2008 Woodie Awards
School shooting fears justified
Issue date: 10/19/06 Section: Opinion
- Page 1 of 1
Take a moment and recall the first day of school.
The anticipation of you're very first day of kindergarten.
The fear and the nervousness, it is something we feel everyone experienced to a certain extent. But after the first day it got a little better, and after the second it got even better. Eventually the fear went away.
After that, fear became an emotion seldom associated with school for most.
Why were we afraid? What could possibly go wrong at school?
Well for one thing we were all walking into a room full of strangers.
None of us knew if we would be liked. None of us knew what to expect. For the most part, these are all normal fears. I don't think one kindergartener ever worries about the possibility of someone taking a gun to school.
Yet this is a problem that can easily be associated with any school in the nation.
Not just high schools, but grade schools, middle schools and even colleges.
What would you do? Are we prepared? Will it ever even affect us?
The answer is hopefully, no.
But if an isolated Amish school can fall victim then what would stop someone from deciding to do it here at our college where the student population is diverse, and the campus is fairly open to anyone.
Is the question we should be asking, "will this ever happen here?" Or should it be, "when will this happen here?"
School should be one of the only places we should feel safe. Not having to look over our shoulders. Unlike in Kindergarten when the fear eventually got better, this fear will not go away by riding it out.
The anticipation of you're very first day of kindergarten.
The fear and the nervousness, it is something we feel everyone experienced to a certain extent. But after the first day it got a little better, and after the second it got even better. Eventually the fear went away.
After that, fear became an emotion seldom associated with school for most.
Why were we afraid? What could possibly go wrong at school?
Well for one thing we were all walking into a room full of strangers.
None of us knew if we would be liked. None of us knew what to expect. For the most part, these are all normal fears. I don't think one kindergartener ever worries about the possibility of someone taking a gun to school.
Yet this is a problem that can easily be associated with any school in the nation.
Not just high schools, but grade schools, middle schools and even colleges.
What would you do? Are we prepared? Will it ever even affect us?
The answer is hopefully, no.
But if an isolated Amish school can fall victim then what would stop someone from deciding to do it here at our college where the student population is diverse, and the campus is fairly open to anyone.
Is the question we should be asking, "will this ever happen here?" Or should it be, "when will this happen here?"
School should be one of the only places we should feel safe. Not having to look over our shoulders. Unlike in Kindergarten when the fear eventually got better, this fear will not go away by riding it out.
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