In the past years, schools were a safe haven for children, where they felt free to interact and play with their peers. Parents trusted the teachers with their children, and rarely were there any cases of insecurity around the schools' premises. From my personal experience, my kindergarten and elementary years proved to be my most active days where I discovered my dancing and swimming talents. This was encouraged by the freedom to run around and explore, literally just being myself. School galas and prize giving days were also a common thing as safety was not an issue. Here, parents would watch, support, and nurture their children's talents.
This was short-lived because recently, schools have proven not to be as safe as we thought. There have been rising cases of targeted school attacks which security agencies believe to be acts of terrorism. These incidents have rendered schools to be unsafe learning environments for kids. In the past year alone, there have been 45 reported cases of school shootings, with thirty-two of these being in kindergartens to the 12th grade. It is despicable to even think about shooting children, let alone engaging in the act. Children are innocent, and I cannot comprehend that a sane individual would literally carry a gun to school premises and shoot at them. Even though some of the suspects have boon confirmed to be mentally unstable, this does not justify their actions.
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One of the deadliest mass shooting incidents in schools occurred in Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, which had seventeen teenage victims, and a masked shooter committed the act. Another horrendous school shooting tragedy was in Red Jake Senior High School in Minnesota. The sixteen-year-old suspect shot and killed his grandfather and the grandfather's girlfriend before heading to the school, where he shot and killed seventeen people. He eventually shot himself (Keneally, 2019) .
These tragedies were heartbreaking, and the state had to take measures to prevent and stop them. Many states have developed legislation in a bid to increase school security. The police and security officers are now controlling the school environment. In New York, School students are subjected to metal detector checks, bag searches, and aggressive pat-downs every day by police officers before entering their schools. This over-protective policy, coupled up with zero tolerance, has brought a prison like feeling in schools.
These policies have been exaggerated, and a large number of officers have been introduced to schools, enough to fill a precinct. Most of the metal detector cases have nothing to do with weapons, they detect any metallic object, even a spoon, and this is a non-criminal incident. They can sometimes be time-wasting as they solve no problem. The government has also used a lot of money to install these metal detectors in schools. Money that could have been used to improve the school's infrastructure. It is disturbing to find a school with metal detectors but no efficient library of lab equipment. According to statistics, most of the schools with metal detectors have recorded a higher number of student expulsion cases than in schools without metal detectors ("A Look At School Safety", 2020) .
In my opinion, these school safety methods are not appropriate, especially for young children. Because, first, children do not understand the sense or importance of these checkups. They view them as uncomfortable steps that they have to endure daily. The teachers and authorities should have at least conducted a dissemination program before introducing and implementing the policies.
I also have to disagree with the fact that these security measures have put the schools in the hands of the police and authorities instead of teachers and caregivers who are specifically trained for this job. I believe that the police training does not include the clause on how to handle school children, and it is inappropriate to leave that task to them as they might treat small offenses with criminal procedure. On the other hand, a teacher punishes a child according to their level of mistake, giving just the right punishment for the child to learn their lesson, which is not the case with the authorities.
I think that the zero-tolerance policy is a representation of corporal punishment in schools. The policy supports the exposure of children to legal charges for minor offenses ("A Look At School Safety", 2020) . A student found with nail clippers, or rubber bands can be classified as weapon possession and cause them to face legal charges. Something as small as having ibuprofen pills in their bag can be classified as drug possession and cause a student's expulsion. Expulsion of students does not help them. It only puts the student at more risk, being at home with no supervision. It has instilled fear in the children and made them less expressive, and reduced their thrill to explore during their early development years because the students are more focused on being perfect to avoid trouble.
I am not entirely against these safety procedures, as it is evident that school children need protection. However, I think that these measures should be adjusted and made favorable for the students. The schools should work on securing their wall parameter to ensure there are no loops for intruders and unauthorized personnel. The schools and authorities should develop effective emergency response strategies and conduct escape drills in case of a tragedy or an attack. Most of all, the government should sponsor and increase mental health services within the schools.
References
A Look At School Safety. (2020). Retrieved 18 October 2020, from https://www.nyclu.org/en/look-school-safety
Keneally, M. (2019). The 11 mass deadly school shootings that happened since Columbine. Retrieved 18 October 2020, from https://abcnews.go.com/US/11-mass-deadly-school-shootings-happened-columbine/story?id=62494128
