Did the school go too far?

hiccups · Future Queen in Zion

Did the school go too far?

arbilad · Head Chef

They obviously subscribe to the evil slogan of "the ends justify the means". They think that doing something horrible is justified because they have a noble goal. It doesn't work that way.

Xanth · Senior Member

No, sometimes that's what it takes to get through the thick head of a teenager.

Like the old commercials Carroll O'Connor use to do:

"Get between your kids and drugs any way you can"

hiccups · Future Queen in Zion

I don't thinking lying and playing on their emotions is the way to go ever.

beefche · Profuse Pontificator

Wow. I wonder if any of the kids did think twice about drinking/driving that weekend because of this incident?

On the one hand, I'm appalled at this. I tried to think of how I would have felt if I were a student and how I would feel as a parent of a student. Not a good feeling.

But then I remember how much drinking went on when I was in high school. It's only gotten worse now. I recently helped chaperone a birthday party for my friend's daughter. My friend's husband stood at the door and made everyone dump any open containers--regardless if it was soda, juice, water, etc. I was amazed at how much I smelled alcohol and even marijuana on some of the kids. If it takes scaring the pants off of them to get it in their head, then have at it.

arbilad · Head Chef

Here's my thoughts on the matter, Xanth.
There always has to be a limit somewhere. No matter how noble the goal, there are certain behaviors that you have to set off limits.
For instance, I'm sure you'd agree that savagely beating a teenager, then telling them that that's what will happen to them if you ever catch them drunk, would be severely wrong.
So the question in my mind is not whether there should be limits on the methods that you use to dissuade teenagers from drinking (and potentially driving drunk), but where those limits should be at.
I have several problems with the method they used. First, they did guaranteed psychological damage in the hopes of avoiding potential physical damage. There are other methods they could have chosen that could have had an effect in convincing the kids but wouldn't have resulted in vastly increased business for area psychiatrists. Second, I'm not sure that it will even work as they intended. Those who are prone to rationalize will think to themselves, "If they lied about the deaths, then I think they may also be lieing about the danger". Remember the story of the little boy who cried wolf? The villagers came the first couple of times because wolves were a real danger in the area. They stopped coming not because they stopped believing in wolves, but because they had been fooled so often that they didn't believe that a wolf had come to that particular flock at that particular time. Teenagers won't stop believing, on a rational level, in the fact that people die in car accidents. The thing they will stop believing in, because they have been lied to so often, is the fact that it can happen to them in their specific circumstance. Third, they didn't consult with parents beforehand. What if there was a kid who'd had a sibling or close friend die because of drunk driving? An additional blow like that could be what pushes them over the edge into mental illness. From that viewpoint I think that their action was almost criminally irresponsible.