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US teacher asks students to write own obituaries before shooter drill, fired
The school teacher Jeffery Kenne defended his decision stating it was a psychology lesson.
A public school teacher in the United States’ Florida was fired Saturday for assigning students to write their own obituaries before an active shooter drill in the campus. The psychology teacher Jeffery Keene was fired after the authorities termed his assignment ‘inappropriate’, but Keene stuck to his stand and said he did not regret giving the assignment to the 11th and 12th class students.
Terming it a psychology lesson, Kenne defended his decision to assign students to write their own obituaries as a way to help them understand “what's truly important in life”. He said he didn’t mean to scare the students but wanted them to reflect on their values and priorities. "If they died 24 hours from now, what would they do differently than they did yesterday? And that's to get them to get rid of all the fluff and show them what's important in the world," the 63-year-old ex- teacher at the Dr. Phillips High School told The Guardian.
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Keene said he also put up a disclaimer at the bottom of the assignment, clarifying it was not meant to upset the students. “It wasn't to say, 'You're going to die, and let's stress you out,'" he added.
Keene’s employment as a probationary employee was terminated by the Orange County School District in Florida which issued a statement on the incident saying, “Dr. Phillips High School families were informed that a teacher gave an inappropriate assignment about school violence. Administration immediately investigated and the probationary employee was terminated."
