ENGL100-02
March 19, 2018
How to Prevent a shooting in your school
Preventing a school shooting is easier then many people might think. According to Chicago Tribune “there have been more than 188 school shootings since 2000” (Erikson), but what if I told you that their could have been better measures instilled to make sure it never happened. To keep students safe from shootings, schools should maintain a peaceful climate, make sure students are able to voice their concerns about others, and make sure students who ask for help are taken care of.
Keeping students under a peaceful and productive climate is a major key for preventing school shootings. The students and teachers should have a good quality relationship. Students should be able to feel like they could go to school every day, and not have to worry about any aggression. In Expert Psychologist Peter Langman’s book he describes Some school shooters as having Sadistic personality traits. He goes on to describe sadist as being “prone to various forms of bigotry, intolerance, and prejudice” (Langman 41). The traits Langman described can be suppressed with the correct school environment. Staff members should observe students who harass others or make other students feel uncomfortable. According to Peter Langman’s website on school shooters “54% of the perpetrators harassed, intimidated, threatened, or assaulted people prior to their attacks” (Langman). This stat shows how shooters are not always someone being bullied, but the other way around. In a class reading we went over school shooters Eric Harris and Andrew Golden. These two are prime examples of shooters who were not bullied but instead people who harassed other students. Langman describes them as “perpetrators, not the victims, of threats and insults. They were seen as scary and intimidating kids whom it was best to avoid.” (Langman 12). If school staff or parents where to see a kid bullying others they can quickly correct behaviors before anything can get out of hand.
Students shouldn’t “feel” isolated at schools. Students should be respected and engaged, there should be a culture that supports social and physical safety, and finally family and staff should work together to make sure that the climate is beneficial to students. In an article of school shooting prevention, the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia said “Schools promoting an inclusive climate in which at-risk youth are also learning better problem-solving and conflict resolution skills are more likely to provide a safe and productive atmosphere” (Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia). The positive climate is important for not only safety, but also individual students’ academic success. In a study of shooters, shooters who targeted people often targeted staff. Peter Langman analyzed the statistics and concluded “These results suggest that shooters were more enraged by teachers who failed them, administrators who disciplined them” (Langman). This shows how maintaining the good school climate is important for the safety of staff and others.
In any school students should be able to voice their concerns of others. In a recent study in California,” 20 to 30 percent of students above the elementary level consistently report seeing a weapon of some kind at school at least once during the year” (Kementez). With a good environment students would feel comfortable reporting anything that might make them feel unsafe at school. The quote shows how many students have seen weapons on school ground, but are not in the right environment to report it and keep others safe. School shooters often voice their plan or ideas to others before they carry out the shooting. FBI experts says that “This kind of communication raised the possibility that shootings could be prevented by investigating situations” (Randy Borum). This quote supports the idea of the safe school environment because if students hear a troubled student planning to do something of that nature they should be able to report it to have it taken care of in an effective manner.
Troubled students should be able to receive the help they need for themselves. If a student goes through drastic events in their lives such as; harassment, a major loss, and bullying they should get help so they wouldn’t feel isolated. People often go through major events in their life, and sometimes might seem more okay then they are showing others. FBI experts say “the attackers engaged in behavior that caused others to be concerned… majority of these boys had difficulty coping with a major loss, and this was known to other individuals” (Randy Borum). This quote from experts can help show how school shooters could be detected and stopped before anything happens if people were to voice their concerns of others.
School shootings happens way too often in the US. The US could do a better job at preventing school shootings to help keep students and workers safe every day. Shootings can be prevented with a peaceful school climate. Which means students and staff respect each other and minimalize harassment. Students should be able to voice their concerns with others. If students or staff know of anyone that is experiencing something in their lives they should reach out and voice their concern for them to or to them. Finally, students who ask for help with harassment or any personal problems should be able to get the help they desire from school psychologist or counselors, so they wouldn’t feel isolated and resort to violence. School shootings are easier to prevent then many people think it is.