An American psychology professor lost his job after giving his high school students a somewhat peculiar essay topic: “Today was the last day of your life, write your obituary.”

Jeffrey Keane, 63, explained in a Facebook message that he wanted to link his lesson to an exercise designed to prepare students for the risk of a gunman breaking into their high school near Orlando, Florida.

Keane asked his students to write down on paper their “impressions” associated with this simulation and to think about what are the causes that result in repeated massacres in the United States, possible remedies for the causes, and therefore to imagine their afterlife.

A small note clarified “thank you for realizing (…) that there is absolutely no intention of disturbing you”.

He was fired on Tuesday. In a press release, republished by the American media, the school authorities accuse him of giving an “inappropriate task” to his students. He defended his choice speaking to local television networks. The purpose “wasn’t to scare them or make them think they’re going to die, but to help them understand what’s important in their lives,” he told NBC.

His firing left him “stunned” as he told Fox 5: “I was talking to the students about the world they live in, about guns, about the shooters…”

Guns became the leading cause of death among American minors in 2020, with 4,368 deaths, surpassing deaths from traffic accidents and drug overdoses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Bloodbaths in schools represent only a small part, but they leave a much bigger impact.

The United States was mainly shocked by the massacres committed in 2012 at a school in Sandy Hook, Connecticut (with 20 children dead) and in May 2022 at a school in Uvalde, Texas (with 19 children and two teachers dead).

However, the majority of Americans remain strongly attached to the right to bear arms and do not want to hear about reforms, not even a few.

Two elected officials from Tennessee (South) were recently expelled from the local legislature for joining their voices with protesters who went to the legislature to demand better gun regulations after the late March massacre at an elementary school in Nashville.