At a recent two-day conference on Teenage Suicide in Washington, D.C., there was an undercurrent among some speakers and social workers to demand mandatory “suicide” courses in the schools. Other speakers said this would be the worst thing that could possibly happen and would probably induce more teen suicides.
If you assume that “suicide” courses would tell teenagers that suicide is wrong, unhealthy, socially irresponsible, and a mistake, you are living in a dream world about public education today. More probably, suicide courses would tell teenagers that suicide is a matter of personal choice and that lots of people do it, including famous people.
Such courses would probably turn into a rap session at which students would be encouraged to invent, fantasize about, and discuss all the reasons why they might commit suicide. Such sessions would promote a venting of criticisms of parents and classroom discussion of private family problems.
If you think this is an exaggeration, you should investigate the death, dying, and suicide lessons that are already appearing in public school classrooms without parental knowledge or consent. Nevada legislators were shocked this spring when one parent provided them with a copy of a Suicide Quiz given in a public high school in that state.
Here are the questions on that Quiz given after the showing of a film on teenage suicide and a classroom discussion of whether or not carbon monoxide is a painful way to die. (Incidentally, the ABC docu-drama on teenage suicide called “Surviving” portrayed it as painless, even romantic.)
“(1) Write down two reasons that Skip committed suicide. (2) If you help a person commit suicide, could you be charged with a crime? If yes, what crime? Could you be convicted and what should the sentence be?
“(3) Why do they have laws that are generally not enforced regulating suicide? (4) Generally discuss two arguments in favor of suicide. (5) What would be the public consequences if society repealed the laws about suicide?”
At the end of this quiz, one student said to the teacher, “Why didn’t you ask any questions about what is wrong with suicide?” The teacher’s answer was, “We have enough questions on the test.”
This peculiar preoccupation with discussions of suicide in the classroom must explain the current desire of some schools to use “Romeo and Juliet.” The students are not reading Shakespeare’s play; they are just viewing the Hollywood film (with its nude scene) followed by a classroom discussion that romanticizes teenage suicide.
The plan of action of the social workers in the face of today’s problem of teenage suicide is best described in the old saying, “When in danger or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout.” They don’t have any solution for the problem; the only thing they know for sure is that they want taxpayers’ money to finance a new “suicide” bureaucracy.
What we are witnessing is an attempt by unlicensed psychologists (teachers, counselors, guidance people, social workers) to conduct group therapy in the classroom. They have no professional credentials for this, and they are dealing with a psychological dimension in which anything they do is apt to be far worse than nothing at all.
The Hearings conducted by the U.S. Department of Education in March 1984 include testimonies by dozens of parents protesting against classroom lessons, tests, and discussions on suicide, death, dying, euthanasia, and killing. Parents told how their children had been given classroom assignments to write their own obituaries, describe who died last in your family and how you felt when you saw that person dead, or fill out a “mental health index” with questions about suicide.
This type of course shows the need for vigorous enforcement of the Pupil Protection Amendment regulations which went into effect last November 12. They require that schools get prior parental consent before giving psychological tests or treatment to children.
If the schools resist compliance with this law, another avenue on which parents could assert their primary rights is by suing schools or teachers for practicing psychology without a license. Of course, state laws differ and would determine individual rights; but classroom courses on suicide clearly involve the use of counseling, psychotherapy, and assessing attitudes, emotions, feelings, and behavior.
The schools have no legal or moral right to engage in group therapy in the classroom. Those parents who want such a service can request it outside of the classroom, but they should have no right to impose it on others.
