This year alone, more than 30 people have been killed and more than 40 injured in school shootings. How many more innocent schoolchildren will die before we solve this complex problem? Is there a possible solution to this tragic problem? After every shooting there is a lot of talk about changing gun laws, but only the death rate changes. It is true that pistols and rifles do not kill people. Psychotic people using guns and rifles murder countless students. There is no end in sight. What are we going to do?
As a grandfather and former teacher, I often feel like climbing the nearest mountain and shouting, “The horrible slaughter of our children must end now forever!” We can no longer bury our heads in the sand and pretend there is no viable solution.
Will the solution cost money? Yes. Will we have to change our way of thinking as a society? Yes, in a way, but isn’t it worth our children’s lives? Don’t we have to acknowledge the red flags we see? Isn’t prevention better than cure?
After teaching for thirty-three years, I missed teaching and helping students. Consequently, I became a tutor for suspended students where I could help them catch up on assignments and kindly advise them. Have I ever seen any red flags? Yes.
For example, I was tutoring a second grader (with emotional problems) at home who liked to draw. At our first meeting, I knew that I had to establish a good relationship with him as soon as possible. When he showed me a perfectly innocent drawing, I was quick to praise his artistic skills. Then he asked me if he wanted to see more. Of course I accepted.
Matt (name changed) ran to his room and came back with a pack of 50 xerox copies of drawings he had completed. Each image had a different way of killing one of his classmates. Why? Because a colleague told him that he was a lousy cartoonist. I was glad I praised Matt’s work and now I understand why I was assigned to help him. That’s a quick red flag example.
Could a teacher walk into any school in September and plug in a comprehensive program that thinks outside the Gun Ban Box? Maybe. My solution involves doing many things better as a society, and would require many changes. The odds would be heavily stacked against a teacher, due to: homeless fathers, homeless mothers, opiate parents, drug using children, lack of respect for all human beings, rat infested homes, crumbling schools, student gangs, lack of textbooks, shortage of materials, missing students, lack of two resource officers at each school, lack of metal detectors, inadequate rules for owning a weapon, short wait times, lack of quality communication between stations police on red flag students.
Certainly more money is needed to help eliminate the mass murder of our children. This would include higher wages for school staff, kitchen staff workers, secretaries, janitors, and nurses. More money is needed for mental services. All staff members must strive to make a difference at their school every day.
We have a thick web of problems that need to be tackled effectively. What to do? High school work-related education needed, respect for blue collar jobs, more career days, higher teacher salaries, easier ways to weed out incompetent teachers, more guest speakers, more laughter, more Author visits, schools, more authentic teachers, more parents. volunteers, more hands-on activities, and no cell phones, except for last period.
We need in our society more idealism, less victimhood, the revival of the work ethic, less feel sorry for me, teens involved in hospitals, nursing homes, nursing homes, and businesses. We need more mentors, youth religious outreach programs, and help feeding the poor. Speaking as a poet and educator, we need an avalanche of creative writing to uncover the nature of one’s wounds and soul. Yes, some aspects of my honest suggestions are costly, but aren’t our children worth it?
Shouldn’t we think outside the Gun Ban Box and create ways to deal with these expenses? How long can we keep our heads in the sand? Six times more people die with knives than with guns. Should we ban knives? We need to make society better, more prosperous and more loving. We must value diversity and our neighbors while fostering good in others and ourselves. A whole town is needed with eyes wide open in the face of this drastic situation and hands to help.
Click to reveal a red flag that I had to acknowledge to avoid a possible death.
