I really have no idea how someone could think this was a good idea.

People will (hopefully) get fired over this. No one with that little common sense should be counted on in a real emergency.

You do really have to wonder what was going through the minds of

a: whoever thought up the idea
b: the knuckleheads that agreed it was sensible

I am not so sure that such a stunt is a bad idea in principle. I still believe that many of those VaTech kids would still be alive if they hadn't froze in the gunsights.

The mistake these Murfreesboro teachers made is that they put the cart before the horse. They should have first roleplayed the situation, with the kids knowing that it was pretend and afterwards talking through their response. Only with that preparation should a surprise mock attack have been undertaken.

It's a weird thing to do on an extended field trip, the details make it sound as if the teachers acted like high-school aged camp counselor's pulling a prank on their kids, and I don't think I would've known what Cliff's Notes were in sixth grade.

Forget it, Jake - it's Tennessee.

Update from BoingBoing:

Looks like this might have gotten a little sensationalized. According to this (link here), the kids were staying in a dorm on a visit to a state park, and were expecting a traditional prank from the teachers. The kids were not told that anyone was after them, just that some idiots were randomly firing in the forest.

Oh yeah:

Shit like this (shoddy reporting, sensationalizing, etc) makes me want to reconsider my major at times.

::sigh::

That news release CitrusFreak12 links to is referred to and shown (mom is holding it in her hands in the video) in the linked video but not read from at any length. It sounds like she disagrees with that release's description of events, based on her son's account of what happened. The prank probably was poor judgment on their part, though I'm not sure what kind of pranks aren't (shortsheeting beds? saran-wrapping the toilet? stealing all the towels?).