When will it be over?
When will we be equal?
When will we be safe
From selfishness and evil?
Will it be today
With the end of school?
Or will it be at work
Where cliques become uncool?
Maybe when booze and drugs
Are banished from our lands
Will I then be safe
From unwelcome hands?
When there are no more guns
And no one carries knives
Will there then be no one
Who steals people’s lives?
When we are successful
In keeping bombs from teens
Will the board no longer
Allow bullies to “tease”?
When we can no longer
Hit for any reason
Will what they do to us
Rank up there with treason?
We are the generations
That will own this land tomorrow
But while it’s still today
Will you refuse to end our sorrow?
Or will you only tie our hands
While leaving theirs unbound,
Allowed to roam our bodies
Allowed our dreams to hound
Will you allow them to violate us
In the worst possible way
Though if I bear a knife
You would lock me away?
Will you always measure a threat
By which of us is armed?
Or will you one day know
The true nature of harm?
Will you always focus most
On the drugs and booze,
Thinking Eminem’s at fault
For kids that make the news?
Or will you one day notice
The looks in their eyes
And notice it wasn’t a set of lyrics
That guided his skin to mine
Every issue is answered
If you listen to every side
But only the wrong will win
If the rules support the lies
Those who own the land today
Are those making the rules
Maybe tomorrow we will see
True safety in our schools.
--Maybe Tomorrow, 2010
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Sunday, December 16, 2012
My response to the CT shooting
Over the last couple days, I've been asking people on my wall: "Without discussing gun control, comment below with what you will do to reduce and/or eliminate school violence in the future--be it homicides/suicides, physical/verbal bullying, threats, etc.? Likewise, what can others do?" The overwhelming response is gun control, followed closely by yanking their kids from public schools and doing home-schooling. Both of these would help; but, as one person on a friend's page said "it would be like putting a bandaid on a gunshot wound." Unless we actually eliminated every gun in the U.S and every single child were home-schooled--neither of which is ever going to happen--neither of these solutions would come anywhere close to solving the problem.
Unfortunately, I got very little feedback on my post, which supposes that guns laws and homeschooling are the only solutions most people are thinking of, and those who are likely to agree with what I'm about to say just didn't my page. Thank you Facebook administrators. The previously-mentioned friend of a friend also said "The U.S. has more laws than any other country in the world, and more lawyers per capita than any country in the world. We have the most people in prisons. We spend more money on inmates than we do on education. We have police departments filing for bankruptcy. Fix that and we may be heading in the right direction." I honestly don't know how much of this is true without extensive time spent on google, but I know this much: education is not a financial priority for us. We spend more money on lotteries, beautifying our counties, bailing out CEOs who obviously shouldn't be in management, padding the pockets of people in the federal government, etc. On an individual/community level, we complain about schools whenever we are inconvenienced/offended by something, but we don't actually do anything about it or stick with it long enough to accomplish anything. Most of us don't support our schools in any way except through our taxes and the obligatory purchase of classroom supplies like Kleenex boxes and printer paper.
Police departments are notoriously underfunded. Kevlar vests that should have been replaced can't be and police dogs don't have vests at all. That police departments are filing for bankruptcy is atrocious. On the flipside, even with the necessary funding, police can't be everywhere they need to be and are continuously forced to follow stupid laws that keep them from doing their jobs right. That an officer can't defend him/herself from a real threat without worrying about being charged with assault & battery is ridiculous. That an officer can't subdue an irate fastfood customer--in a completely appropriate and professional manner--without being accused of undue force/racism is ridiculous. That an officer has to yell "Police! Freeze!" before taking out someone who is already waving a gun around is perhaps even more ridiculous. I'm not saying that person should be killed, but I think the average police officer can disable a gunman without killing him/her. Then, there's the prison system. Because of our so-called human rights groups, we as a society would rather spend hundreds of thousands of dollars per year to house killers and sex offenders than have the death penalty. We would rather let them out on parole/probation to save money, risk them getting out on their own or release them at the end of their sentences--completely ignoring the very real risk they pose to other people--instead of having the death penalty because, somehow, the death penalty is inhumane. It's not inhumane for traitors, most terrorists or spies, for people who kill police officers or people who in any way threaten a government official; but, for every other person convicted of the same crime, it's inhumane. The cost of a single bullet far outweighs the cost of one or more prison sentences, the cost of the police who have to apprehend him/her (again in some cases) and the costs incurred by future victims because the system allowed a clearly dangerous person to live and go free.
