School safety, security, and violence prevention resource

Outrageous! I love English and literature. I love role playing, and I can very well see the advantages of engaging in such activities to enhance the learning process. But this incident in an Australian school is beyond imagination, really.

What happened was that a class was in an English lesson. They re-enacted a murder by hanging scene, and the school boy was made to act as if he were the one being hanged. Unforeseen by everyone, the boy slipped, and almost got killed. The Telegraph has the story:

The incident occurred when the boy, 14, and about 60 classmates were photographing the re-enactment of a “murder by hanging” during an English lesson.

They were under the supervision of a teacher when the boy slipped and fell. Students and teachers rushed to his aid and cut the rope and an ambulance was called.

Reports on the Channel Nine television network claimed the boy turned blue before he was cut free and one student said he had a “big red line” across his throat.

The boy, who was later said to have claimed to have seen a vision of his dead sister “just after he blacked out”, was examined by paramedics and allowed to go home with his mother.

Naturally, people have been free about their feelings and thoughts about the incident. Parents and politicians (of course they’re going to say something!) have voiced their outrage over what happened. To quote Bruce Flegg, Queensland opposition education spokesman, “”It’s absolutely outrageous any Queensland school re-enacts a hanging with a child involved. This is a major safety breach to hang a noose around a child’s neck and put them in peril.”

While I can see – somehow – why the teacher might have thought that the re-enactment could have added to the learning experience, I cannot find any real sound justification. It is true that no one could have foreseen that the boy would slip. Perhaps they even took the necessary precautions to make sure that the boy would be safe. Still, hanging is not a joke, and even re-enacting such a scene shouldn’t really be taken to such lengths wherein the life of the “actor” might be in danger.
Am I overreacting to the incident? Or was the teacher really remiss in his or her duty in allowing this to happen? What are your thoughts on this?

(On a parting note: I cannot even begin to imagine what would happen if this occurred in the US!)

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