Over the past decade school violence has been on the rise. School violence has always existed in some form or another, whether it is a fight out on the play ground or a stabbing in the parking lot. However nothing got the nation's attentions like the April 20, 1999, Columbine school shooting. Ever since that day the nation wants to know what to do to protect the kids in this country. Many schools have gotten increasingly stricter on their policies, especially the schools that have more money. What about the schools that cant' afford metal detectors and security officers? American public schools are not safe, and need to have greater security measures to ensure the students' safety.
The news of Columbine was all over the TV, newspapers, and in every social aspect of life. This left parents no choice but to discuss the incident with their children. After Columbine, there seemed to be more and more reports of school violence, more shooting, bombings, and knives being brought to school. As much as parents would like to protect their kids from hearing any of this they can't and the kids come home with questions. The more the kids hear the more they fear; after Columbine 41% of teens in a nation wide survey became afraid for their safety at school. Kids are now scared to go to school and their parents are scared to let them. Kids are now skipping school and pretending to be sick; not because they have a test or because they don't like their teacher. They a scared that something might happen to them. In a nation wide survey placed by www.usaweekend.com, 91% have seen kids get picked on, 85% have seen them argue loudly, 74% have seen physical fights, 29% have been threatened physically, 25% have been hit, 14% have been...
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... happens at the school in your town, you might not appreciate the extra security measures that are taking place in some schools across America. The truth is the one in every ten kids brought a weapon to school last year, knives, guns, and clubs. Some schools are ready for anything, but what about the ones that aren't.
All schools that have locker searches let the students know that it is policy if the student isn't hiding anything then there shouldn't be an issue. 77% of most kids would be happier and 55% would learn more if schools where safer. Keeping kids safe is what it's all about; no one is talking about strip searches, it's just open you locker, open your bag and be on your way. American public schools are not safe, and need to have greater security measures to ensure the students safety; our country should not have to live through another Columbine.
Unlike most of the country, I knew about Columbine High School on April 19, 1999. I knew that the Columbine Rebels had a good football team, I remembered how they beat Cherry Creek for the 1999 football championship. I knew what Columbine's building was like from when I was inside it in January for a debate tournament. I had friends that went to CHS. We had gone on a trip to Hawaii together to learn about biology. The rest of the country found out about Columbine High School on April 20, 1999. They didn't hear about their football team, the debate tournament they hosted, or my friends, though; they heard about two angry students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, that went on a killing rampage killing 12 other students, a teacher, and themselves. The nation, the media, the killers, my friends, and me all have their own view of what happened that day. Many people tried to understand how something so terrible could happen, while the killers thought that the killings were a wonderful thing, and still other students were trying to comprehend that this tragedy had actually happened so close to home.
The history of school shootings has shown an increase in mass school shooting. The very first known school shooting in the United States occurred on July 26, 1764 in present-day Greencastle, Pennsylvania. As part of the Pontiac's Rebellion, four Lenape Native Americans entered the school house and started shooting, killing the schoolmaster Enoch Brown and about nine students. Only two students survived the massacre (“History”). Since the 1700s the United States society has changed in many ways. Schools have become more than just one room school houses and each grade has its own teacher. Furthermore, the problem of school shootings has not decreased but rather increased over the years. On the one hand, reports from the Centers for Disease Control showed that in general school violence decreased from 1992 to 200...
According to the National Education Association, at least 100,000 students bring guns to school, 160,000 students skip classes because they fear physical harm, 40 students are killed or hurt by firearms, nearly 6,250 teachers are threatened with bodily injury, and 260 teachers are physically assaulted. These facts are not based on once year, but as every single school day. Could one even imagine what the numbers might look like on scale for a month of school, let alone a whole year? So would starting with searching lockers really be a step to far to try and lower the numbers? Some may think yes due to the school invading the students’ privacy. The majority of people though will say no, doing searches of student’s lockers is not a bad thing. Though there may be a few draw backs to conducting locker searches, the benefit of them far outweigh them. Schools should have the right to do searches of the student lockers because it will deter unwanted things, they have permission under loco parentis, and it would allow administers to make sure for safer schools.
