Cruel or clever?
 

School officials told students that friends had died, turns out to be a hoax.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25123570/

I'd be pissed. That is no way to teach anything.

That's one of the most messed up things I've ever heard of, and the school officials who planned it need to be fired. Not to mention - did they ask the student whose name they used if it was OK to tell the whole school he was dead?

I bet it worked.

I'm as much against drunk driving as anyone; as I've posted many times on this board, my wife and I were hit head on by a drunk driver last year.

This, however, is too much. There are lots of "scared straight" speakers out there who could instill a similar amount of fear and caution, without going that far.

When I was in high school we did something kind of like this--we asked several students from different school groups to be "dead" for the day.

Names were read over the PA system once an hour to demonstrate the number of losses to drunk driving each day. When their name was called student participants left class and went to get a sign to wear explaining they were killed by drunk driving and put on makeup to make them look pale. Then they were not able to talk to anyone for the rest of the day until they were "revived" at an assembly.

Something like this might be effective in place of totally traumatizing the students.

We did something as a yearly exercise for SADD. The "dead" students would be dressed all in black with a sign. They would be silent for the entire day. Students took exams and went to class, but teachers knew not to ask them any questions. We also put a wreck on the front lawn of the school saying Don't Drink and Drive. One year they were able to get the car that 4 students had been in when they were in a DDA. 2 people were killed and one paralyzed.

I don't know how I feel about this exercise the officials did. I wonder if the school is having real problems with underage drinking and they felt they had to do something dramatic.

the quote that got me:

"Yes, they were traumatized, but we wanted them to be traumatized."

I just don't think ANYTHING justifies this - especially after the whole MySpace hoax thing with an adult doing it.

What's next - to cut down on premarital sex, they pose as Planned Parenthood employees and tell everyone they're pregnant and have AIDS?

Where's adpiucf? I know that we've talked about this on GC before. The schools need to be using the slideshow that the scared straight speakers used in Broward County, FL back in the late 90s. I don't know of a single friend of mine who I went to high school school with who would ever drive drunk or without a seatbelt after seeing that slideshow. Horrific...that's the only word I can use to describe it.

I'm surprised that the police officers who broke the news actually agreed to participate in this. When the school officials talked to the police about their plans, why in the world did the police agree to participate? It seems like someone really didn't think this through.

I'd also like to know how the "dead" students opted in.

I like LPIdelta's idea better.

That sounds like the video we saw in driver's ed about wearing seatbelts. Either way, there are a lot of creative ways out there to get the point across without doing something like this.

Can't it be both?

How totally messed up. If my kids' school did something like this you better believe they would hear from me. The things that LPiDelta and Raggedy Ann mention make sense. This is just cruel.

And now, if a student really does die at one of these schools, nobody is going to believe the news at first!

It is just ignorant.

Someone should call the school officials and tell them that one of their kids was killed in a car accident.

Kinda sucks. I like the way LPIDelta's high school did it better.

But "scared straight" doesn't work, anyway. Doesn't work for juvenile delinquents, doesn't work for safe sex and STD counseling, and the list goes on.

The students were "scared pissed" or "scared sad" but not "scared straight." They will do whatever they do regardless.

For the old foges out there, does anyone remember the kid that did the speech tour either back in the late 70s or very early 80s? He had killed a teenage girl (he was 16 or 17 at the time) while he was driving drunk, and he was sentenced to traveling the country, speaking to other kids about DD, and he had to send a check for $1 to the girl's parents every week for some amount of time. (not his whole life, but I think at least a number of years) The judge wanted to make sure that at least one time every week he was reminded of the life he'd taken and of the family she'd left behind.

On the face of it, that didn't seem like too harsh a punishment, but he was very honest about how much that affected him. He said after a couple of months, he would just dread the day of the week he had to sit down, write that check, and put it in the mail. One night he got so worked up, he sat down for hours and wrote out however many $1 checks would have satisfied his sentence and mailed them all off. The family mailed them back, they wouldn't let him off the hook. $1, every week. That was not only a very effective presentation for us to hear, but I love the idea of that punishment.

