Hypnosis by School Principal Leads to Student's Death

[Michael Wechsler]

I found this news story particularly interesting.

In Florida, it seems that a school principal, seemingly well intentioned, was hypnotizing students in class to help them with confidence/insecurity issues. However, he was only permitted to hypnotize students for demonstration as part of a psychology class. One of these students appears to have committed suicide, dead from a drug overdose, just one day after hypnotizing a young student. Is there cause and effect? It seems no one is sure as of yet.

A Facebook page set up to support this principal has over 1,100 supporters which seems to indicate that many appreciate this man. It's mission is "To keep supporting an amazing principal even when our School Board does not."

The full story is here.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/florida-principal-hypnotized-student-killed/story?id=13638377

It makes me wonder about the school liability and the limits of our well intentioned and beloved educators. Our school system suffers from many budgetary limitations and it would seem that this school may have been amongst one of the better run.

 

[army judge]

I read the account of those tragic events with bewilderment and bemusement.

The principal shouldn't have engaged in this senseless conduct.
The only way out is proving the dead kid was a drug addict and would have OD'ed notwithstanding the hypnosis.

Bottom line for education, get back to basics. Reading, writing, arithmetic. I say that and my wife is a 30 year high school teacher. She thinks public education has lost it's way. I agree. This tragic event supports her hypothesis.