School shooting problem demands action
by Hannah Tjepkes | Class of 2021 | April 30, 2018
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Parkland, Florida. Yet another gunman takes innocent students’ lives, and I, like other students across the nation, question whether this can happen at my school, to me and my friends. Are students here prepared for a tragedy like this? Should we have some training or do some drill so we know how what to do or should we do nothing at all, leaving us to just contemplate the "what if"?
On February 14, 14 students and 3 adults lost their lives to a lone gunman as he entered a high school with one purpose in mind: to kill. Students, who were going to learn lost their lives in a place that was supposed to be a safe.
At school we learn that school is a safe place, but how can we feel safe not knowing what to do in a situation like this? This alarming event leads me to think students should be more educated on something like this happening. What are some signs of a potential shooter? Where do you go if you are in the hallway and something like this happens? If somebody you are near gets shot, how can you help them survive? How do you survive?
A reason some people think that we shouldn’t do drills in school
is that most of school shooters are currently enrolled at the school they are attacking, but shouldn’t students know at least where to go and what to do? In a time like this it may be very fast and chaotic, and students will need to know a fast and safe way to stay alive. School shootings are very real and present, and everybody in the school needs to be educated on the subject.
Nearly 300 school shootings have happened since 2013. That is, on average, per week. This shows me and other students that school shootings have become more frequent in this generation. Even though they shouldn't be, they are. I realize you can never prepare a student or teacher for what they might see or experience in a situation like this, but you can help give them steps to follow in order to survive.
Never should anybody feel scared to go get a education, never should any student be worried if their life could end at school. We will never know what posses a person to do this to children, but it is so important to prepare students. It is so important to create awareness of school shootings. At Hudson Community Schools, we need to be educated on situations like this. One day it may save our lives. As a student, that may be one of the most valuable lessons I could be taught.