[libertarian27]

That's right, scare kids to never believe authority figures again.

[tsmith130]

Hey, maybe it will lead to them questioning other ‘stuff’ their teachers have pumped into their heads. Like, oh I don’t know, say for example....global warming!

[Damocles]

Reason 7,897 that I homeschool. Mental abuse for the good of the children. Idiots.

[C210N]

Similar technique currently in School use: sea-levels will rise 100 feet within 10 years, we're killing all the rainforests, extincting earth's wildlife species, and burning all the little remaining oil. Oh, and killing off the American Indian.

Not sure when the "oh, we're just kidding" part comes in though...

[DannyTN]

"That's right, scare kids to never believe authority figures again."

And make them angry so that they will act more rebellious.

[RogerD]

Just how stupid are these teachers? It’s not hard to find valid, honest, and emotionally compelling reasons why kids shouldn’t drink and drive. It is hard (or more likely impossible) to teach children something of value by lying to them. Even after quite a bit of reflection, I am amazed at the stupidity of the people who used this stunt on children.

[brytlea]

This does seem like an exceedingly stupid thing to do. Besides, every year I taught HS we lost at least one student to car accidents, often involving alcohol, and it didn’t seem to scare the rest of the kids straight.
susie

[Mad Dawg]

Rule of thumb: Lying to convey the truth doesn’t work.

[libertarian27]

Chicken-little Government Tactics.

I was amazed to see it performed so blatantly in this case.

I’d expect AlGore to do something like this, but jeepers.....

The school psychologist won’t have to worry about budget cuts/s

[naturalized]

Moreover, it reinforces the message that unless it happens to you, it really isn’t that meaningful. Isn’t their community filled with surviving family members more than willing to share their horror? Can you imagine if you had lost a child and heard that your schools didn’t think your experience meaningful enough?

[lexusppd]

It does them and it may prevent them from becoming another DUI statistic..Seeing a friend drunk will or should invoke the memory of how they felt when they were told of these deaths, even though they were untrue. The memory may just prevent them from jumping in the car with him or may encourage them to prevent the drunk from getting behind the wheel.

[Ghengis]

There was an unannounced county disaster drill several years ago (I can't recall the location right now). The officials began the drill by announcing to the local hospital trauma team that the medical helicopter had crashed with unknown casualties to patient and staff. This trauma team included many persons who also worked on the medical helicopter transport team and they were understandably very distressed with the news.

When the staff eventually learned that the "crash" was a drill and that they had not lost friends and colleagues, the officials were fortunate to leave with their lives intact.

Lesson learned: Do not cry wolf with emotions regarding the lives of loved ones.

[tom h]

OCEANSIDE, Calif. (AP) — On a Monday morning last month, highway patrol officers visited 20 classrooms at El Camino High School

"school officials in the largely prosperous San Diego suburb"

Once again, the media shows its tendency to distort the facts when it will make the article more compelling.

Oceanside is not a "largely prosperous" suburb. It is adjacent to Camp Pendleton and, for north county San Diego, is a community of modest means. It would not be wrong to state that of the 10-15 individual cities in north county, that it's average household income is at, or near, the bottom. It is adjacent to prosperous communities, yes -- such as Carlsbad and Encinitas. But no one who lives in San Diego would call Oceanside prosperous.

So why does the media want to dramatize the story? Because scaring inner city teens is not as newsworthy. But scaring, pampered prosperous middle-class kids is.

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

"They were traumatized, but we wanted them to be traumatized," said guidance counselor Lori Tauber, who helped organize the shocking exercise and got dozens of students to participate. "That's how they get the message."

Un-friggin-believable!

The real lesson imparted to these kids is don't believe anything authority figures, especilly school officials and police officers, ever tell you.

[jimfree]

They should be sued out of their houses and pensions.

[LibWhacker]

"They were traumatized, but we wanted them to be traumatized," said guidance counselor Lori Tauber, who helped organize the shocking exercise and got dozens of students to participate. "That's how they get the message."

No consideration whatsoever given to the other effects the stunt might have, or to the other messages it might send.

[relictele]

Teachers squandering credibility? Just another day at the office.

[libertarian27]

Ping.

This one runs the gambit.
Pick your liberal poison, it’s all here.

[grjr21]

“So kids what did you learn at school today ?”

” Well dad we learned that Police and our teachers are liars “

[traviskicks]

That's right, scare kids to never believe authority figures again.

Hopefully they learned their lesson. Distrust of authority is a valuable life lesson, probably the only useful thing they learned this year in their socialized educational program. :)

[kbennkc]

Is the tort of intentional infliction of extreme emotional distress still recognized ?