Thomas Tallis School in Kidbrooke, London, has come under fire after teenage students were tasked to write a suicide note.
The homework assignment was set by an English teacher as part of their Macbeth module. After reading the scene where Lady MacBeth commits suicide in Shakespeare’s acclaimed tragedy, sixty students were told to pen a suicide letter to their loved ones.
The task caused an outbreak of disgust, anger and disappointment among parents, with many claiming their children had been emotionally affected. One mother was quoted as saying her daughter was “very distressed” over the set assignment as she had lost three friends to suicide herself. Her daughter had confided in the school teacher that writing such a note made her uncomfortable.
Her mother said, “My daughter had had personal experience with people her age committing suicide. On what universe was it ever, under any situation, a good idea to ask a group of teenagers to write suicide notes?”
Her opinion was voiced by many as other parents declared the homework as “absolutely disgusting” and “insensitive.”