Back to the OP, I like LPIDelta's version better too.

Exactly. Those kids will be out at a field party by Saturday night.

We had a star athlete from my high school die when I was a sophomore from a drunk driving accident....people were pretty shaken up for maybe for or five days. By the next weekend it was back to the same routine.

I'm not gonna lie, I remember passing the cross and flowers on the side of the very road he died on, on my way out to a lake house party maybe two weeks later. I was not very good friends with the guy but still.....

This was a half-decent idea that should have been hatched out for another hour. LPIDetla's high school executed their idea very well. It's almost like the HS in the news did not take time to network and research the idea very well, or else, another administrator somewhere would have connected the school with the better executed plan.

In either instance, I'm sure there's at least one student who has decided they'll never drink and drive because of it. I pray that's the case.

I cant believe not one other person who has posted to this thread thought it was a pretty good idea. We were discussing this on another message board I chat on, and the large majority of us thought it was a good idea.

High school kids need to be scared, so that way, they think twice before making the decision to get in a car drunk. I think the uproar in all this just proves that kids today are being coddled too much. Shame on those teachers and administrators for doing such an afwul thing :rolleyes: PUH-LEASE....It was supposed to cause emotional distress. It did exactly what it was supposed to do.

I think about what I would have felt like if I had been one of those students in the classroom. I probably would have been outraged, as a teenager too. But the truth of the matter is - they are DAMN LUCKY that this was a hoax. I fully believe it served it's purpose. If I was in a classroom and heard that a friend of mine died in a car accident related to drunk driving, it'd probably make me physically ill. And then when I found out it was a hoax, I would be thankful it was a hoax. Because 99% of the time - you cant bring that person back. So the next time an officer goes into the room to deliver the news, it's not going to be a hoax. What kind of reaction will there be then? That person wont be coming back, and the students will remember this hoax and think "if only "Suzy" had listened...and hadn't drank and drove..

I applaud the school for doing this. Reality check.

I think the act would have been more successful, and not cause so much of a scene if they had chosen less students. 26...is alot. no wonder it didnt seem realistic. Of course, I dont know how large the school is. Maybe 1 or 2 students per grade level would have been more realistic, and rumors wouldnt have started to fly before the truth could have been exposed.

Graduation season is always a scary time for parents because the number of kids killed in drunk driving accidents is ridiculous.

Years ago, a mother lost her just out of high school son in a drunk driving accident. Instead of towing his car to the junkyard, she gave it to MADD. The car wrapped around a utility pole, so you can imagine how totaled it was.

Every year during graduation season, MADD gets permission from the City and County to put that car on a grassy lot near the freeway to remind everyone to be safe. I appreciate the message, although I am a little creeped out that someone died in that car.

I like madmax's idea of telling the officials their kids were killed.

Thankful? I'd be fucking pissed. If someone led me to believe my best friend had died.....and then said, oh, nevermind, we were tricking you so you'd learn a lesson?

That isn't a "lesson". It's a cruel attempt at trying to play mommy/daddy. In my opinion, most high school aged kids don't operate on a level where that would positively affect them in the manner the administrators figured. Once the school found out it was a joke....the act would be ridiculed and made fun of...not discussed as some kind of endearing, contemplate this, we should take more personal responsibility type situation. That's how most high school kids function.

My parents sat me down in front of a projector and had my grandfather, a neurosurgeon, show me slides of drunk driving victims. That worked pretty well.

Furthermore, when I have kids...I expect to teach them myself about life lessons and send them to school to learn and study...not have the school administrators play emotionally disturbing hoaxes on them to prove a point.

