Okay, for the record, I'm not condoning suicide. But if you think your life sucks that bad and think death is your only answer, then whatever, do what you will. My older sister tried to commit suicide when I was in eighth grade; she was 18 and I was 13. I did not know what to make of it. I even blamed myself for it even happening. My mother tells me that I said to her, "if only I had stayed up and paid closer attention to what she was doing." I basically woke up for school to find my mother and sister weren't home, thought nothing of it, went to school, and then halfway through the day I got called down to the guidance counselor's office where my parents were waiting and told me what happened.
My sister survived, thankfully, but she has done nothing but use suicide threats as leverage with my parents ever since. My parents basically have been her prisoner -- in a manner of speaking -- ever since. My sister will never move out, she will never get her life together, and she'll probably be a burden on my parents until the day they die.
But... Here's the thing; people like this kid use suicide as a tool to get attention. They don't think of how it hurts the people who love them. Typically all they think about is how sorry they feel for themselves and that the world should throw pity at 'em. So I'm not at all sympathetic to the people who think the teacher was wrong. It sounds like sound advice to me.