Commentary

Public School Follies: Drunk Driving Edition

Some might question whether it is a public school’s job to educate 12- year-olds about the dangers of drunk driving. Some parents may object to their kids seeing photos of mutilated drivers–especially when they might be pictures of a student’s parent. A 12-year-old student saw her father’s remains in a gruesome photo of a drunken-driving crash during a police presentation on the dangers of mixing alcohol and operating a motor vehicle. The girl’s mother, Marla Cabbage Higginbotham, said her daughter was traumatized by the experience last month at the Holston Middle School. Her attorney has urged the Knox County law director’s office to investigate. ”Why are we showing 12-year-olds mutilated dead bodies when they can’t even drive a car for four more years?” attorney Gregory P. Isaacs said Friday. ”[The police] are good people with good intentions who have made a terrible, terrible mistake.”