Death Education

DEATH EDUCATION in the PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Some public schools teach "death education." Some even have a "suicide talking day." On that day, students write suicide notes. They write their own obituaries and discuss what they will look like in their caskets. One student said that before "suicide talking day," she never considered the possibility of suicide. After that day, she began to contemplate it. She thought that it would "liberate her spirit" so that it would no longer be "enslaved to her body." In addition, it would help with the problem of global overpopulation. She said that the suicide training made her "brave enough" to commit suicide.1

Do you remember Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, where two students shot a number of their classmates and then committed suicide? That occurred in 1999. Since 1985, Columbine has been teaching death education classes.

In 1988, the "Atlantic Monthly" had an article about death education. It said that thousands of schools had the classes. Some of them only lasted a few days. Others took a full semester. In addition, many schools incorporated death education into other classes, including health, home-economics, social studies, and literature. In 1977, the National Education Association wrote a report saying that, just as sex education resulted in "wider acceptance" of a number of sexual practices, death education classes will radically change attitudes towards death.2

According to one student (Tara) who attended death education classes at Columbine, "death was made to look glamorous" and life was made to look difficult. Students were taught that "reincarnation would solve their problems." Tara said that during a "suicide talking day," students were told that they should trust their own judgment in deciding whether to live or die. In other words, they should not seek counsel from others. This effectively cuts them off from the wisdom, experience, and help of adults who care about them.3

If people really do believe that reincarnation will solve their problems, then why should they be reluctant to commit suicide? Or murder? Murderers could think that they were doing their victims a favor, because the victims would be reincarnated into a better situation.

1. "Doc Knows Best" by Wesley J. Smith (1/6/2003) http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-smith010603.asp

2. "Connecting the Dots: Sanctity of life threatened on many fronts" by Wesley J. Smith (1/24/2003) http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-smith012403.asp

3. The Kennedy Institute of Ethics,
http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/007/america-4.htm