David Lester

In the following viewpoint, David Lester asserts that teachers and counselors can prevent student suicide by identifying and aiding students who are suicidal. Schools can also help prevent suicide by improving student self-esteem and by providing crisis counseling, Lester argues. However, he maintains, suicide awareness programs for students are not always highly effective and should be carefully evaluated before being implemented. Lester is a professor of psychology at Richard Stockton State College in New Jersey and the author of The Cruelest Death: The Enigma of Adolescent Suicide, from which this viewpoint is taken.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. What are five reasons why schools should be involved in suicide prevention, according to J. Smith, as cited by Lester?
2. What is primary prevention, according to Lester?
3. What are four criticisms of the use of suicide prevention programs...