What happened to the days when schools just taught the 3 R's? From the San Francisco Chronicle-
On a Monday morning last month, California Highway Patrol officers visited 20 classrooms at El Camino High School to announce some horrible news: Students had been killed in car wrecks over the weekend.El Camino isn't the first school to do such a stunt.Classmates wept. Some became hysterical.
A few hours and many tears later, though, the pain turned to fury when the teenagers learned that it was all a hoax - a scared-straight exercise designed by school officials, with several dozen students' participation, to dramatize the consequences of drinking and driving.
As seniors prepare for graduation parties today, school officials in the largely prosperous San Diego suburb are defending themselves against allegations they went too far.
At assemblies where speakers talked about the dangers of drunken driving, some students held posters that read: "Death is real. Don't play with our emotions."
The stunt was a twist on a program called Every 15 Minutes, which was designed in the early 1990s, when alcohol-related accidents killed someone an average of once every 15 minutes. By 2006, the frequency dropped to once every 39 minutes, according to Mothers Against Drunk Driving, which is not associated with the program.One could say schools aren't just meant to teach children how to read, write, and add, but also to prepare them for life as adults. DUI is both dangerous and often deadly, but I think most people including teenagers realize that already. The problem lays in a person not knowing their own limitations and fully recognizing the risk to themselves and others.*****
In 2002, a high school in Eagle Grove, Iowa, north of Des Moines, used a hoax death to "step up" the program, said Mark Kay. His son, Aaron, dropped out of sight after school, while his brother messaged friends asking if they'd seen him. The next morning, students were invited to view a coffin in the school foyer where the boy was playing dead.
Oceanside schools Superintendent Larry Perondi said he fielded only a few calls from parents, while the PTA chapter said it had not heard any complaints.
One disturbing bit of the story
"They were traumatized, but we wanted them to be traumatized," said guidance counselor Lori Tauber. "That's how they get the message."I think most parents send their children to school to be educated in a non-sadistic fashion. Being thirty years removed from high school and with no living children, maybe I'm just of touch with what schools do today.
Hat tip- Joanne Jacobs
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Comments (14)
Gee, maybe next they can st... (Below threshold)1. Posted by epador | June 16, 2008 9:25 AM | Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Gee, maybe next they can stage a fake mass murderer's spree to educate students, faculty and staff how to not violate the perpetrators rights as they die?
1. Posted by epador | June 16, 2008 9:25 AM |
Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Posted on June 16, 2008 09:25
2. Posted by ArmyReserveWife | June 16, 2008 9:33 AM | Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Geez, and people wonder why home schooling is on the rise!
2. Posted by ArmyReserveWife | June 16, 2008 9:33 AM |
Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Posted on June 16, 2008 09:33
3. Posted by tyree | June 16, 2008 10:00 AM | Score: 3 (5 votes cast)
We had a teacher at our high school who was confined to a wheel chair. When some of the student drivers became noticeably reckless the entire school was summoned to the gym. After a long wait Mr. Quinn wheeled in and told the crowd why he was in a wheelchair, and how he was the only survivor of the automobile accident. It was traumatic for many of the careless drivers also, but the difference is it wasn't a lie.
3. Posted by tyree | June 16, 2008 10:00 AM |
Score: 3 (5 votes cast)
Posted on June 16, 2008 10:00
4. Posted by Jeff Blogworthy | June 16, 2008 10:20 AM | Score: 1 (3 votes cast)
The program must've been designed by a Democrat. Message: Lying is admirable as long as your intentions are good.
4. Posted by Jeff Blogworthy | June 16, 2008 10:20 AM |
Score: 1 (3 votes cast)
Posted on June 16, 2008 10:20
5. Posted by GarandFan![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://wizbangblog.com/nav-commenters.gif)
| June 16, 2008 11:10 AM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
The paper had a major article this morning about why the staff at El Camino High (local school) thought the idea was good. The word "intentions" was floated heavily. Just goes to prove that educators can do stupid things just like anyone else. But then, "educators" and "stupid" go hand in hand in Kalifornia schools today.
5. Posted by GarandFan![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://wizbangblog.com/nav-commenters.gif)
| June 16, 2008 11:10 AM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on June 16, 2008 11:10
6. Posted by COgirl | June 16, 2008 11:21 AM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
When I lived in CA and was active in the PTA, putting on programs about the dangers of alcohol fell on me. We were aware of the program that was put on at this school, but chose not to do it. Instead, we had a wrecked car brought on campus and we had students "enact" a scene where teens chose to drink and drive. The kids wrote and performed.
The most meaningful program we put on was a true life story where the boy who had been in the accident (and who was pretty messed up for life) came and told his story.
It's a fine line to toe here. As a parent, you want to make sure that your child is aware of the dangers. We were grateful the school allowed us the time to reach a maximum number of kids.
6. Posted by COgirl | June 16, 2008 11:21 AM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on June 16, 2008 11:21
7. Posted by cirby | June 16, 2008 11:50 AM | Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Of course, the kids did learn the valuable lesson "teachers and police officers will lie to you at the drop of a hat."
7. Posted by cirby | June 16, 2008 11:50 AM |
Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Posted on June 16, 2008 11:50
8. Posted by Piso Mojado | June 16, 2008 12:44 PM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Does anyone really expect anything different from California Indoctrination Centers, oops, I mean schools.
8. Posted by Piso Mojado | June 16, 2008 12:44 PM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on June 16, 2008 12:44
9. Posted by lowmal | June 16, 2008 5:24 PM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Wonder what the reasoning and outcry would be if instead of the students dying from the actions of a drunk driver, they were killed at a stopped bus by an islamic terrorist suicide bomber..
9. Posted by lowmal | June 16, 2008 5:24 PM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on June 16, 2008 17:24
10. Posted by sweetchuckd | June 16, 2008 6:24 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
This story also made http://detentionslip.org! It's got tons of crazy headlines like this from our schools.
10. Posted by sweetchuckd | June 16, 2008 6:24 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on June 16, 2008 18:24
11. Posted by muh-oon | June 16, 2008 10:26 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
The best part of this lesson is that no one really dies from drunk driving, it is just a hoax that all the adults are in on, and tomorrow your dead friend will be right back in class with you.
11. Posted by muh-oon | June 16, 2008 10:26 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on June 16, 2008 22:26
12. Posted by James Cloninger | June 17, 2008 12:06 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
What happened to the days when schools just taught the 3 R's?
They still are taught: Revisionism, Radical Ideology, and Reproductive Studies.
12. Posted by James Cloninger | June 17, 2008 12:06 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on June 17, 2008 00:06
13. Posted by James Cloninger | June 17, 2008 12:08 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
One could say schools aren't just meant to teach children how to read, write, and add, but also to prepare them for life as adults.
Gee, how about the students turn around and teach the administration a thing or two about life as adults...say a class action suit for emotional distress.
13. Posted by James Cloninger | June 17, 2008 12:08 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on June 17, 2008 00:08
14. Posted by Mike | June 17, 2008 7:32 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
"Gee, maybe next they can stage a fake mass murderer's spree to educate students, faculty and staff"
Epador, they've already done that back in February:
"An armed man who burst into a classroom at Elizabeth City State University was role-playing in an emergency response drill, but neither the students nor assistant professor Jingbin Wang knew that."
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/higher_education/story/968432.html
14. Posted by Mike | June 17, 2008 7:32 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on June 17, 2008 19:32