We had another incident of school violence today. It looks as if over 20 students were injured by a knife wielding student. How many more of these are we going to endure until we do something about? I taught high school in urban schools for 18 years and I am not surprised that we have this level of violence occurring. First, security at most high schools is a joke. Just about anyone can come on a school campus with just about any weapon imaginable. There is no one there who can stop a determined assailant. How do we fix this? Armed security! A few well trained and armed security officer would stop any intruder in seconds (and maybe even before someone gets hurt).
Second, since many times the assailants are the students themselves, we need to find a way to deal with them. How do we fix this? Make it easier to expel and arrest dangerous and violent students. Also, make it easier to identify and deal with students who are mentally ill. There is little or no system in place to deal with the large increase of students with mental problems. This needs to be addressed now.
Finally, what does all this say about the direction that our country is going? We need to look at ourselves and be honest about all we are doing to contribute to this situation. Our students and staff should be safe at school. It is time to make this happen before another student or teacher gets hurt or is killed.
What do you think?
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