Dead Souls in the Classroomn^^’ I ‘hanatology” or “death education” now competesnA with driver’s ed and “social problems” for thenattention of the nation’s high schoolers. First introduced onnAmerica’s college campuses in the 1960’s by such luminariesnas Edgar Jackson, Richard Kalish, Robert Kastenbaum,nand Herman Feifel, death education has, like many otherndubious pedagogical experiments, trickled down to thensecondary and even elementary schools. Some states nownrequire instruction on “death and dying” as part of thenhealth curriculum for the public schools.nBut what do sophomores learn from their solicitous deathninstructors? Daniel Leviton, professor of health science atnthe University of Maryland and one of the founders of thendiscipline, has provided a revealing outline of the “goals forndeath education.” First in his list of 12 objectives is theneducator’s task of “remov[ing] the taboo aspect of deathnlanguage so students can read and discourse upon deathnrationally without becoming anxious.” If nothing else, thenjargon tells us that we have indeed wandered into a world ofndeath, a region of credentialed corpses and academicnputrefaction. It gets worse. Leviton declares that deathneducators “promote comfortable and intelligent interactionnwith the dying as human beings.” Children are to learn thenmedical physiology of death so that they will “grow up withna minimum of death-related anxieties. Anxieties are toonoften based upon irrationality and myth rather than fact.”nBryce Christensen is editor of The Family in America.n24/CHRONICLESnby Bryce J. Christensenn ^n1 .nnnDisabused of the mythology and taboos of the past, armednwith a catalog of facts, students can “understand thendynamics of grief and the reactions of diflFering age groups tonthe death of a ‘significant other.'” Through the power ofnmodern science and sociology, the death educator willnbanish the horrors of the tomb and help students “workntoward an easy dying.” Of course, students won’t achieventhis “easy” exit from life without learning “the importancenof pain reduction for the dying person.” “Pain,” after all, “isna priority issue for the dying.” (Priority issue?)nBut then, since neither morphine nor mortuaries comenfree, death ed will also “educate consumers to the commercialndeath market.” In practice, this may mean visiting anfuneral home to price the funeral packages. During andeath-ed field trip, students may even be encouraged to trynlying in one of the sample coffins.nWith the dark myths of the past dispelled, the technicalnfortifications against pain reviewed, the dollars and centsnadded up, what’s left for the busy death educator? Oh, therenwill always be one or two annoying kids in the back of thenroom with bothersome questions about the meaning ofndeath. Leviton admits that “the death educator can providenno answer concerning status after death.” Not to worry,ndeath ed can serve Good Causes on Earth without worryingnabout Heaven or Hell. Take pacifism, for instance. Thendeath educator can help students “recognize that war andnother holocausts are related to feelings of personal immortalitynand omnipotence. War might be avoided if we realizen