In Focus: Rockland

Faking death as a ‘lesson’

June

There’s little question we need to pay close attention to the issues of substance abuse (including alcohol) and for DWI (driving while intoxicated) prevention in Lower Hudson Valley. We have had more than our share (and more than enough) of people killed in drunk-driving accidents. We have seen parents charged with DWI with their kids in the car, young people killed in drunken driving crashes and even a couple of wrong-way drivers charged with DWI (including one this morning on I-287). SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions) and local schools have teamed up to stage the pre-prom crash scene, or the “grim reaper” who taps students during the day who then “play dead,” all in the name of alcohol- and substance-abuse awareness.
But the DWI prevention program at El Camino High in Oceanside, CA (northern San Diego County) went a little too far, I think. School officials and police led students to believe that some of their classmates had been killed in DWI accidents. They let them mourn their peers’ passing for several hours. Students recall screaming and crying, nausea from that terrible wave of emotion as they mourned a friend. Officials said it was justified if it saved one life.

Hmm. It seems rather cruel. And, this is a pretty big school. No one there, no beloved teacher, fellow student, administrator could give a first-hand account of what it is like to lose a loved one? There was no program that could be effective short of shocking the living daylights out of these kids, and toying with their emotions? Yes, teens feel invincible, and it’s a hard lesson to get to sink in. But faking death? Seems too much to me. Thoughts?

This entry was posted on Friday, June 13th, 2008 at 3:24 pm by Nancy Cutler.
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2 Responses to “Faking death as a ‘lesson’”

CJ June 13th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
That’s called emotional terrorism.
Nat Gertler June 13th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
If you want to teach kids that they’re not invincible, showing them that death is fake, that their fellow students really were immune is not the way to do it.

Of course, if all you want to do is teach them that the cops and the faculty are not to be trusted, then this sounds like the perfect method. And emotionally scarring the kids is just a bonus, right?

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