My answer to the first question posed is this: There are no short-term answers to violence. There never are and probably never will be. Even in a military state, criminals have guns and the kind of military state that would eliminate all guns can't eliminate everything that could be used as a weapon or eliminate violence. As a society, we need to take a real stand against abuse, give the police what they need to succeed, stop relying 100% on the police to solve every problem we encounter, take guns off the internet and stop trying to disarm non-criminals. Likewise, we need to enforce current laws and change the unhelpful ones to better accomplish this purpose. Having more laws has yet to get us anywhere. What we need is better laws and the will/ability to actually enforce them. On the same token, we need to be willing/able to defend ourselves. If I'm assaulted while walking home one night, the assailant isn't going to wait while I call the police, then keep waiting for them to arrive and save me. Likewise, I'm not going to faint or run away from a guy with a gun in the hopes that he doesn't shoot me. I'm going to try to talk him down and, if that doesn't work (or isn't an option), I'm going to fight back and, if there's no way to succeed without wounding and/or killing him, so be it. Police officers have recommended that people obtain concealed weapons permits and carry guns, simply because the police can't always be there when you need them. It's an impossibility. At the same time, schools need to be made safer. I do believe that teachers should be armed. I also believe that teachers should recognize and properly address all forms of abuse and should, in every way, do the best that can be done as teachers. A school that can succeed on a curricular level and stand firmly against all forms of violence is going to be a safe school. Frankly, it's not rational to have airport type security in every school, but it is rational to have metal detectors at the main doors of the school and to keep all other doors locked during classes, so that people can go out through those doors, but can't come in. Every school I believe is supposed to have a school resource officer. He/she is usually, if not always, an active or retired police officer. That would be the ideal person to be near those metal detectors if/when one goes off. If your SRO is too busy to do this, hire a second one.
Outside of gun laws, we need to instate the same set of values in every school in the country. The same rules, the same procedures and the same consequences for all forms of abuse. What gets a person expelled in one school should not get him/her a slap on the wrist in another, and it shouldn't take forever plus some to expel that person for qualified offenses. Sexual harassment after an initial warning should result in suspension and possibly a change in schedule. Sexual harassment that is deliberately pervasive and/or physical should immediately result in suspension and a change in schedule. Any escalation should result in a stiffer penalty, whether suspension and becoming a principal's aide (yes, I've seen that work) and/or an immediate transfer to the alternative school. In cases where the person poses a danger to other students, s/he should be expelled. Individually, in the community and nationally, we need to teach respectful relationships--to whatever degree those relationships are--through our words and actions. In the 90s, there were community/school groups in Michigan as well as other states that did exactly this, and were successful, but were forced to stop due to lack of funds. Between their efforts and the general concept of respect/self-respect, there's no reason to believe it wouldn't work over-all. No, this isn't going to eliminate violence completely. That's never going to happen; but, nearly half of children are victims of child abuse/peer bullying. An estimated 48% of teens were victims of peer sexual abuse last year. An estimated 1:4 women and 1:5 men are victims of sexual assault each year. In many cases of violence, we later learn that the person was a victim of abuse. Whether you understand abuse or not, it does very serious things to a person's mind and inhibitions. Though there are a lot of abuse victims who don't turn violent, the majority of violent offenders are said to have abused. Whether or not Adam Lanza was abused, there's no reason for why we can't reduce these numbers to almost zero, except that it requires actual work and requires people to work together. Eric and Dylan, the shooters at Columbine High, were victims of bullying. A near case my SRO in high school spoke of was a result of bullying. A threatened shooting in, I think, Georgia was a result of bullying. Because we as a society refuse to take a stand against abuse and abusive behaviors, another 20 children are dead. Before you get pissed off and think I'm blaming you, I'm not. I'm blaming society as a whole--what we accept outright, what we ignore, what we know we should do but don't, which groups and beliefs we give the most free rein to, etc. Even while saying abuse is wrong, we allow video games/music/tv shows that desensitize our kids to violence, we encourage and/or ignore abuse, blame the victims, give excess sympathy to the perpetrators, excuse the schools for knowing and doing nothing, etc. These are all things that need to change before we will see anywhere near an elimination in violence. Until then, we're just complaining because nothing will change.
Unfortunately, I got very little feedback on my post, which supposes that guns laws and homeschooling are the only solutions most people are thinking of, and those who are likely to agree with what I'm about to say just didn't my page. Thank you Facebook administrators. The previously-mentioned friend of a friend also said "The U.S. has more laws than any other country in the world, and more lawyers per capita than any country in the world. We have the most people in prisons. We spend more money on inmates than we do on education. We have police departments filing for bankruptcy. Fix that and we may be heading in the right direction." I honestly don't know how much of this is true without extensive time spent on google, but I know this much: education is not a financial priority for us. We spend more money on lotteries, beautifying our counties, bailing out CEOs who obviously shouldn't be in management, padding the pockets of people in the federal government, etc. On an individual/community level, we complain about schools whenever we are inconvenienced/offended by something, but we don't actually do anything about it or stick with it long enough to accomplish anything. Most of us don't support our schools in any way except through our taxes and the obligatory purchase of classroom supplies like Kleenex boxes and printer paper.
