Posted on 06/13/2008 5:14:21 AM PDT by libertarian27
Teachers defend shock tactics in DWI program
OCEANSIDE, Calif. (AP) — On a Monday morning last month, highway patrol officers visited 20 classrooms at El Camino High School to announce some horrible news: Several students had been killed in car wrecks over the weekend.
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 to dramatize the consequences of drinking and driving.
As seniors prepare for graduation parties Friday, school officials in the largely prosperous San Diego suburb are defending themselves against allegations they went too far.
At school assemblies, some students held up posters that read: "Death is real. Don't play with our emotions."
Michelle de Gracia, 16, was in physics class when an officer announced that her missing classmate David, a popular basketball player, had died instantly after being rear-ended by a drunken driver. She said she felt nauseated but was too stunned to cry.
(Excerpt) Read more at ap.google.com ...
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!
Reason 7,897 that I homeschool. Mental abuse for the good of the children. Idiots.
Not sure when the "oh, we're just kidding" part comes in though...
And make them angry so that they will act more rebellious.
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.
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
Rule of thumb: Lying to convey the truth doesn’t work.
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
Exactly. It’s more likely to breed rebellion. As a parent I would have been incensed. They would have seen me coming through the door again. What a moronic stunt.
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?
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.
"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.
Years ago the state police here in Illinois and elsewhere had a device called the CONVINCER. It was sled on an incline. They broiught it to Malls etc. It simulated a crash at 5 miles per hour. It convinced you that hitting another object at only 5 miles per hour without a seat belt would send you through the the windshield of the car.
I’m all for convincing young people who are driving about the risks they take driving when sober let alone drunk, but to do it in a creative honest way.
I’d like to know what MADD thinks about this prank.
From the article:
“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.”
Where are the parents?
I can see the idiot program pulling a brain dead stunt like this...oops....but where are the parents?
Has the whole society become numb to action?
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.
They should be sued out of their houses and pensions.
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