My friend's 14 year old daughter has to write a detalied paper about the Virginia Tech Massacre. Do you think it is too much too soon for kids her age to be dewling on?
2007-04-20 03:17:16 · 27 answers · asked by Robert B 7 in Entertainment & Music ➔ Polls & Surveys
sorry..."dwelling"
2007-04-20 03:20:44 · update #1
Too soon or not, kids of that age tend to take things in and worry, worry, worry... it's like their processing button gets stuck. They do not have as much experience in the world as adults, and their emotions sit so much closer to the surface... they often do not know where to *put* things... (like we, as adults, even have a hope of 'finding a place' to put a tragedgy of this magnitude... it's horriffic).
My students are that age right now... and our school is trying to find a way to help them process and *get out* all of their feelings about it. It's been a rough year already... a classmate died of brain cancer in the fall... a student's parent (and one of my best friends) is undergoing chemo... our kids are already reeling about death... and *this*... well... it's upped the emotional ante.
A detailed paper? Are we talking about a 'historical' re-hashing and writing of all the events leading up to the Massacre? That's rather... too much. The emotions are too close to be able to trace any sort of societial causation. That is what the media is doing to this situation as we speak.
But if the paper is focusing on allowing the students to detail their feelings and put across their perspective... I think it could be helpful to them. Hopefully this teacher has done an awful lot of sharing and had folks in to talk about the tragedy... counselors, community leaders, etc. Somehow, based on the wording of your question, I suspect that is not the case. Were I a parent in that situation, I'd be contacting the teacher and asking what the school is doing to support the kids, and what his/her hope is for the outcome of such a paper.
Kids that age are more fragile than adults... they have less pragmatic places, literally less experience. Sounds rather questionable to me.
2007-04-20 03:45:51 · answer #1 · answered by Mikisew 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Horrible! Sad! Tragic! Disturbing! However, the worst thing about all of this is that it WILL happen again. People keep asking why, as they usually do when these events happen, and you get a laundry list of answers from it's the NRA's fault to Cho was insane. NONE of these answers the why question. What answers the why question is that we never remember or learn from the past. Maybe if we spent more time reading history books, becoming involved, imagining and thinking AND less time reading the Bible, being self involved, sublimating and watching the talking heads/celebrities, then we might actually learn something and remember it before we let something like this happen again. Imagine if someone had encouraged Hitler's art, we may have never known the Holocaust. WE should think about the ramifications we visit on ourselves and others when we choose to ignore, be negligent, betray, be foolish, steal, cheat, follow the group, deceive, not stand up, you name it.
2016-05-19 21:24:33 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Definately not too young. The Columbine kids were not much older themselves. Kids this age make life changing desisions everyday yet we treat them like babies and tell ourselves we are protecting them. Recently a friend of mine fell through ice and drowned. My wife didn't think I should tell my kids (10&8) what happened but I did anyways. I can garuntee they will always remember to stay off the ice. Always remember that kids grow up and become adults. Theach them while thay are young, good or bad. We need to teach them the life lessons now before they find out the hard way. Some kids who feel like they are picked on and in the same boat may see right now, that murder isn't how you fix it. This kid called the Columbine killers marters, I'm sure he only heard 5% of the whole story. I wish he had to do a report on it when he was 14...this would have never happened..
2007-04-20 03:33:46 · answer #3 · answered by Jennnny 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No. The best way to handle grief is generally with a 'head-on' approach; it gets people talking, and works as a sort of 'support system' (especially for the emotionally inclined).
Kids in your friends' daughter's age-group are just the ones who should be expressing their feelings & opinions on this: in a few years they'll be the ones attending university/college, and those who do not take notice of the mistakes, and take the time to become informed about possible prevention methods, are likely to repeat them...
Later Daze! =)
2007-04-20 04:50:24 · answer #4 · answered by ? 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Absolutely! Usually, parents try to shield their children from these types of distresses. It's too much for a teen her age to be concerned about. Surely, it is appropriate for the teacher to mention the incident because I'm sure most children and teens have heard about it. If the students have any questions or concerns they should be addressed. But to allow the kids to write a paper on something that most adults still have trouble comprehending is totally too much.
2007-04-20 03:25:47 · answer #5 · answered by Mia 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes. I dont know what the teacher was thinking, but then my question to you is did the 14 yr old ask a lot of questions about what happened at V-Tech? Maybe that is what prompted the teacher to make that assignment. A better subject might be about gun control in general
2007-04-20 03:24:00 · answer #6 · answered by Julius L 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Absolutely not. An understanding can't be reached without discussion. As a matter of fact, it seems more appropriate for children her age to be discussing these issues and getting their feelings on the table rather than a bunch of politicians that live in a completely different world.
2007-04-20 03:23:13 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
definatlly. WE don't even have all the information!! how in the world are we supposed to ask our kids to do a DETALIED paper on it?? I think we should wait a couple of months before we get out children into this big mess
2007-04-20 03:22:41 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
yes but I do see what the teacher is trying to get at. If you educate them early on what happened and why they might not be as afraid or confused about it. I do think the paper is a little bit to much. I remember when Columbine happened we had a assembly in school and the principle explained what happened and why it wouldn't happen in our school I think that is a little better way of handling it.
2007-04-20 03:26:17 · answer #9 · answered by joe d 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm 14 too. When I heard about it and saw the pictures of the victims, I got choked up. I don't think that she should be forced to write something about it. It only happened a few days ago, my God!
2007-04-20 03:21:47 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