Teen suicide is a problem. How can teaching 'Romeo & Juliet' to high-schoolers help?

The most beloved love story in all of literature is also a story about two lovesick teen-agers who kill themselves — he with gut-churning poison, she with a dagger to the heart.

That’s the ending to Shakespeare’s “Romeo & Juliet,” taught to high-school kids for ages. But in an era in which parents and educators are worried about teen suicide and copycatting kids see in the media, how can teachers and arts groups (like Utah Opera, which premieres Charles Gounod’s 1888 adaptation) use the star-cross’d lovers as an object lesson for suicide prevention?

Read the full article at sltrib.com.