I really don't think the teacher thought this one through. Regardless of how old the kids were, it might be a little bit insensitive if any of the students had experienced suicide/attempted suicide in some way or another.
I don't really know how I feel about this. Per usual, I'm on the fence. It may be considered insensitive for those who have though of/attempted/had someone they cared about commit suicide, but I think it may have been beneficial for them, if they trusted each other enough to talk about what they had written.
I think it would be an opportunity for someone to mention how they had been feeling lately, if they didn't have any opportunities before. It's not an easy thing to bring up in conversation: "Hey, I've been feeling deeply depressed lately"; it might be easier to have something like that to use as a segueway. I know I wouldn't have minded, when I was in the 11th grade.
Also,
(quote) Ted Koy said he was outraged about his 15-year-old grandson's assignment.
"There's enough death and despair and hopelessness in the world without the schools having to teach this stuff," Mr Koy told Channel 10.
"We spend millions of dollars each year trying to prevent this sort of thing with young people." (/quote)
To me, that sounds like the equivalent of "Don't teach sex ed., there's enough sex in the world already".
Tura_Satana
Virginia Beach, VA
March 2004
APR 02, 2004 07:22 AM