You're all going to die

Steve Hatton

Road Safety campaigns are pretty normal in school assemblies, they vary from the green cross code to presentations by the police showing graphic images of the after effects of accidents.

My first experience of one of these assemblies from an onlooker's perspective rather than from the audience was whilst on teaching practice.

The headmaster stood in front of the school of around 500 pupils between 11 and 15 years old.

After the normal day to day annuncements he procedded on to talk about road safety. A fairly brief and light touch intro, then the "punch between the eyes". He became a hellfire and brimstone sermoniser and promouned  "2 peole in a hundred will die in road traffic accidents"- "By the time you ar 16 - ten of you will be dead!".

He didn't have a chance to say too much after that. The audience was in disarray. Some staff were busy moving between the children picking up those who had feinted Those chiuldren who hadn't collapsed were holding shocked convesations - some fearful, others mocking. Staff not involved with collecting lifeless bodies were struggling to reassure and to clam the others.

It was a wierd experience for a novice teacher, and I've never really felt it was a good technique for encouraging road safety awareness but I guess it had an effect on some of the students in that room. 

Who can say?..

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