Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Usually, we get the announcement: “We are in a lockdown. This is a drill.” The assistant principal didn’t say the word “drill.” But of course it has to be. We were told about it in an all-staff e-mail hours ago. This is totally routine, I tell myself. I’m annoyed that I took even a split second to consider an alternative.
We get the children into the closet. My assistant lowers the window blinds, submerging our bright classroom in an odd, midday twilight, while I go to the classroom door. I quickly check for any children in the hallway, anyone I could pull to safety in my room. That’s part of the protocol. But who do I think would be there? The whole school is doing this drill. It is, in fact, just a drill, I reassure myself. I lock the door, pull a paper shade over the glass and, silently, step back to the closet.
We don’t quite fit, 16 tiny bodies sitting crisscross applesauce, hands in laps, plus two adults. But I nudge my way in, and I begin to work the room, pulling out every teacher trick I know to maintain the silence while we wait.
And wait.
We hear the echoing footsteps, then the sharp, metallic rattle of the doorknob. I absolutely know that I locked that door not three minutes before, and yet I’m flooded with an absurd relief when our lock holds. The footsteps fall away down the hallway, and we hear the next door rattle, and the next. It won’t be long now.
Yes. Irrational people pumped into a frenzy over media hype and political sensationalism about how their kids are going to be abducted and killed, or shot in their classroom. It is a shame they don't recognize and appreciate that we live in a time of great safety where we don't have to concern ourselves with the real risks of prior generations, we have to magnify small mole hill into mountains and create phantoms to keep us on edge.
number of children currently 4-18 years old in the US = about 70,000,000. Number killed in the past 20 years in high school and grade school mass shootings = about 85 total , or 4.1/year. 4.1/70,000,000 = 1 chance in 17,000,000/year of dying in a mass shooting. Does it really make sense to have kids practice evacuation drills in the even of mass shootings? Is it really going to help?
Yes. Irrational people pumped into a frenzy over media hype and political sensationalism about how their kids are going to be abducted and killed, or shot in their classroom. It is a shame they don't recognize and appreciate that we live in a time of great safety where we don't have to concern ourselves with the real risks of prior generations, we have to magnify small mole hill into mountains and create phantoms to keep us on edge.
number of children currently 4-18 years old in the US = about 70,000,000. Number killed in the past 20 years in high school and grade school mass shootings = about 85 total , or 4.1/year. 4.1/70,000,000 = 1 chance in 17,000,000/year of dying in a mass shooting. Does it really make sense to have kids practice evacuation drills in the even of mass shootings? Is it really going to help?
When you put it that way, it looks really small and insignificant. But if God forbids it hits home, those statistics don't mean jack. It is huge and the word "tragedy" when it comes to innocent children dying such an ugly death does not do it justice. I can promise you those statistics don't mean anything to those poor parents of the 85 children.
And don't forget the impact it makes on the community. You don't think the majority of those kids who made it have some form of PTSD?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
