German boy stabs himself to death in class

by ashitaka 5 Replies latest jw friends

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  ashitaka

  German boy stabs himself to death in class From Roger Boyes in Berlin

  AN 18-YEAR-OLD German schoolboy who was buckling under the pressure of examinations stabbed himself to death with a bread knife in front of his classmates. The suicide in the city of Essen on Wednesday, coming barely seven weeks after the Erfurt classroom massacre, has shaken Germany and triggered a debate about whether school-leavers are being appropriately tested. He was sitting next to me, a classmate said. When the teacher told him the results, he got up and stabbed himself in the stomach, over and over again. The teacher collapsed in shock. The pupils called an ambulance for the boy who had 12 stab wounds and bled to death in hospital. The school psychologist said that the boy was a popular basketball player, neither a loner nor a drug-user, but terrified of being left without a school-leaving certificate. Gerhard Schrder, the Chancellor, declared his commitment yesterday to improving educational standards. The latest international surveys show that Germany had fewer school-leavers progressing to higher education than any other country in the world barring only Mexico and the Czech Republic. Only 17 per cent of any given year at a German university manages to finish a degree course. Yet the Governments proposals would merely pile the pressure on pupils who claim that they are already being pushed to breaking point. The Essen teenager had just been told that he had scored below average marks in his final German paper and probably would have to repeat the year. Earlier in the week another 18-year-old, identified only as Thomas M, hanged himself in his parents barn outside Erfurt. He attended the Gutenberg grammar school where Robert Steinhuser, 19, who had been expelled but who had kept the fact from his parents, shot a dozen of his teachers, a policeman and two children, before killing himself on the day of the final mathematics examination. Thomas M had seen his teachers killed and been in class as Steinhuser stormed through the corridors. Psychiatrists are explaining the suicide as a form of after-shock. Gutenberg pupils are attending lessons elsewhere while the classrooms are repainted and repaired. Of the 53 teachers, 12 died and 21 are on permanent sick leave because they feel unable to teach. The background to Thomas Ms suicide seems to be similar to that of Steinhusers killing spree: both youths had been obliged to repeat a year and knew that if they sat and failed their school-leaving examination they would have finished their school careers without a single piece of paper, and set adrift. Austrian politicians have been urging a reform of their examination system to ease stress on pupils. A leading member of the Freedom Party, Karl Schweitzer, describes the Austrian school leaving exam (known as the Matura) as an anachronism which simply adds nervous stress and brings no benefit.
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  gsx1138

  If only this was in America, we could blame it on video games or music. By assigning abiguous blame we get to take away the resposibility of the person who committed the act. Damn it's good to be American.
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  Wendy

  Awww that is so sad. I had seen the article on the killings, and was deeply upset by that. Ashi, i am going to try and give your saucy wife a call this afternoon. When things get quiet here, I hope you are home

  wendy
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  mindfield

  Do they have censored games in Germany? Or does that only exist in other European countries? The reason I'm asking is that I only recently learned that video games are completely censored in what concerns the violence and gore levels in some countries, and completely unlocked for the American and Canadian viewing pleasure.

  Ashi, that's an extremely sad story. The fact that he did it with a butter knife makes it even worse. He must have suffered enormously before finally succumbing to his wounds. I'd blame it on the aftershock of the massacre that occured 7 weeks earlier, but then again, I have no proof to back that up. Truly saddening.
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  ashitaka

  Wendy,

  We'll be here. I'll send you a mail with several numbers on where we could be.

  ashi
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  ashitaka

  The worst thing about this story is that it was just an examination. This kid was probably a great guy, and he ends his life because he was expected to do too much.

  I posted this because it reminded me of my teenage years being a JW.

  You know, my bro-in-law is dyslexic, and this kid may have been. IT's a real shame. Some people think that kids who don't score well are idiots, but my bro-in-law just has a problem learning the way most people do. This poor kid was under so much pressure that he killed himself...so sad.

  ashi