The other day I was watching Rachael Ray (which might have been a re-run) and she had Whoppi Goldberg on the show. Rachael had a couple of her guests make comments about some “hot topics” and then asked Whoppi to state what her opinion was on the topics, sort of like what they do on The View. Anyways, the topic that I thought was quite interesting was one about drinking and driving and how to get students to actually be concerned about it.
Apparently at some school in the United States, highway patrol officers came to various classrooms to tell the students that some of their friends and fellow classmates had been killed in car crashes over the weekend. The students who participated as the students that had died were asked to stay home from school that day. The patrol officers named the students who had “died” which lead many students to tears and others to hysteria. Later the students were informed that it was all a hoax, a scare straight tactic, to help students understand the consequences of drinking and driving. Many students were furious that the school would do such a thing, while others thought that the shock factor was exactly what students needed to realize the dangers of drinking and driving.
The woman on Rachael Ray that was supportive of this event said that this is the only way to get teenagers to understand. She said that teenagers need to feel the fear or hurt before they will really think about what they are doing. The other lady, however, said that students felt betrayed by their teachers and administrators. She mentioned that students are supposed to trust and feel safe with their teachers and this type of event could cause feelings of mistrust.
I was quite shocked to find out that this type of stunt was conducted. I understand that many people feel teenagers need to be scared into the realities of the consequences of drinking and driving but I think there could be other ways to do it. For students to think that some of their friends had been killed is a little too extreme for me. I think the same message could have been delivered in a different manner. I’m not sure that students need to be traumatized to get the message but then again most teenagers think they are invincible and that such a thing could never happen to them. But perhaps the school could have done it in a different manner, like not actually mentioning names? Or have firefighters and police officers come in a tell stories and bring pictures of accidents that they had been to.
I searched the internet a little bit to find out if other schools have done this type of “scare them straight” tactic. I found that this event was a twist on a program called Every 15 Minutes. In this program, a student is removed from their class by a grim reaper while the student’s obituary is read. The student then enacted a car accident at an assembly where emergency people removed the victim to transport them to the hospital or morgue. This student would spend a night at a hotel and then come back the next day for an assembly with parents and paramedics. The concern with this program was that students may simply laugh at the grim reaper and not take it seriously.
A school in New Brunswick took a different approach to informing students about drinking and driving. They setup a mock accident scene with students from their school playing injured or deceased victims of the crash. The students left their class for a routine fire drill and found this accident scene outside. Although it didn’t take long for the students to realize it was not real, it helped re-enforce the consequences of drinking and driving.
I think the less severe ways of communicating possible consequences of drinking and driving could be just as effective as the shock straight tactic. I think after the shock straight tactic, students may have difficulty believing what teachers say and if some tragedy did occur would the students believe anyone? I think programs such as the PARTY program and the mock scenes are better than the shock straight type. As a soon to be teacher, I want to establish a classroom where students feel safe and secure and can trust what I tell them. The shock straight tactic does not help to create this type of environment and I think could cause more harm than good.
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Wow! I can't believe that they actually did that at a school! I would be so mad if that happened to me in high school and someone told me my friends had died in a drinking and driving accident! I have always been under the impression that a lot of kids don't really listen to the drinking and driving talks and will never truly understand until they experience it, but that is pushing it for sure. In high school a lot of kids think that they are invincible and like to brag about how drunk they were when they drove home so teachers definitely need a way to get these students to understand.
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned an Every Fifteen Minutes program. I remember something similar at my high school where the S.A.D.D. group would paint peoples faces white every 15 minutes to show those that "died" in a drunk driving accident. This is interesting, however, I don't want my face painted white for the whole day and a lot of other people did not take it seriously. Other than that we had presenters come to the school to do presentations about their experiences. This works if it hits home for the student, otherwise they don't listen. I think these should be continued thought.
It's interesting that you mention the PARTY program as a less severe way of getting the information across. I completely agree with you but I had the opportunity to take my Grade 9s on this trip during my PS II and so many parents didn't want their kids to go and be exposed to the information because it was too severe. As well, on the trip, 4 of my students fainted and 1 girls was in hysterics. 2 of the boys that fainted needed stitches because they hit their heads on something as they fell. So, I suppose the program was intense for them. I thought it was really well done and although some of my students did not respond well, I would recommend it. There are some scare tactics but the information and scenarios are real and so the students can trust the information. We did a mock disaster scene, visited the emergency ward of the hospital, watched videos, and had presentations from victims, police officers, paramedics and fire fighters. It was really well done and took the entire day. I know that it affected a lot of kids positively but I also know that others could care less.
I think you're right in creating a safe and secure classroom in which to share this information with students because otherwise the information given won't yield the desired results.
It sounds like the PARTY program has changed a lot since I was in grade 9, which was a long time ago so I would expect things to change. I don’t remember visiting the emergence room but that would have been neat and I think we also had presentations from victims and some paramedics. At lunch we had to eat with either something on our eyes to make us feel like we had tunnel vision or things on our hands so we had limited use of our hands. I thought those types of simulations were somewhat helpful. From what I remember one girl in our class fainted. We were in the x-ray room and the lady was pointing out different x-rays and all of a sudden this girl slumped against the wall and crumpled to the floor. I thought it was lucky that she was against the wall otherwise she could have been seriously hurt. I’m surprised to hear so many of your students fainted and were hurt.
ReplyDeleteI’m also surprised that some of the parents didn’t want their kids to go. I am trying to remember if some of the parents of the kids I went to school with were opposed to it too. I think some were. I guess maybe some parents think that their kids would never drink and drive or that they’re too young to see the things in grade 9. But I think the whole point of the program is to try to get students to understand the consequences before they are old enough to drink or interested in drinking. I know that some kids start drinking early but for the most part, educating the students in grade 9 would be an effective preventative measure. I think the sad thing about these types of programs is that often the students that need to be affected the most are often the ones that are not interested in it. So hopefully we can help make these programs engaging and interesting so that all students get the message. Students need to see how their actions can have serious consequences and hopefully that understanding can occur in a safe environment rather than experiencing it firsthand.
Holy... what is this party program that has kids fainting? That sounds pretty intense. Drinking and driving is definitely a huge problem these days especially with young drivers. All the things you guys have mentioned are good ideas but also as you said, some kids just don't care and nothing anyone says really changes their minds about things. It's just a difficult topic I think and for these kids who don't care, they won't until it happens to them unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteI thought that whole thing about telling kids their classmates died is absolutely horrible. Way too extreme. I would definitely be mad at my teachers for quite a while because death isn't really something to joke about. Trust would for sure be lost.
This would make a good PD project for PSIII if you're in a high school! Trying to get kids to understand the consequences of drinking and driving!