AIBU to think this secondary school writing exercise to be inappropriate?

[dikkertjedap]

Here

I don't know. On the one hand I can see that it would make a really compelling subject and would fire the imagination on the other hand it would be every parent's worst nightmare to find a note like that without the context.

YABU. Empathy is a very important part of emotional literacy.

Could have been communicated better to parents though.

TBH I am more horrified by the spelling and handwriting - that from a 14 year old?!

I think it in appapropriate to be honest, well def the earlier secondary school years anyway. I am sure there are plenty of other subjects that could be written about which are not so emotive.

In year 3 my DS was told to write a story about how he would feel if he was to run away, why was he running away etc. He did his best but I just told his teacher that as it was not something that at this age he could empathise with it had been very hard for him to write about.

I know this isn't really the point - and it would be horrific to find a note like without knowing the context - but I was most shocked by the spelling and complete lack of punctuation. Surely a 14-year-old knows where to put a full stop?

Mrs - maybe he couldnt see through his tears

I agree though, my 9 year old DS writes better than that.

Ummm... I do actually think it's a bit weird. I think there must be hundreds of other subjects they could think up for a creative writing piece before one that has the potential to completely freak parents out.

The could have told the children to imagine the world ending tomorrow and asked them to write an assessment of their life and anything they would have done differently.

I think this is fine.

Presumably it was a well scaffolded lesson.

The odd bit is why the boy just handed it to his mum and went upstairs silently.

That's the worrying action I think.

Obviously finding that without context would be horrible, but then 10 seconds later when you found out that he was just asleep in his bed, then the problem would be solved. Hurrah.

I think it's fine as an exercise. Quite interesting, actually.

terrible writing and punctuation, though the exercise wouldn't bother me at all

I'm a heart-hearted parent but that's bloody horrible. It hits me particularly as I'm very much aware of the connection between childhood suicide and in-school bullying. Until schools can get a handle on that issue I don't think they're wise to get kids to write pieces of the kind in the BBC article.

And, btw, the spelling and punctuation is shocking, yes.

What would worry me, is that in all likelihood there is one (maybe more) vulnerable child in the class and this may set this child off.

There may be exceptions but I find that both in primary and secondary school there is not so much opportunity for kids to really explore their feelings (especially negative feelings) in a safe environment with help and guidance at hand.

I consider this a very sensitive subject which needs handling with lots of support and access to counselling and I doubt that that was made available ...

"What would worry me, is that in all likelihood there is one (maybe more) vulnerable child in the class and this may set this child off."

That's exactly what I was trying to say, dikkertjedap.

What, GrahamTribe? They were asked to imagine they had a terminal illness. How on earth would that then lead to bullying or suicide?

dikkertjedap, you can't possibly say if appropriate counselling and support was available or not.

Personally I welcome schools helping children explore their feelings, there's not enough of that kind of stuff.

(And sorry, my last post should have had a :) at the end. I was putting myself down for being inarticulate, not intending to sound rude to you, dikkert).

yellow, I didn't say it could lead to bullying. I fear (and not without a certain amount of experience in this area) that it could lead to suicidal thoughts or worse on the part of the already bullied child - that, as dikkert said, there's the chance of there being a vulnerable child in the class and that this could set the child off.

My eyes, my eyes!

I disagree GrahamTribe. I don't think that children should be encouraged to hide away from their feelings. I think talking and writing about them is far healthier than pretending they don't exist.

I have suffered from depression since I was a child and I think doing an exercise like this would have helped me to feel less alone. Maybe it would have encouraged me to seek help or opened up a discussion in class where I would have realise that I wasn't the only person who felt bad.

Of course there should always be appropriate support at school to deal with these feelings.

Lol at Betty's "maybe he couldnt see through his tears".

I think it is inappropriate. When you set an exercise like that, you don't know what people's personal circumstances are - what if a child had just found out that their relative was terminally ill? How upsetting.

Those of you slagging off the grammar/punctuation/handwriting - have a heart (parent of a DS with learning difficulties here). Writing doesn't come easily/naturally to everyone.

The boy handed the note to his mother so she had an opportunity to ask him about it - she didnt come across it by accident - so I think her "fear" of "finding him hanging" has been over-sensationalised for the purposes of the article.

Sounds like a valuable exercise for a 14-year old, and he was asked to imagine that he had a terminal illness, not that he was about to commit suicide! What he wrote was quite beautiful, I thought.

But hackmum you can't just go around protecting everyone's feelings all the time. If that was the case, and the child was upset, would that really be such an awful thing? Life is upsetting. Upsetting stuff happens. You can't just pretend that it doesn't.

YANBU. There re plenty of ways to work on empathy without something like this.This age group particlarly boys are particularly prone to suicide.

..and I hate the phrase ' this lesson was well scaffolded'

I really don't get how this would lead to suicide.

"If that was the case, and the child was upset, would that really be such an awful thing?"

Well, obviously I think it would, and you think it wouldn't. Personally I think the school environment is tough enough as it is without making it worse for children.

Exactly - there are plenty of other subject matters surely that can be covered and written about but not as distressing. When my mum was dying of lung cancer I really dont think DS would want to have been writing an assignment of terminal illness, it may well have tipped him over the edge.

Like Eugene said, to write about maybe the world coming to an end or something like that would be more appropriate.

I think if you are going to write about subjects like this then it needs to be kept for say 6th form (is there still such a thing) or just for when the students are that little bit older.