Cruel or clever?

[jojapeach]

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.

[amanda6035]

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 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.

[TexasWSP]

Originally Posted by amanda6035

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 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.

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.

[AGDee]

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.

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by AGDee

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.

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.

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.