School defends drunken driving deaths hoax.

I'm all for getting the message across. I'm sure this could've been executed a bit differently. The article didn't mention if this was the first time they did it, but the reaction seems that way.

Our high schools have staged accidents around this time of year with police, fire, ambulance with fake gore and blood mixed with familiar faces of peers. It's real enough to get similar traumatic results.

 

highly inappropriate. unethical. ends dont always justify the means, and if kids get in trouble for lying to teachers about the stupidest things, why should the administration get away with lying about something this serious?

 

"An anonymous person got killed by a drunk driver" will get a response of "That reminds me, I have to try out a new Grand Theft Auto code I found today." However, "Your best friend, John Smith, just got killed by a drunk driver" will get an immediate response of "bummer." However, when you then say, "Ha-ha! No they didn't," it will get a response of "Oh, I guess driving drunk isn't so bad then."

 

Wake up kiddies it was all just a bad dream.
Keep the kids alive what ever it takes.

How do you keep the names anonymous? "3 of our students from this class were killed today in a tragic road accident. I can't tell you their names but there were 3 kids who didn't respond to the roll call this morning." dah.

 

The exercise would have been pointless without naming real names. So my vote would be a yes if I were to answer the poll. But I can't answer the poll because I disagree with entire approach. First, the the fact that it would have to be revealed as just an exercise blunts the point and just raises resentments.

More important, I believe the much more effective anti-drunk exercise is taking the kids to a parking lot with cones shaped like people arranged around a driving course, feed them beers one at time between wheel sessions and charge them $5 for each cone toppled. The consequences aren't as severe as what real consequences could be, but the more important point is driven home quite forcefully: the kids experience directly just how their seriously their ability to control a car is impaired, with real losses (not killer losses but $5 a cone is painful enough). Yes, such an exercise would be considerably more expensive than 20 volunteer cops faking bad news on campus, but measured in terms of true effectiveness I think it would actually save lives. Nothing beats experience.

And for those Calvinist parents and school administrators who would cry "but they're too young to drink!" and scotch the exercise, what would they rather have: dead kids or wised up kids? It's that basic.

 

Certainly does not meet a standard of treating people like you would like to be treated. (Unless some posters enjoy the police lying to them about loved ones.)

 

So all the honest, ethical, and responsible young adults should enjoy being hammered this way?

What basis is there for thinking that this worked? Did drunk driving rates decrease?

Does this increase the students respect for law enforcement? Or did they learn that people in power lie?

 

When I was in high school they didn't have to lie. There was a fatal accident every 6 months or so. Including three people I worked with and one guy I played with at the beach every summer when I was growing up.

 

Sounds to me that it's just reinforcing the "real life is like a video game" attitude... "You're friend got killed yesterday, but it's all OK because he hit the reset button and continued living..."

 

No I don't agree with what the school AND the cops did.

This teaches young adults that the authorities can and will lie to you AND hurt you. I guess that is true, so that in itself is a good real life lesson about cops & schools not being trustable, AND making judgements about what is best for you: tiny chance of accidents/injury/death versus 100% chance of traumatizing a good number of people.

"They were traumatized, but we wanted them to be traumatized,"

I would support the students suing the cops and school for this stupid stunt.

Yes, it is a stunt, just as stupid IMO as pulling a fire alarm for kicks.

 

this is one of those stupid things where you get people all worked up.. it causes bad things like school shootings.. depression.. school bombings.

officials better learn to take responsibility or they should be fired.

as for police.. most CA police are Fing retards... most of the dumbest people i've met during my school years ended up being cops... soo much for our justice system.

teachers should be fired.. cops should be fired too.


or set on fire... *Shrug*...