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“Suicide – a heroic act or cowardice” as one of the topics offered to which second-graders must respond in a written assignment is the backbone of the debate that began yesterday among users of the social network “Twitter.” , which moved to electronic media at lightning speed. As a sensible and serious request that a teacher of Serbian language and literature could make to the students, this topic is immediately connected with the news of the chronicle about the suicides of young people in the capital. In the comments, for example, a reader writes that as an educator he is horrified to think that there are those who think about suicide among students, that most parents are not aware of how many sad, depressed and unhappy children we have, while in the news sees that three committed suicide.
Perhaps there would be no such reactions if it were specified that the given composition on suicide refers to that act from Tolstoy’s novel “Anna Karenina”, because this literary work is a required reading for high school students, and in that sense there would be no doubt if it is an age appropriate topic. However, one of the best methodologists among Serbian language and literature teachers, Vladimir Milojevic, professor at the Fourteenth Gymnasium in Belgrade, not only points out that the title is incomplete, but also in the conversation of our article that it is not the most cleverly redacted, because as a heroic act.
– I clearly doubt that any of the fellow Serbian language and literature teachers would ask the topic “Suicide – a heroic act or cowardice” with the aim of turning it into a free topic in which adolescents will think about that act in written works. Most likely it is a constructive subject of literature that refers to Tolstoy’s novel, and that had to be specified, so that it was clear what the students would think, write, discuss and there would be nothing debatable about it. Writing about suicide as a topic in literature is age appropriate and in line with the program. Tolstoy’s novel has been on the show for decades, is fully processed, and is undoubtedly one of the most extensive literary works that students read in school, perhaps even in life. And suicide or murder are the motives of many reading novels. And that, of course, is discussed with the students. We remember the classic “Crime and Punishment” by Dostoevsky, which is prosecuted in the fourth grade of secondary school. We know that Raskolnikov committed a murder because he is going through a crisis. Such acts should not be avoided on the grounds of murder or suicide, nor should the subjects of written assignments be avoided. And with our Ivo Andrić, in the novel “On the Drina Bridge”, which is about the third grade of secondary school, there is a suicide motive in several places. Fata Avdagina committed suicide by jumping from the bridge, the unfortunate Fedun also left the bridge on the Drina when he killed himself with a rifle – illustrates Milojevic.
Remember that it is usual in practice to inevitably organize a debate when processing literary works, where students are in the role of a jury that makes a judgment on the actions of literary characters, for example, if they justify or condemn the actions by Ana. Karenina. Her experience, from the classroom, confirms that students in general do not justify suicide as an act in any sense, not even those that protect Karenina.
– It is not the best written subject in which the possibility of interpreting suicide as a heroic act is left. It is my opinion. It is possible that the students and the teacher have already discussed it, but I doubt that the debate could have gone in the direction that throwing it under the train was a heroic act, because we find no justification for suicide in any literary work. . Andrić’s unfortunate Fedun had no one to bury or poison him. Well, an elderly priest from Visegrad says that he will perform the funeral because that man certainly did not do it consciously – explains Milojevic.
He does not think it is debatable to let students write about suicide as an act from a literary work, he points out that it is the teacher’s decision, in this case “recklessly formulated”. And when we ask him what would be a well-written topic for a group of students that touches on the act of suicide, as if it were from the sleeve, he says: “Anna Karenina – victim or culprit”, “How Tolstoy’s novel helped me better understand life and people “,” Story of Ana, Vronsky and other human destinies that the novel follows “…
That in conversation with teenagers suicide should not be a taboo topic, because if something is not discussed it does not mean that it will not happen, believe those who share the opinion that “Suicide – a heroic act or cowardice” is a great topic for to write. assignments, which does not encourage students to commit suicide, but offers to talk about it.
In addition, they believe that it is worth analyzing the attitudes of the students that are presented in the compositions, with the help of a psychologist to assess if someone needs support, because “pushing problems under the rug can bring people to the brink: building”.
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