Already a School Shooting

Today in Georgia at Apalachee High School, there was already a school shooting carried out by a 14-year-old student. School has only been in session for a few weeks. Little is known about a motive and a student who spoke with CNN says the shooter was someone who would stereotypically be a school shooter due to his quiet nature.

School shootings seem to be happening multiple times a year now despite many efforts being taken to stop them. Many schools now have “Active shooter drills” that are meant to prepare students for the possibility of a shooter on campus, sometimes through role-play. It can be much harder though to know what to do when a shooting is actually taking place. There is no way to truly plan for such a thing due to how many different minds are involved.

Just so there’s no confusion, I definitely don’t condone what happened today or any school shooting and am not trying to make light of the situation. It is very rare, however, that a student who shoots up a school just decided to do so overnight with nothing causing the premeditation, and usually the shooting is at the school in general rather than targeted to a certain group. Considering who was injured and killed today, this shooting doesn’t seem to target a specific group either, though there is still much to be learned including motive. As much time is spent preparing for a school shooting, I think it would be valuable to also put that much effort into preventing school shootings.

How can this be done? I talked to parents at a local mall today who were watching the news story unfold and got their thoughts on what could be done. I told them I would keep them anonymous in my article and would give my thoughts also on their statements.

Metal Detectors

A couple of parents said having metal detectors in every school would be a good start. While I agree it would be a good start, metal detectors aren’t the true answer. Metal detectors being installed is often a quick reaction to school shootings, but their ability to prevent school shootings is much lower than touted, as detailed by WestEd Justice & Prevention Research Center (1).

More Armed School Security Guards

In response to metal detectors, one parent said schools needed more human security, specifying they should be armed guards. Schools often have at least one security guard or resource officer already. While having more security guards on hand could be helpful in the face of a shooting, it doesn’t help prevent them from happening. Another parent also argued that could cause more danger as it also puts more guns in the school.

Prayer in Schools

An elderly lady said we need to put prayer back in school because when she was in school it was allowed and these shootings were almost unheard of. Multiple people around shouted “Amen!” While she has a point, we also have to look at how much the world itself has changed since she was in school. There was a time when most schools in America were Christian-based and that was widely accepted. In more recent times, people have come to recognize the Constitution gives “Freedom of religion” rather than just the right to be a Christian. Schools today are more accepting of different religions or even the lack of religion a student might practice. Students who carry out school shootings often do so due to feeling left out by the school’s “society.” Religions are great at making others feel left out. Even Christians who claim love is all we need often show hate toward someone who doesn’t conform to their ways. This kind of thing could actually lead to more targeted shootings in today's world in my opinion.

School Paddling and Calling the Parents

Four different parents I interviewed said this or something similar to it, one saying to use harsher implements than a paddle. I live in the Bible Belt, “spare the rod, spoil the child” south of America. Hearing that parents would say this probably would appall some, but it is a practice that is still allowed in public school in 17 states here and hasn’t been outlawed in the home or in private schools in any state. I’ve stated in the past that I’m not against organized spanking in the home (done as punishment, not impulsively out of anger). I’m not against it because I’ve seen it work way better than alternatives such as grounding. I don’t, however, see it as a positive punishment to be used in schools, especially at the high school level. My high school did allow paddling, as did my mom’s. Even back when my mom was in school it was considered a joke and students literally tried to get paddled so their name would be put on the paddle. It in no way helped correct behavior.

Calling parents can be helpful if a student is acting out. Growing up, I wasn’t afraid of school paddling at all. I still didn’t want to get one though because it would lead to my mom being called. That was the real punishment that scared students straight. However, in this case, and in many student shooter cases, the shooter is someone who was quiet and stayed out of trouble. Punishment at school or notifying parents of misbehavior at school would do little to nothing because the misbehavior either didn’t exist or went unrecognized due to how invisible the student was.

