School Killings By Outsiders. by Timothy Loyal 16 November 2006 School Killings by Outsiders: How can they be prevented?

Are schools really unsafe for children, or is this statement a myth and schools are safer than other places, like the childrens own home. The question has been brought to the attention of the world by every school shooting in the last 10 years and the view is the school system needs more security. The disturbing images are displayed on the TV, written in articles and many new books each year all expressing the urgency of tighter security measures in the school systems to make them invulnerable to attacks. Mark Guydish a columnist from The Times Leader says, We are often too quick to perceive our schools as unsafe when they are actually havens for children. (Guydish) The reality of being shot in American school systems is very low. According to the research of William Pollack, a professor in Harvard University who has done studies on school shootings, estimates that a child in this country has a one-in-a-million chance of being shot in an attack or suicide at school. (Bowie) All the steps can be made to barricade, bar and subject individuals to rigorous tests before entering, but does this solve a problem or create another? Does the American society want the children attending to feel like prisoners in an effort to make them feel safer? Thomas Busch a police Captain of Baltimore

states my point, Its a free and open society, and there are risks associated with that I dont think our schools should be fortresses.(Busch) Even with all the precautions someone could come into the school by signing in, walking through a metal detector, strip searched, etc., and still commit murder or assault with the items found in many class rooms. The prevention methods also could be compromised by understaffing, ignoring regulations, or under-funding. When did American society become a land of fear? There are risks every time a person gets out of bed, crosses the street, eats food, or drives a car to name a few. Everything a person does while they are breathing is subject to death. The real threat is just living in a world with people prone to violence and greed. In the article Gun Violence: Children are Safer in Schools than in Neighborhoods. The view is Schools are safer than a childs own home or neighborhood. [Only] a Handful of children have died in school shootingsbut every week, about 50 children die after being shot away from school. (Daily Press) The country went through a lot of changes since its birth over 200 years ago. The efforts are always to make things better, but a belief in making it safer has too many variables. If we take away the guns, as the activists harp, then the only ones with the guns will still be the ones causing the crimes. If we fortify the school the children will live in fear.

Is this breeding of fear a solution when fear drives adrenaline and shuts off all but a primal portion of the brain Fight or Flight? In the article The Agent of Fear it explains: In children, the influence of fear, either jest or earnest, is most sedulously to be avoided. Above all things, care should be taken that circumstances in which children may be placed accidentally, or individuals with whom they may necessarily have come in contact, are not made sources of terror. (General Practitioner 37)

The alternatives are living as a free society or a fearful nation. Is imprisoning the students the solution, or finding out what is the motive for the outsider wanting to get in the school? According to Peggy Sapphire of The News-Times: Public schools are not defined by the quality of their relationships with students or their collaborative relationships with parents and guardians. Their educational mission says nothing about their responsibility to truly know each and every student in their charge. (Sapphire) Maybe the answer is a simple one; the schools should know the students and parents by name, photo and relationship. Then there would be less of a chance of an outside person walking onto campus and not being recognized quickly as not belonging. Its like my Grandfather always told me The lock only keeps out the honest people, but the burglar will still try to get in. Prevention is like nature, forecasting it seems promising, but the freak storm always happens at the most unexpected times. Our society

can not judge all their views on a few incidents. These incidents are bad, but what about the everyday life. The research shows schools to be safer than the homes, or neighborhoods of children. Should we barricade the neighborhoods as well or should we return to the society of the 50s where everyone knew their neighbors, and the schools were working closer with the parents to help educate the children.

Work Cited