If a student has been thoroughly schooled in spinning an aircraft and is in an aircraft capable and equipped for spins (to include parachutes), that's one thing...but the student, particularly a student who hadn't reached his or her initial pilot certification yet...shouldn't generally be sent to do spins or off field landings by himself or herself.
I do believe in showing these things to a student and instructing the student, and I believe a student who hasn't been shown and hasn't made off field landings has been done a big disservice. No one should ever experience their first forced landing on their own...by the time it happens to them, it should be familiar because they've already been there with an instructor.