Parents paying up to $41,000 in tuition to Upper East Side’s York Prep are shocked, because their children were assigned to write suicide notes. Oh my god!
But not really.
While it is true that a group of 14-year-old students of English teacher Jessica Barrish were assigned to write suicide notes, no complaints were made by anyone other than the exception of one student’s parents.
While it is a sensitive subject to be addressed in a school setting, the assignment was to write a mock suicide note as a character from the novel The Secret Life of Bees. It’s nothing more than a simple writing exercise exploring the idea of empathy: “How would you justify ending your life? What reasons would you give?”
Too intense? They’re 14. They can handle it.
(Image: NYMag)
