Fury as French teens get 'suicide note' homework

[The Straight Story]

Fury as French teens get 'suicide note' homework

The parents of a class of young teenagers in northern France have reacted with shock after their children came home with a disturbing homework assignment. Their French teacher had asked them to write a suicide note.

A class of 12-year-olds at the Louis-Bouland de Couloisy school in the Oise department in northern France were told by their French teacher to compose a suicide note as a writing assignment, according to a report in French daily Le Parisien on Friday.

“John wrote a letter to his wife before carrying out his plan. Devise that letter,” said the assignment, shown to Le Parisien, before presenting a fictional description of the couple’s life and the aftermath of the man’s suicide.

The exercise has disgusted some parents, who have questioned the wisdom of presenting such a sensitive subject to young teenagers at a difficult time in their development.

One father explained: “My daughter came home from school on Tuesday evening and announced to us that [for her homework] she had to put herself in the position of a man who had killed himself, and write his suicide note. It’s absurd!” said the man, whose name has been changed to Nicolas.

http://www.thelocal.fr/page/view/fury-over-suicide-note-homework-assignment#.UR6OPvJIGSo

[Blue_Tires]

1. I can't get that worked up about this...

I wrote my own "future obituary" in middle school, and it's clear that they aren't writing their "own" suicide letters...

If they are discussing some character's suicide in a story, and what that character would have maybe written, what's wrong??

[The Straight Story]

2. Well, wonder how it would be seen here if we posted an op that asked:

Just for the mental exercise, write a suicide note (or something along that lines)?

[seabeyond]

3. middle school age is hard... so hard. with oldest, there was a period of him not being a part,

it was a very real concern for me. i would not want him at all to be immersed in the feel of a "what if"

and youngest... well, so dramatic. there was a suicide this year, a friend freshman yr. and i had some serious talking to not glorify the death.

so no.

totally inappropriate for that age and i would be all over the schools ass.

[Blue_Tires]

5. so, just for example...

If you had some 7th-9th graders reading "Romeo and Juliet" (I read it in 9th, personally) and had a writing assignment about "what they thought Romeo or Juliet would have written if they wanted to leave a message before dying" would be something you'd find inappropriate?

[seabeyond]

9. i will have to think about that. in the context of a story of this kind of classic

literature, i think it takes a step away form the feel of it.

i read this in a creative writing class my sophomore year. and suicide was never connected to personal. whereas my freshman year a fellow classmate killed herself and that was in a bubble of experience.

[Harmony Blue]

4. This is not a good assignment for young minors

Maybe for upper level undergrad college students or graduate students.

[Puzzledtraveller]

6. Totally agree

[HappyMe]

7. If it relates to the

particular reading assignment or course work, I don't have a problem with it.

[dlwickham]

8. what class was this for

if it was for a language arts class, I can certainly understand the outrage but if it was for a psychology class or something along those lines, I can understand the assignment

it just writing assignment-I'm guessing it was for a language arts class

[La Lioness Priyanka]

10. i dont see the big deal in this. also they are not being asked to write their own suicide note

which is what i thought it was at first.