Police departments are notoriously underfunded. Kevlar vests that should have been replaced can't be and police dogs don't have vests at all. That police departments are filing for bankruptcy is atrocious. On the flipside, even with the necessary funding, police can't be everywhere they need to be and are continuously forced to follow stupid laws that keep them from doing their jobs right. That an officer can't defend him/herself from a real threat without worrying about being charged with assault & battery is ridiculous. That an officer can't subdue an irate fastfood customer--in a completely appropriate and professional manner--without being accused of undue force/racism is ridiculous. That an officer has to yell "Police! Freeze!" before taking out someone who is already waving a gun around is perhaps even more ridiculous. I'm not saying that person should be killed, but I think the average police officer can disable a gunman without killing him/her. Then, there's the prison system. Because of our so-called human rights groups, we as a society would rather spend hundreds of thousands of dollars per year to house killers and sex offenders than have the death penalty. We would rather let them out on parole/probation to save money, risk them getting out on their own or release them at the end of their sentences--completely ignoring the very real risk they pose to other people--instead of having the death penalty because, somehow, the death penalty is inhumane. It's not inhumane for traitors, most terrorists or spies, for people who kill police officers or people who in any way threaten a government official; but, for every other person convicted of the same crime, it's inhumane. The cost of a single bullet far outweighs the cost of one or more prison sentences, the cost of the police who have to apprehend him/her (again in some cases) and the costs incurred by future victims because the system allowed a clearly dangerous person to live and go free.
My answer to the first question posed is this: There are no short-term answers to violence. There never are and probably never will be. Even in a military state, criminals have guns and the kind of military state that would eliminate all guns can't eliminate everything that could be used as a weapon or eliminate violence. As a society, we need to take a real stand against abuse, give the police what they need to succeed, stop relying 100% on the police to solve every problem we encounter, take guns off the internet and stop trying to disarm non-criminals. Likewise, we need to enforce current laws and change the unhelpful ones to better accomplish this purpose. Having more laws has yet to get us anywhere. What we need is better laws and the will/ability to actually enforce them. On the same token, we need to be willing/able to defend ourselves. If I'm assaulted while walking home one night, the assailant isn't going to wait while I call the police, then keep waiting for them to arrive and save me. Likewise, I'm not going to faint or run away from a guy with a gun in the hopes that he doesn't shoot me. I'm going to try to talk him down and, if that doesn't work (or isn't an option), I'm going to fight back and, if there's no way to succeed without wounding and/or killing him, so be it. Police officers have recommended that people obtain concealed weapons permits and carry guns, simply because the police can't always be there when you need them. It's an impossibility. At the same time, schools need to be made safer. I do believe that teachers should be armed. I also believe that teachers should recognize and properly address all forms of abuse and should, in every way, do the best that can be done as teachers. A school that can succeed on a curricular level and stand firmly against all forms of violence is going to be a safe school. Frankly, it's not rational to have airport type security in every school, but it is rational to have metal detectors at the main doors of the school and to keep all other doors locked during classes, so that people can go out through those doors, but can't come in. Every school I believe is supposed to have a school resource officer. He/she is usually, if not always, an active or retired police officer. That would be the ideal person to be near those metal detectors if/when one goes off. If your SRO is too busy to do this, hire a second one.
Outside of gun laws, we need to instate the same set of values in every school in the country. The same rules, the same procedures and the same consequences for all forms of abuse. What gets a person expelled in one school should not get him/her a slap on the wrist in another, and it shouldn't take forever plus some to expel that person for qualified offenses. Sexual harassment after an initial warning should result in suspension and possibly a change in schedule. Sexual harassment that is deliberately pervasive and/or physical should immediately result in suspension and a change in schedule. Any escalation should result in a stiffer penalty, whether suspension and becoming a principal's aide (yes, I've seen that work) and/or an immediate transfer to the alternative school. In cases where the person poses a danger to other students, s/he should be expelled. Individually, in the community and nationally, we need to teach respectful relationships--to whatever degree those relationships are--through our words and actions. In the 90s, there were community/school groups in Michigan as well as other states that did exactly this, and were successful, but were forced to stop due to lack of funds. Between their efforts and the general concept of respect/self-respect, there's no reason to believe it wouldn't work over-all. No, this isn't going to eliminate violence completely. That's never going to happen; but, nearly half of children are victims of child abuse/peer bullying. An estimated 48% of teens were victims of peer sexual abuse last year. An estimated 1:4 women and 1:5 men are victims of sexual assault each year. In many cases of violence, we later learn that the person was a victim of abuse. Whether you understand abuse or not, it does very serious things to a person's mind and inhibitions. Though there are a lot of abuse victims who don't turn violent, the majority of violent offenders are said to have abused. Whether or not Adam Lanza was abused, there's no reason for why we can't reduce these numbers to almost zero, except that it requires actual work and requires people to work together. Eric and Dylan, the shooters at Columbine High, were victims of bullying. A near case my SRO in high school spoke of was a result of bullying. A threatened shooting in, I think, Georgia was a result of bullying. Because we as a society refuse to take a stand against abuse and abusive behaviors, another 20 children are dead. Before you get pissed off and think I'm blaming you, I'm not. I'm blaming society as a whole--what we accept outright, what we ignore, what we know we should do but don't, which groups and beliefs we give the most free rein to, etc. Even while saying abuse is wrong, we allow video games/music/tv shows that desensitize our kids to violence, we encourage and/or ignore abuse, blame the victims, give excess sympathy to the perpetrators, excuse the schools for knowing and doing nothing, etc. These are all things that need to change before we will see anywhere near an elimination in violence. Until then, we're just complaining because nothing will change.
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