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Dear Student:
Sometimes your school may ask you to answer nosy questions about your personal life, your attitudes, feelings and opinions, your family, or your friends. You do not have to answer these questions! Sometimes you are told to write the answers on a survey or questionnaire. Sometimes these nosy questions are part of a test, lesson, game, activity, or counseling. Do not answer these nosy questions because --
You have a right to privacy about your personal attitudes, opinions, feelings, relationships, and actions outside of school. Don't answer any of these questions even if the school tells you the answers will be kept secret or confidential because it is easy for the school to identify your answers. Here are some examples of nosy questions that your school should not ask you - and which you should not answer.
How often do you attend religious services? How important is religion in your life? What makes you angry? Do you hate your parents? What was the worst day of your life? Do you lie or cheat? What embarrasses you? How would you prefer to die? Who died last in your family? What reasons would motivate you to commit suicide? Write your own obituary.
What goes on
Are your parents divorced or never married? What does your mother do? Who lives in your house? What would you like to change about your house? Do you have your own bedroom? What TV programs does your family watch? When you get a bad grade, what do your parents do to you? Has drinking or drug use by any family member caused family, health, job or legal problems? If yes, who?
Your
Do you worry about dying soon? your
parents getting a divorce? killing
yourself a nuclear bomb being dropped
on America?
Do you hate yourself?
Do you think you look ugly?
Do you think nobody really loves you?
Do you have fights with your parents?
Have you ever had a nervous breakdown or
lost your mind?
Have you ever tried to kill yourself?
Have you felt so discouraged or hopeless
that you wonder if anything is
worthwhile?
Do you wish you had never been born?
Do you think people would be happier if
you were not around?
Do you wonder if you have the nerve to kill yourself?
Did any member of your family attempt
suicide?
How often have you run away from home?
Your possible
How often do you use the following:
cigarettes, beer, wine, hard liquor,
marijuana, acid, speed, cocaine, crack,
heroin?
If you use marijuana, how old were you
when you started?
How often do you get drunk?
Do you think teenagers should be able to
drink as long as they don't drive
afterwards?
Your
How old were you the first time you had
sexual intercourse?
What kind of birth control do you most
often use?
Have you ever been pregnant?
When you daydream about sex, do you
think about (a) males, (b) females,
(c) both?
Do you consider yourself a heterosexual
or a homosexual?
Do you know of a place to go to see a
doctor, nurse or counselor without your
parents knowing about it?
Your
Do you have a boyfriend or girlfriend now?
Name him or her.
Do you have a best friend now? Name him
or her.
Do you share secrets with this best friend?
Name the three classmates you like the most.
Name your classmates who do weird or
strange things.
Name the kids you hang out with in school.
What should you | |
| 1. | Tell the teacher you are not going to answer these questions because your parents have told you not to. |
| 2. | Report these questions to your parents and, if possible, take home a copy of the questions. |
| 3. | If the school makes it so difficult that you feel forced to turn in the questionnaire, then turn it in blank (or check an answer that means "no opinion"). |
| Note: All the above are actual questions
asked of public school pupils in the last
several years. Copies of privacy-invading
questionnaires can be sent for evaluation to:
PO Box 618 Alton, Illinois 62002 (618) 462-5415 | |