When a death does actually occur, they bring in highly specialized crisis counselors (I have a friend who is one) to meet with the kids and help them work through it. This is done for a reason. Adolescents are very black and white and it's not unusual after something really does happen for a friend, boyfriend or girlfriend to attempt suicide to "be with" the person who died. Admissions on our psych unit would skyrocket after a high school student death with kids who were suicidal or depressed.. even kids who didn't know the deceased. Adolescents become hopeless very quickly. You have no idea what other issues/problems some of them are dealing with. When 5 of our kids from the high school marching band were in an accident (none killed, no drinking involved), the kids were downright hysterical. The MySpace pages of the kids involved had hundreds of posts within a couple hours. It is a major trauma for these kids, not a symptom of their being coddled. Additionally, it doesn't do what they hope for it to do. In the risk management training provided to Alpha Gam volunteers a few years ago, one of the things noted was that, after a drinking or alcohol related death on a campus, the effects of the loss last less than 6 months.

I don't think that anybody trained in adolescent development would believe that this was a good idea.

Exactly. It was also completely naive on the part of the administrators, since it's highly unlikely that they would know the history of every single student at that school, and how something like this would impact them. Let's face it, HS isn't the same as it was when most of us were there. There are more kids facing mental illness, on medications, and dealing with the aftermath of traumatic events, and this could have just pushed someone over the edge.

In Drivers' Ed, as well as during prom and graduation season, we saw so many presentations about drunk driving. Also, the local MADD chapter will bring a car totaled in a DD accident. In one case, they brought a car in which a HS student had been killed. This was far more effective than this nonsense. I expect some heads to roll.

Do you honestly think that MADD presentations about drunk drivers...photos, videos, parents coming into tell the story of their dead son or daughter, etc etc, are going to have any impact on these kids? I dont. Kids don't pay attention, and theyt sure as heck don't care. I remember going to those assemblies in high school, thinking "blah blah blah, don't drink and drive, yeah, I know...god this is boring...why am I here? I dont drink anyway, so this crap doesnt apply to me...." and I guarantee you, I wasn't the only one who felt that way.

Before I started hanging out with construction workers all day, I counseled college students and high schoolers, so I KNOW that this stuff has an impact on some kids, but not all of them. Most people, if they're going to drink or drive, nothing will stop them from doing so. But, there's that 20% or so who can be discouraged from something like this. That's the 20% we're all trying to reach out to. The administrators out in California went about getting those 20% in the wrong way.

So, yeah...there are those kids who think like you did, but there are also smarter and more empathetic kids out there as well.

I don't think you're giving kids a whole lot of credit for their intelligence. If kids aren't going to get the message, because they think it could never happen to them, going this overboard isn't going to change that.

LPIDelta's example was a great one; a similar one I've heard is for the administrators to fill a gymnasium or classroom with a representative number of students (number killed in a day, an hour, etc., in incidents related to drunk driving). Each of those tactics is effective, and gets across the point to those who care enough.

All you're doing here is opening the door for the students to question the sincerity of the administration. The most extreme way of showing something isn't always the right way to do it, and putting kids through trauma to prove a point doesn't seem like a productive idea.

It worked for me. And if they taught at least one kid not to drink and drive or to wear their seatbelt, than I think it was worth it.

During my orientation at college, the Orietation Leaders (students) were talking about all of the terrible diseases you can get in college. Then one kid decided to come out and say that he has AIDS (and how he got it if I'm not mistaken). All the OLs ran off stage crying and in hysterics, hiding in their grief.

Then they came back on stage and told us that he didn't really have AIDS and weren't we glad it wasn't real? Um...NO! I was embarrassed because I had witnessed something so personal. Sad beyond belief for him. And really really upset. But it wasn't real, so everything's supposed to be cool now? RIGHT...

This can go both ways though. I'm sure this outrageous stunt "taught at least one kid not to drink and drive or to wear their seatbelt" and so therefore, was worth it.

