SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Submitted via IRC for Runaway1956
A school in Indiana has been criticised for apparently shooting teachers "execution style" with pellets as part of an "active-shooter drill". The case has reignited conversations about the usefulness of drills and the methods used to prepare schools for shootings.
[...] Many experts agree that discussing and practising how to respond to a dangerous situation will help protect students who find themselves faced with the real thing. Fire drills, for example, are well established tools to teach children how to behave in a potentially life-threatening situation.
[...] While more realistic and stressful situations may be appropriate here, he says "large-scale, prolonged, realistic drills are not ideal" for children.
[...] "Children being asked to pose as victims on the floor covered in fake blood is just pointless and can be traumatising, I can't see why that's necessary."
Source: US school shootings: Have drills gone too far?
(Score: 5, Informative) by ledow on Monday April 01 2019, @01:50PM (2 children)
I work in a school.
Let me tell you how we approach this.
It's not "lockdown". It's "take shelter".
What are you taking shelter from? Maybe a storm moved in. Maybe a gas leak in the nearby houses. Maybe a dust-storm blowing in off the desert. Maybe someone dropped a tin of paint out in the school yard and we don't want you all stepping in it. Maybe a dog got loose and we don't want it to bite anyone. Or, yes, maybe there's a gunman (if the kids mention the possibility). Hell, one of our possibilities is "it's too hot outside, and we don't want you all passing out / getting sunstroke / getting burned".
The problem is not that you have a drill for an essential process - this is just the opposite of a fire drill, where it's safer to STAY PUT than try to go outside. The problem is what you drill against. You drill because you don't want the unforeseen to catch you out. Drilling solely against "there's a mass-murderer outside" is stupid. You drill against "There's something outside that's not good, and it's safer to be inside".
Now, we include things like getting out of sight, hiding under tables, etc. but... for instance... so do schools in earthquake countries... they are routinely taught to stay away from windows and get underneath furniture. There we go, it's an earthquake drill too! You never know!
What these schools are doing is breeding fear when there are obvious, perfectly viable, and well-tested alternative explanations that cover all kinds of situations. So when you DO drill, people aren't thinking "Maybe there is a shooter" but instead "Oh, someone probably just dropped a stinkbomb outside again".
Schools doing anything like including weapons (fake or not) and blood really need to have all the kids pulled out in protest. It's disgusting, fear-mongering and entirely unnecessary. When we say "Shelter" the older kids know the possibilities, just from the news. But the littler ones aren't the subjected to something that, in a video game, they'd be too young to see.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday April 01 2019, @02:13PM
Sensible. Don't forget tornadoes - you also seek an interior room, and hide under something substantial. I like your approach.
(Score: 2) by bussdriver on Monday April 01 2019, @02:42PM
I have relatives in the system. The stories I heard were not as extreme but teachers were not consulted (being experts in child learning, but not policy/procedure admins... who saw it solely lying within their domain) before something stupid happened; afterwards, they'd speak up and give feedback and some changes made. The school therapist being only 1 person if they even had such a person would tend to either be too quiet (no power) or just ignored.
The people doing such extreme things are under the influence of their own nightmares and their righteous efforts; you are not as dedicated or concerned as they are. Reining people in that state is difficult especially when they are in positions of power.
What such situations show is a failure of the system to curb such errors by the people in charge. Either those people are horrible, or more likely, the system doesn't provide a means to counter-balance. Given that FEAR is related you also have a strong element of mob psychology at play as well.