Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 12:58 pm Posts: 19700 Location: long island Gender: Female
NOt sure if this belongs in N&D or not
My friends son just started middle school (6th grade)
yesterday for the entire day in school all they talked about were the columbine shootings. they showed the graphic video of the shootings and the dead and injured, then they had the family and friends of one of the dead students come to speak at the school. everyone onstage was cryining and one of the injured students described in graphic detail the accounts of what happened to him that day.
don't get me wrong i think that all kids should understand what happened that day, and how to prevent it from happening again and all that shit, but these kids are 10 and 11 years old. They don't need to see the replays of the shooting and the aftermath and talk about nothing else for the entire day.
My friends son was really messed up over this and he is a bit afraid of school now, all he can think about is the worst case situation. And its not just him, he said lots of his friends were messed up by it, and a few girls ran out of the assembly really upset and were made to come back in.
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 11:09 pm Posts: 24847 Location: this stark raving, sick, sad little world Gender: Male
i was freaked out when i just heard about it on the news and i was even older than they are. i'm sure they are even more freaked out since hearing the accounts on the activities that day. this probably wasn't the greatest idea ever. they could have come up with a better way to talk to the kids about it.
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 12:58 pm Posts: 19700 Location: long island Gender: Female
aliveblue4 wrote:
thats pretty messed up. if i were the parent i wouldnt let them show that to my kid.
the parents didn't know about it
my friend had no clue about it until her son came home from school upset
i told her to call the school and find out what their reasons were behind the whole thing
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 7:22 pm Posts: 4715 Location: going to marrakesh
godsdice wrote:
aliveblue4 wrote:
thats pretty messed up. if i were the parent i wouldnt let them show that to my kid.
the parents didn't know about it my friend had no clue about it until her son came home from school upset i told her to call the school and find out what their reasons were behind the whole thing
this is definitely something that the parents should have been made aware of. it seems like something that some parents wouldn't want their children to be exposed to, sort of like sex-ed.
making kids go back to the assembly, though, if they were visibly upset isn't right.
i suppose kids need to understand that, sometimes, these things happen. but, discussing it for an entire day seems like overkill. i think the better approach would have been to have an assembly, discuss the school shootings (not just colombine, but the others that have happened), possibly bring in a survivor to explain how their life has been changed since the shooting, and then stress to kids how important it is that they report things that are out of the norm. scaring kids shitless isn't going to do any good. teaching them to be observant and teaching them who to talk to if something isn't right will do some good.
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Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 11:15 pm Posts: 25452 Location: Under my wing like Sanford & Son Gender: Male
The parents should have been notified and it definitely shouldn't have been that graphic, but in many ways I think it's a good thing. Kids need to learn to not shy away from the real and dramatic things that happen in life. They are desensitized to violence because they see it without seeing the very real effects that it has. I think that kids deserve more credit than we give them, that they can handle violent and tragic topics, and that these are things they need to be exposed to. Within reason, knowledge of the makings of a tragic event and it's consequences are powerful, powerful things.
_________________ Now that god no longer exists, the desire for another world still remains.
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 12:58 pm Posts: 19700 Location: long island Gender: Female
OrpheusDescending wrote:
The parents should have been notified and it definitely shouldn't have been that graphic, but in many ways I think it's a good thing. Kids need to learn to not shy away from the real and dramatic things that happen in life. They are desensitized to violence because they see it without seeing the very real effects that it has. I think that kids deserve more credit than we give them, that they can handle violent and tragic topics, and that these are things they need to be exposed to. Within reason, knowledge of the makings of a tragic event and it's consequences are powerful, powerful things.
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 11:15 pm Posts: 25452 Location: Under my wing like Sanford & Son Gender: Male
godsdice wrote:
OrpheusDescending wrote:
The parents should have been notified and it definitely shouldn't have been that graphic, but in many ways I think it's a good thing. Kids need to learn to not shy away from the real and dramatic things that happen in life. They are desensitized to violence because they see it without seeing the very real effects that it has. I think that kids deserve more credit than we give them, that they can handle violent and tragic topics, and that these are things they need to be exposed to. Within reason, knowledge of the makings of a tragic event and it's consequences are powerful, powerful things.
the thing is the kids were not handling it well
I didn't realize how young they were, but I stand by my statement for high school kids.
_________________ Now that god no longer exists, the desire for another world still remains.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 3:58 am Posts: 2105 Location: Austin
I think it has more potential to backfire then anything else. The only plus I could see, is that it may cause kids to think twice about bullying. But it is just as likely to give a kid the wrong idea. Plus these kids are way to young, and striking the fear of God into a bunch of kids over a very uncommon occurence is a bit ridiculous. I think there are much better ways to discuss these issues without giving them the third degree. If they did this at every school, I would venture to guess school shootings would increase not decrease.
That is just stupid. School administrators seem to be almost universally idiotic. My high school principal's response to Columine was to ban trench coats. Later on he was fired for building himself a shower with school funds.
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 4:32 pm Posts: 766 Location: Grayson County, Virginia
This would of been appropriate for high schoolers, but not below the age of 13
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