention and fight off this violence? My Little Pony taught me how to be calmer as a kid; recently, I began watching the series again and have noticed a more calm and patient outcome in myself.
My Little Pony is a great example of friendship and how not everything has to be violent to be solved. Nowadays, high schools are number one for school fights, with violence being so common. Not too long ago, two boys were caught fighting in the stairwell. The boys had only seen each other in the halls, yet had never spoken or known about each other. Both boys thought the other was “mean mugging” them, and even heard whispers from the other side and assumed it was about them. This misunderstanding led to a huge clash, when it could have easily been solved with words. If they were watching and taught MLP, they’d learn it’s okay to let your emotions out and talk about it without laying hands on each other.
Often, students feel uncomfortable and ashamed to bring up their emotions to adults, especially young men. A stigma around guys is that they should show no emotion and no weakness. This isn’t true. In MLP, male ponies also show weakness and are not made fun of, but rather embraced for sharing such personal details. For example, Discord, a non-pony individual, often resides with the main ponies for help and direction through hard times. Rather than calling him a girl and other rude words, they tend to smile and work through everything together.
Bullying is a huge problem and has always been. With the rising normalcy of bullying, most people don’t realize how much it hurts the other person. In MLP, they go over how bullying affects people and why you shouldn’t bully others. A common example is the mental effect it has. We have seen an uprise in suicide due to bullying; this issue has sadly affected elementary school students as well. However, this could be avoided if everyone was forced to learn about these issues through MLP.
Many argue that schools shouldn’t waste their time teaching MLP. However, they disregard the statistics at which high school students become violent and bottle up everything until they let it out on each other. Many students don’t feel comfortable opening up and discussing how they feel to adults and fellow classmates. In MLP, they reiterate multiple times throughout almost every episode how important it is to talk about your feelings and clear misunderstandings. This makes learning through MLP all the more important.
Embracing the human part of us and using our emotions for talking, rather than fighting, assures a healthier mind and body later on in life. With this class, a decrease in fights and arguments will be seen.
Further Reading:
The Impact of My Little Pony on Children’s Mental Health
Activism Character Identification and Frequency of Watching My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
