The big problem that I see is when the school comes into your class room to inform you that Sam got drunk and hit an approach with his truck the night before. He was thrown clear out of his vehicle, and was found dead in a field hundreds of meters away.
The class sits and silently stares at the administrator, because you know darn well these programs run all across the US.
The only problem is, it's not the program, and none of the kids are buying it. No one's letting the gravity of the reality that their friend is dead sink in, because they're used to being lied to about these things.
We're all used to being lied to everyday of our lives in some form or another.... they better get used to it. I was lied to about many things as a kid going through school..... all for my best interests and all that.... if they don't believe them when they say buddy was killed in a drinking and driving accident, then they can check the news to confirm and let the reality set in then.... regardless they're going to be encountering times in their lives where they're going to know somebody who will die unexpectedly and eventually they're going to have to learn how to deal with it.
Everybody always thinks they know you're not supposed to drink and drive, and yet many still think they can do it, esspecially younger teenagers who just got their license. They (Most) haven't had the experiences yet of what consequences can occur from drinking and driving and figure it's usually people who are completely smashed, drank too much, or just don't know how to drive properly, and it's not until they hear of someone they know who was killed by that action, that it just might hit home for them.
Hell, I had a friend a few years back who was 21/22'ish at the time, who got drunk and drove the rest of the friends back to their homes... apparently he did it a few times before and never had a problem. Well this last time he did it, he lost his concentration for a split second, was speeding, and he drove the car up along the sidewalk right in front of a popular pizza place down the road from where I live.
He was pretty shaken up from it, understanding that he risked his friend's lives by doing what he did, as well as his own, but being myself, I drove it home for him even further..... pointing out that not only could that have made him lose enough control of the car to steer into the other lane and hit head on with another car with a family of five..... or what could have happened if there were people walking on the sidewalk when he drove over it? How would he have felt if he hit a mother walking a baby stroller with her newborn?
By the end of my little talk I almost had him crying as he was shaken so much from the concepts..... whether or not he learned from his mistakes I can not say, but he has had very clear warning of what may occur if he does it again, and if he does do it again and something does happen.... he has nobody else to blame but himself.
Regardless if the kids think it's not true when teachers tell them this stuff based on truth or lies, so long as they can hit home and scare the snot out of a few kids about the consequences of those types of actions, I say more power to them.
They'll have plenty of time to mourn for their lossed friends if and when it really does happen.
??)
