Next level safety is needed for our students.
Often, we here the question, “What is this world coming to?” When we hear about violence, attacks and killings of students, our youth, our future. We wonder, “What can be done in this world to keep them safer?” But is it the world we should inquire about? No, because it’s not the world ending young lives, it’s mentally unstable individuals who have chosen to cause harm. What we do know is, we must do something because our world will never fully be rid of these types of people.
So, maybe the question should be, “Will our students know what to do if, or when, they are faced with danger?” We send them to school to be educated, cared for and protected in our absence; and bless our teachers and educational staff members, but they cannot protect every student from harm. Even with our school systems safety protocols in place and periodic drills, it’s not enough to ensure that in the face of a threat our kids will remember the practice drill instructions. There is no guarantee every single student will hear a teachers or staff members voice while everyone is screaming and crying in fear.
Unfortunately, we cannot protect them every moment of everyday, but we can prepare them for whatever that day may bring in terms of increasing their chances of survival if they’re exposed to an attack. Our youth are being educated to know how to communicate, compute, analyze and create in the world to come by educators. Our youth are being exposed to how to define their identities, the chaos in our society, mature topics and the acceptance of addiction or exploitation of choice with their access to online information. So what’s left? As parents, grandparents, guardians, loved ones; we teach them how to be responsible, caring, independent, resourceful and mindful.
We also teach them how to be safe. “Remember to wash your hands”, “cover your mouth when you sneeze or cough” safety. “Look both ways when you are going to cross a street”, “don’t talk to strangers” safety. Lets’ keep in mind, as parents and loved ones, we tell these safety rules to our students well into the teen years. Why? Because we know exactly how long it takes to truly instill something into the growing mind of a child or adolescent. Not to minimize these essentials, these are safety rules according to them never being presented with a horrific threat.
All these things have their place to inform our young ones, good and bad. But who is giving our students the opportunity to be taught emergency safety? Safety protocol that gives them the skill of self-protection in the face of danger, if they can’t hear instruction from a teacher or staff member during chaos, and when their classmates are frozen in fear.
Consistent and thorough safety training as in, “this is what you do, how you do it, step by step, when a shooter is in your school”. I’ll tell you who will give our students the opportunity to learn this essential; us, parents, grandparents, Godparents, aunties, uncles, foster parents, caregivers.
We make sure they are taught as much as possible to be ready for what we know to come. Now let’s add on the gift of being taught to be ready for the unknown.
