UHS Talks About Suicide Note Assignment Controversy
Are educators teaching children to die before they’ve even lived? When they’re assigning suicide letters as homework, it seems to be close enough.
In Australia, some classes of eighth grade students are required to read a book called “Smithereens,” which is a collection of short stories that take place in Southern Australia. This book has already been called to be banned from schools because of its content of graphically described murder, the legal killing of homeless people, and teen suicide.
Is it worse to then give an assignment that would make the students consider their own death? The homework question prompted for the stories was “Imagine that, before she committed suicide, Nola wrote two messages, one to her parents and one to (bully) Peter.”
“If there was a student in the class who was already depressed, writing a letter like that, the kid could either realize how stupid suicide is, or make them think that it’s the perfect opportunity to kick the bucket,” said Freshman Madison Harrison.
Even if the kids didn’t have a bunch of hormones bouncing around their 13-year-old brains, it seems almost sick to unnecessarily force these kids (or anyone) to contemplate committing suicide.
Middle school is a hard time in a child’s life anyway, where they are exposed to the rest of the world. This is the time when they begin to form opinions on the world around them, and it’s ridiculous to make them focus on graphic stories about depression and hopelessness in life. “What could they have been thinking? Like, It’ll be a great idea! It’ll help you get in touch with your inner suicidal person! Just great,” said Freshman Matt Peterson.
“They [middle schoolers] are at an extremely impressionable at that age. They would write their letters and be like ‘my life sucks,’ when it really doesn’t. They’d over-dramatize what they read or wrote into their own lives,” said Junior Haley Lister.
She thinks the exercise would be fine for high schoolers, but not younger, because at that point, books are more “how-to,” and you’re more likely to consider doing whatever is in the book. “With high schoolers it would be okay, because they’re more aware that books are meant to tell a story or to be thought about, not what they should actually do,” she said.
Parents and child psychologists around the world agree that “Smithereens” and the assignment that goes with it does not introduce the kids to the world in the healthiest way.
“They should’ve had them write letters about why not to commit suicide. Like you should have them write about what’s good in their lives and what they have to look forward to. It’s unnecessary and inappropriate to have them thinking so seriously about killing themselves,” said Feinberg.
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