Essentially yes...
The kids in question here didn’t know that it was fake and harmless so it scared the crap out of them and gave them a new perspective on life...which is likely the reaction the teacher was looking for in the first place. Isn’t that the whole reason for such programs as ‘Scared Straight’?
While I disagree with his methods the teacher most likely has a very real and valid point...that many kids these days are so pampered, protected and ignorant that they have no concept of ‘the real’ and make light of things, make fun of and mock people, situations and seriousness where people are injured or killed by violence.
Case in point…When ‘Saving Private Ryan’ came out in theaters, a buddy and I went to see it. The opening sequence of the beach landing tore my heart out and left me with my jaw on the floor. The movie wrecked me. After the movie I witnessed scores of grown men weeping in the bathroom. It was one of the most profound moments of my life. However, during the movie, a few rows in front of us, two teen aged kids sat there and laughed at, ridiculed and mocked the horror portrayed and the people getting blown to bits. I tell you that I wanted to strangle the little twerps for their callousness, disrespect and colossal stupidity. Put those two kids in that very real situation and they would have died from shock without even being hit.
The point I’m making is while there is no question that what the teacher did was wrong, I can certainly empathize with why he did what he did. And more importantly, if people here on this forum and everywhere stopped to ponder the incident a while before jumping to conclusions and calling for the guy’s head (George Zimmerman?), then maybe they would recognize the dangerous indicators that this case reveals about the state of our society and culture.
Don’t be the frog that lets itself boil to death…
they're teenagers. That's what teenagers do. They're immature and unless their parents have instilled a little bit of discipline or empathy, some shop teacher pulling out a fake gun isn't going to change them. The "scared straight" programs are just as useless to these little miscreants. The young kids usually go right back to the behavior thatboriginally gotbthem in the program.