An American psychology professor lost his job after giving his high school students a somewhat idiosyncratic essay topic: “Today was the last day of your life, write your obituary.”

Jeffrey Keene, 63, explained in a Facebook post that he wanted to tie his lesson to an exercise designed to prepare students for the risk of a gunman infiltrating their high school near Orlando, Florida.

Keene asked his students to write down on paper their “impressions” related to this simulation and think about what are the causes that lead to repeated massacres in the United States, possible means of eliminating the causes, and therefore imagine their afterlife.

A small note clarified: “Thank you for realizing (…) that you have absolutely no intention of disturbing you.”

Unsuitable job for students

He was fired on Tuesday. In a press release reprinted by US media, school authorities accuse him of giving his students “an inappropriate assignment”. He defended his choice by speaking to local TV channels. The goal was “not to scare them or make them think they’re going to die, but to help them understand what’s important in their lives,” he told NBC.

His firing “overwhelmed” him when he told Fox 5, “I’ve been talking to students about the world they live in, about guns, about shooters…”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2020, firearms were the leading cause of death among American minors, with 4,368 deaths, outnumbering deaths from traffic accidents and drug overdoses.

Bloodbaths in schools represent only a small part, but they leave a much larger impact.

The United States was mostly shocked by the 2012 massacres at a school in Sandy Hook, Connecticut (20 children were killed) and in May 2022 at a school in Uvalda, Texas (19 children and two teachers were killed).

However, most Americans are still strongly committed to the right to bear arms and do not even want to hear about reforms.

Two elected officials from Tennessee (South) were recently expelled from the local legislature for joining their voices in protesters who went to the legislature to demand improved gun regulations following the late March massacre at an elementary school in Nashville.

Source: APE-MPE, AFP.