Not the best way for Teens to be taught a lesson...

[MeMeMeee]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 9:08am

Police officer interrupts class to inform that fellow classmate died in a DUI accident; leaves a rose on the deceased's seat. Class all torn up, until it's announced that it was a ploy to make them ths about the consequenced of DUI...


Many juniors and seniors were driven to tears – a few to near hysterics – May 26 when a uniformed police officer arrived in several classrooms to notify them that a fellow student had been killed in a drunken-driving accident.

The officer read a brief eulogy, placed a rose on the deceased student’s seat, then left the class members to process their thoughts and emotions for the next hour.

The program, titled “Every 15 Minutes,” was designed by Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Its title refers to the frequency in which a person somewhere in the country dies in an alcohol-related traffic accident.

About 10 a.m., students were called to the athletic stadium, where they learned that their classmates had not died. There, a group of seniors, police officers and firefighters staged a startlingly realistic alcohol-induced fatal car crash. The students who had purportedly died portrayed ghostly apparitions encircling the scene.

Though the deception left some teens temporarily confused and angry, if it makes even one student think twice before getting behind the wheel of a car while intoxicated, it is worth the price, said California Highway Patrol Officer Eric Newbury, who orchestrates the program at local high schools.

[tazber]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 9:21am

inappropriate.

So, it's ok to lie to make a point? The end always justifies the means?
Ridiculous.

Was the "deceased" student in on it? I wonder how he felt having his eulogy read.

[violet72]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 9:32am

I agree this was inappropriate...what if one of the students called one of the "deceased" parents and told them? Were the parents in on it?

I also don't think it taught anyone a lesson. In one of my area high school 1 kid died from drunk driving and a week later one of the friends of the dead student got into another accident because he was driving drunk and is in a medically induced comma

[MeMeMeee]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 10:10am

I would be pissed if anyone did this to me...it's not an appropriate way of teaching anything...just horrible..

what if some kid (in that hour) was so devestated by losing a friend that he/she killed himself in despair??

What if a parent got a phone call from a student telling them that their child had died (kids have cell phones) and the parents got into a car wreck rushing to the school..

VERY irresponsible...

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 10:14am

Deter drunk driving? Perhaps.


Encourage hatred of cops? For sure!

[best12bars]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 10:28am

Exactly.

This little lesson would teach me never to trust a cop again under any circumstances. Or the school.

Great!

A job well done.

[CJR]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 10:31am

In high school, they did this same thing. Only we arrived at the school to find a wrecked car completely flipped on it's roof with crime scene tape and police officers everywhere. We were left to our own devices to figure out what had happened until the 10am assembly.

I think that was the first year MADD implemented the program

[Select a Member Name]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 10:33am

My school did that this year. It was done a little differently, but we do the Every 15 Minutes thing. Everyone was in tears.

[best12bars]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 10:34am

Mothers Advocating Deceptive Diplomacy?

[Select a Member Name]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 10:34am

Well, everyone except me. I just can't cry. Meh.

[Elphaba]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 10:55am

sorry all I totally disagree......if it stops just one kid from driving drunk driving,...IT IS WORTH IT.

I'm sure the student and his/her parents were informed.

Bravo to the CHP for having the guts to do this.

Having had several friends die in alcohol-related accidents when I was in HS, I totally am for this, BRAVO!

[CJR]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 11:12am

When they did this at my HS (a million years ago) I was a junior and we'd actually just had a kid in our class die in a drunk driving accident a few months prior. He'd been at a party in North Stamford (which, for those of you unfamiliar with these parts, is the ass opposite end of Stamford. It's basically the woods lol It takes 30 minutes to get there from where I live in Stamford, it's that far) and was driving home. He took one of the kegs with him, STRAPPED IT IN to the passenger seat, didn't put on his own seatbelt and then wound up wrapping his car around a tree.

[singingwendy]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 12:25pm

Districts around here do this sort of program all the time, usually around prom season. However, most of the school knows when it's going to occur, and often the parents are in on it. I know one school that actually had PARENTS write and read eulogies for their children at an assembly. They've also done the "be silent in white face to represent that you're dead" thing, where every 15 minutes another student is declared "dead" to the school community and not allowed to speak.

I think my biggest concern with the way this specific event happened was, that as least as it was reported here, no one seemed to know it was going to happen, and people thought it was real. I think, even knowing that it's not real, there are still enough emotions stirred up to get the point.

Posted: 6/2/08 at 12:48pm

My school recently staged a mock crash, in which I played the part of the dead driver in one of the cars. I was covered in blood and "thrown" through the windshield of one of the cars, then zipped into a body bag and driven away in a hearse with my "mother" crying over my body. Other students played injured or drunk students at the scene, and one was arrested, two put into ambulances, and one into LifeStar.

I thought it was very effective, but we had counselors on hand, a question/answer session, and letters sent home to all parents before the day of the accident. I would like to believe that some kids might have remembered watching their friends hurt or dead and thought twice before drinking and driving. I'd like to think that we might have saved a life. I'm glad it went on, but I do think that parents should be informed beforehand.

[SkierRob02]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 1:04pm

I do not think this is inappropriate. Teenagers have a "Not Me!" attitude. This probably hit them hard and fast. They will now remember this before they drink and drive. Will this stop all of these students from drinking and driving? No, however, they will stop and think and remember this life lesson.

Updated On: 6/2/08 at 01:04 PM

[Namaste]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 2:08pm

Whatever happened to "Scared Straight" where you get some convict to come in for the day and scream in their faces?

[ILoveMyDictionary]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 6:26pm

I think one of these "faked death" assemblies would cause students to just block the memory and lesson learned out. It's stress like this that causes teenagers to abuse substances in the first place. Please, we can't even deal with a fight with our boyfriends/girlfriends, what makes you think we'll be fine after finding out a friend has been killed in a brutal car accident, and then finding out a hour late it was all a big hoax planned by the school? Teenagers are fragile. The tiniest thing makes us feel like the world is ending. You can't just play with our emotions like that.

[xOnMyOwnX]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 6:31pm

As a 15 year old, I have to say that if that happened in my high school, a significantly large portion of my school would be furious (with me among them).
That's not an acceptable way to teach kids. It's just plain wrong.
Updated On: 6/2/08 at 06:31 PM

[SweetQintheLights]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 6:57pm

Inappropriate.

Anyone remember the driving classes you had to take and watch horrible morbid car accidents from drunk driving? That's a much better and effective way to teach the dangers of drinking and driving.

I believe MADD has been changed to "Mothers against destructive decisions."

[Marianne2]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 7:00pm

This reminds me of the story my sister told me about the nigh school she student taught at. They had an assembly before prom, and brought a funeral director in. Tacky.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 7:38pm

That's a much better and effective way to teach the dangers of drinking and driving.

Which is?

[SweetQintheLights]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 7:47pm

I believe the videos are more effective, skittles.

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 8:02pm

p*ssies. back in my day they just took the cars of kids killed in dui crashes and parked them in front of the school for a month with the sign, "drink. drive. die." and the kids' names.

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 8:03pm

That reminds me of the "My Future Self and Me" episode of SOUTH PARK.

[thatgirl712]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 8:05pm

I think it's wrong.