What exactly are you trying to imply? I was already smart eough to not drink and drive. And for those of you think i'm not giving kids enough credit...think about it. There are alot of kids out there, who are smart enough, ALREADY to not drink and drive. They don't need some dumb school assembly to tell them not to do so. THAT is what I was getting at. It didnt apply to me because I didnt drink, and honestly, at that point in my life, I didnt associate with kids who did. I knew it was illegal because I was underage and didnt associate myself with kids who thought it was cool. I didnt feel the need to be empathetic to kids who were stupid enough to tip back the bottle because they thought it made them look cool, and especially for those, who decided to get behind the wheel after having done so.

I think those 20% that was mentioned is already smart enough to not be stupid...so again, as I said...pictures, and videos, and testimony, aren't going to do jack squat for them. It's the other 80% you need to worry about. And if they "suffer a little emotional distress" because of it, then good. They probably need it.

only in this case it was done with potential emotional trauma and definite harm to people's trust to affect one person; the assemblies probably didn't hurt anyone.

We're not talking slight emotional distress. Do you really think that, at age 17, if you were told your best friend or your boyfriend was killed, it would be "a little emotional distress?"

The core problem with the prevention of drinking and driving is that, when you're drunk, you're not making good decisions and you don't have good judgment. EVERYBODY knows you shouldn't drink and drive and most people know someone who has died as a result of someone drinking and driving. Yet, when someone is a little too drunk to be driving, they usually believe that they are fine and don't think they are too drunk to drive. Therefore, no matter what they've experienced in the past (whether it's a fake death or a real one), it's not going to matter!

Links to the only local coverage I could find so far.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/n...mc30brush.html

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniont...1mi31madd.html

The second link goes into more detail about the faux accident and deaths.

Yeah, I'd be really mad. If someone told me my boyfriend died then say j/k, I'd freaking kill them! I'd be such a wreck. I agree that it wouldn't have the benefit the administrators thought it could.

I think the video people were talking about is called "Red Asphalt."

Yes, the students learned . . .
 

. . . that their high school administration cannot be trusted. What happens when they need to have a fire drill, or God forbid, have a security problem?

Exactly. It's like all the DARE balderdash where they tell kids that alcohol and marijuana (and hell, I think these days, tobacco) is equally as dangerous as heroin. Once they try pot and realize their brain didn't explode, they figure all they were taught about the other stuff was a lie too, so why not give it a whirl?

I wasn't the most stable in high school (shut up, I know what yinz are thinking) and if someone had gotten up on stage and said my best friend or the boy I was in love with had died, I probably would have quietly left the assembly, gone to the nurse's office, and stuffed whatever pills were available down my throat. I don't think I'm the only one.

Not that it should make much difference in the overall debate, but I read something recently that suggested the school was planning the traditional "Ghost-Out" thing that the kids all know is fake, with kids pulled out of class and deathlike make-up etc, and it was the kids involved with the planning that said they wanted to make it more real. I'm surprised the adults signed off though.

I also have a hard time imagining that you could really make a whole school believe that the event had actually happened at the level that it would actually be traumatic, unless the kids at my school are just usually savvy.
The kids do have contact with the outside world these days with cellphones and texting, and unless the entire community was participating in the hoax, the kids at my school would know there was no wreck in about 15 minutes.

I don't think you should traumatize kids and say it's for their own good, but a lot of high school kids do love drama and measure things like assemblies by intensity of emotion felt. (It baffles me and results in many a cheezed-up, overly emotional event; don't even get me started on youth group events.)

I wouldn't be at all surprised if a lot of the kids at the school regarded this drunk driving thing as an effective lesson about drunk driving just as we all think it was a horrible idea.

That's because it was a terrible idea. As others have said, all that any of these students learned was that their school administration is willing to manipulate them.

When the day was over, nobody was going to remember how horrible they felt to learn of the death of a friend or classmate. Any feelings about that were wiped out by learning that they had been lied to about something as serious as the deaths of their contemporaries.

I'm sure the kids involved with planning the prom think it would make it "more real" if they could have actual alcohol at their Mardi Gras themed prom. I don't see the adults signing off on that one however. :p