The following is a letter that I wrote to the WEBmaster of the Enough is Enough WEB page. I reccomend that you visit that site before reading my response. Click here to view it.
Hello,
I am writing in referance to your WEB page on school shootings. As someone who has attended high school farely reciently (I graduated in 1998), I feel compelled to tell you the real reason why your solutions won't work.
I'll start with metal detectors. There is a very simple reason for their ineffectivness, they'll increase crime in schools. Installing metal detectors will tell kids that they're not to be trusted and that we already feel that their already beyond saving. They'll be told this every time they walk through them. If you tell them something like this often enough, they'll start to beleive it.
Aside from that, it's so easy to get weapons past metel detectors that I laugh every time I see one. When I worked at a local amusement park, I routinely carried a knife through the metal detectors. At first, it was just to see if I could, then it was to see how many I could get through, and finally it was to see how long it would be before I got caught. In the foour years that I worked there, I never was caught and I have no doupt that I could have gotten a fairly large gun into that park had I ever had the inclination to do so.
Even if no student ever got a gun into the school, they could always just move the shootings outside the school. I believe it was in 1996 that two students pulled the fire alarm and ambushed students and teachers as they filed out of the school with rifles.
As far as more severe punishments for the bullies. It MIGHT work, but I doupt it. Instead, the bullies will simply retailiate for the punishment by taking it out on those they were caught bullying.
Besides, as we have seen with other so called zero punishment policies, we can't trust our school officials to implement them.
So, what CAN we do? Well, we can start by actually raising our kids for a change. This is where you say "But I am raising my kids." Maybe, but it's highly unlikely.
Ask yourself, How much time do my spouse and I actually spend with my kids? What kind of music do my kids like? What's their favorite band? What was the last movie each of my kids saw? Who's their best friend? What are the names of their teachers (all of them)?
Think about these questions carefully. If you can't answer them, or aren't sure your answers you aren't spending enough time with your kids.
It's about time that people stopped focusing on their wants and started focusing on their kids needs. Do both of you REALLY need to work. Couldn't you be just as happy without a two story house, two expensive cars, and that big screen TV if it ment that your kids had a better chance of growing up happy.
Also, don't expect teachers to raise your kids for you. Most of them have a hard enough time getting the kids to learn. Instead, get to know yous kid's teachers. Go to the PTA meetings, ask the kids what their homework projects are, and fer Christ's sake get involved in your school.
School shootings aren't going to just go away. It's a problem that's going to take some time to solve, probably 5 or ten years. We need to stop looking for the easy way out. We went decades without metal detectors and harsh punishments for bullies before this epidemic started, why does everyone seem to think they'll stop it now?
Lilith Danaher
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I received a reply today, click here to view it.
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