Strollerderby

I think the teachers and administrators involved should resign. When we want our students to think, make decisions, and behave as mature young adults, then we must treat them as such. This type of behavior erases any positive, trusting relationships that have been built up between students and teachers by demolishing the notion of mutual respect and honesty.

This sort of ghoulish "gotcha" hoax basically says, "We don't trust that we've taught you sound decision-making skills. We don't trust that you are mature enough to listen to the guidance we're giving you. We've exposed ourselves to be liars willing to do or say anything to get your attention...but definitely listen to us next time we open our mouths because we're educators and we deserve your trust!"

My issue is not so much with the seniors who leave high school with a bitter taste in their mouths, nor is it with the understandable urge to highlight the dangers of drunk driving (which is what a properly run Ever 15 Minutes program does well). It's with the juniors, sophomores, and freshman who will disregard 90% of what is said at assemblies throughout the rest of their high school career because they HAVE learned a lesson...that the people responsible for their education can't be trusted.

Around here they bring a smashed up car to the school, the drama students get all done up to look like they were in a crash, some of them are slated to "die".  Firemen, police men and paramedics all participate.

I can't say for sure that it actually gets any of them to realize that they're not indestructable, but because it's not a blatant lie meant to terrorize them they do still hold some trust in their teachers and such.

That seems pretty awful to me.  There are other ways to demonstrate it to kids.  I remember they did this thing at my high school where they would have kids become "dead" throughout the day.  The number of kids that were "dead" had something to do with statistics about drunk driving deaths, but I can't remember exactly what it was.. it was a long time ago.  The "dead" kids would walk around in all black with their faces painted white and they wouldn't talk to you or anyone else.  It was actually pretty creepy and obviously left a mark on me, but not emotionally abusive like what it sounds like happened at this school.

Oh... I just realized that the program I'm talking about was actually referenced in the linked article.  It was called every 15 minutes.  So, kids would "die" every 15 minutes throughout the day.