Suicide can happen at any age. But since I’m a young person I will talk about my thoughts on suicide as a young person. A 16 year old person at my school killed herself right before finals. I was devastated as was everyone else. What happened? The parents were in complete disbelief. She was smart, popular, beautiful and kind. As I talked to more people, I found out that she was bullied by her teacher in the sense that he put a tremendous amount of pressure on her when she asked for help in his class. Instead of being understanding, he was cold and threatening, letting her know that she better do well on the final. She then went to the Principal and reported his behavior. But the principal said there was nothing he could do about it. Afterward, she committed suicide. She must have been so upset that she didn’t even want to tell her parents.
Kids can’t always cope as well as people with more experience in life. But having said that, even older people can’t take the abuse from bosses, mean co-workers, etc. Those who are sensitive in a tough world have a hard time. All I’m saying is that something like the incident I mentioned can push someone over the edge if they are already close to the edge.
I’m not sure why school has to be so strict. I know that the Principal of the school is evaluated for the academics of the school. But there has to be some compassion. I read about Katie Meyer, the soccer star at Stanford University. She spilled coffee on a boy she believed had sexually assaulted her friend. Katie was disciplined by the school. On the evening of Katie’s death, Stanford sent a letter via email with a formal charge and informed her of impending disciplinary action. She was facing a hold on her diploma and she was supposed to graduate in 3 months. (that’s what I read)
The family is suing. In the lawsuit, the lawyers have mentioned that there was allegedly threatening language regarding sanctions and potential “removal from the University.” It appears she also wanted to attend Stanford Law School and that was in danger as well. While I don’t know all the details and I am only going by what I read, I cannot confirm whether the allegations are true. There supposedly was an 800 number for the student to call for support on the letter. But I know that I wouldn’t call an 800 number and be connected to a random person especially if it were sponsored by the school that sent the letter.
Anyway, Katie Meyer committed suicide that evening after receiving the letter. I will follow the case. It had to be awful for her to take her life and the parents are grieving so much. Why are we losing so many bright kids with such an amazing future ahead of them?