Parent Involvement

“F*ck all that… the problem is with the parents at home, or lack of parents.” Imagine an angry middle-aged man with a MAGA cap and you’ll get the full picture. I can’t fully disagree with him though. Sometimes it does come down to that parents could have gotten their child help and possibly prevented the shooting. In less recent news, the parents of Ethan Crumbley were sentenced to 10 years in prison for not taking measures to stop their son’s behavior which led to a school shooting. It was a case I watched closely, being it was the first time ever in which parents were found legally responsible for their child committing a school shooting.

Behavior that leads to a school shooting sometimes can be found in the student’s home if the parent(s) are aware. I say parent(s) because often there is only one. Being there is often only one parent and households are struggling, it is very easy for a teen’s behavior to slip under a parent’s radar. I agree with something said in Jennifer Crumbley’s defense — The school, where the behavior took place, has many professionals on hand who didn’t see the signs. How was a parent to see the signs, especially signs that weren’t happening at home?

Unfortunately, not all parents have the resources to shadow their child in today’s world. Many parents have to work multiple jobs and teens are often left to fend for themselves. Even if the parent can be more involved, teens aren’t exactly known for talking with their parents. They are much more known for ignoring and rebelling against them. It is unlikely a parent will be able to notice the signs their child would become a school shooter any more than school professionals could.

My Solution

While most of the parents’ ideas had points and could work in certain situations, I didn’t hear any ideas that weren’t either outdated and wouldn’t likely work in today’s world or weren’t just ideas media has put into our heads.

Unlike most parents, I’ve been in the schools from a teacher standpoint and have worked with students who have mental health disorders for many years. Due to this, I’ve seen the flaws of most current schools and can easily see how the way school is now is more likely to encourage a shooting than prevent one.

I don’t think it’s possible to completely stop school shootings. We live in an imperfect world and due to how many different minds make up a school it is ignorant to believe there could be a one-size-fits-all solution to this. The goal should be to prevent shootings as much as possible though.

Something helpful in doing this would be faculty knowing the students. Teachers and staff used to be allowed to be close with students in a counseling way. While at school, the teachers are basically a student’s parents. Now though, school focuses more on the students’ test scores than on their behavior. In a school in which I volunteered, it was stated that if a student was having a problem at home they were to be sent to the school counselor. The counselor for that school was also the counselor for 3 other schools in the area. She didn’t have the resources to know every student’s name, much less their individual situations.

Students need to be looked at as more than robots being programmed to pass tests. Teachers and faculty need to be aware when a student is having a problem at home or at school, especially one that could lead to a shooting. I wrote in an earlier article that a student found more trust in me than he did in any of the other faculty he’d been around for hours as he was able to tell me of a student claiming to have a gun and hadn’t been able to tell anyone else. The difference was I treated him like a human. I allowed him to talk with me about anything that was bothering him and he came to trust me. Teachers didn’t allow this and just expected me to do his work with him and not talk with him. Thankfully, I refused to follow that instruction.

The shooter in Georgia had been investigated the year prior for allegedly threatening to enact a school shooting. The student denied making the threats and the case was dropped, but if I were part of that faculty I’d be keeping tabs on that student and seeing was there any way I could help him if he truly was having thoughts of shooting.

I know from my studies to be a teacher that teachers often have to take several psychology classes. They are taught how to get into the heads of their students, but when they are actually the teacher they aren’t allowed to do so. This is something that in older times wasn’t true. The elderly lady who spoke of prayer being allowed in school in her day should also think about what else was allowed. Teachers were allowed to counsel. Students were allowed to go to faculty members for help. Teachers were allowed to visit a student’s home if they felt it would help. Students weren’t just prepared to take tests. Put simply, students were both taught and cared for. That is what is missing in today’s schools — not prayer, care.

This is my opinion and I would love to hear yours in the comments.

(1) https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED595716.pdf

https://medium.com/@wjb2580/students-are-not-robots-3a6ed3532d64