Although most security measures passively make schools safer, it is not nearly enough to prevent an individual who intends on creating mass violence from completing his or her task. State representatives, national organizations, school staff, and parents need to come together to figure out the most reliable ways to prevent an active shooter situation from occurring in their schools. One solution that has been active is many schools have partnered with local law enforcement agencies to provide a police officers to patrol school grounds....
“The biggest drawback to a school locker search is the lack of trust students may feel as a result of actions they see as an invasion of privacy,” is what Dennis Hartman had to say on the matter. For instance, if a student had harmful things in their locker, it’d be easier to find and confiscate them. This would prevent a potentially dangerous situation, and the student would face proper consequences. Whilst I agree that locker searches could definitely potentially keep schools safer, I still believe that there are better ways to enforce safety than going through a student’s possessions, which could be mentally damaging.
It is necessary for the schools in the United States to take more action in order to keep the students safe during the day. It is obvious that schools are not safe, forcing everyone to take a part in stopping the violent behavior which takes place in schools on a daily basis. There are many warning signs and ways to prevent this violence from taking place, it is just a matter of using money more wisely and creating more programs for preventing violence before it erupts in schools. There is no excuse for students to feel unsafe in an environment which the government forces them to be in. It is necessary that more action take place and that more training take place in order for schools to be safer, and in the event where violence does occur, the staff of the school is equipped to stop it before it gets out of hand. There is no time like now to keep the children and our schools safe from predators and especially from school violence.
We all know the fourth amendment. It states that we have the right to our own privacy, it protects us from illegal searches, and keeps us from being randomly placed in jail without reason.“It begins by declaring that the “right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated.”(Rohde). According to the constitution, schools don’t have the right to search students’ lockers, because it violates the rights of the average student.
The schools had also brought in school officers to have on school grounding during school hours. They feel that they need these type of secured to have their children protected. Parents feel a little say knowing that there is a police in school patrolling. In several school they have started to do searches to make sure no one is bring anything dangerous that could harm a person. This is super important to makes sure no weapons are on school grounds. Schools have also put on their policy that if any weapon is found on the person’s possession there could be serious
School shootings happen at an average of one per week since 2013, and in between the years 2013 and 2015, 59 deaths and 124 non-fatal gunshot wounds occurred from school shooting alone. Things like tighter security of lockers, and the search of lockers could have prevented some of the injuries and deaths. When someone brings a gun to school to cause harm, many of them may keep it in their locker before they actually start their attack, and if someone was to search their locker before their attack lives and people could be saved. The lives of children are so very important, so we need to preserve those lives with locker
(Opposing viewpoints) Many of the weapons these students are using come from their parents, friends, and or they even have stolen them.... ... middle of paper ... ...
The reason that locker searches are unnecessary unless reported is the fact that principals, deans, administrators, and officers are invading everyone's privacy. In paragraph four in the article “Pros and Cons of School Locker Searches” it states “ The biggest drawback to a school
Adam Lanza, Eric Harris, and Dylan Klebold are responsible for issues of gun control being a major discussion. At first you may not know who these three men are, but after being told their stories, you will know exactly who they are. Lanza was the man responsible for the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012. Harris and Klebold were the two men who executed a horrendous plan to kill everyone at Columbine High School in April 1999. The discussions of gun control need to go deeper in protecting the schools, at all levels, from intruders impeding with their school day by killing their friends and teachers. There have been too many occurrences of shootings at schools where the weapons are brought on to campus and into the buildings unnoticed. There needs to be more done with security and surveillance at schools of all types; middle schools, elementary schools, and colleges. Although the government claims to have improved the security of the schools, there still needs to be more done to be sure that students and others cannot walk into the school with unnoticed firear...
Although school attacks make up a very small percentage of violent crimes, we have every right to expect our government officials to keep our students safe. In this crazy world, all it takes is one armed intruder, student or school official to commit unspeakable atrocities in the time it takes for the police to arrive. Whether on the federal, state or local level, I think that our elected officials have an obligation to provide properly trained, armed security personnel in all learning institutions. I believe that the presence of even a small security force would help to deter many premeditated attacks. In the event an attack did occur, armed security officers could keep the offender(s) engaged until the police arrived, possibly saving lives.
The Tragedy of Columbine was caused by the social injustices inflicted upon two students; Alex Frost and Eric Deulen. This is the message Gus Van Sant portrays in his movie `Elephant.' These two characters are not part of the `in crowd' and are picked upon in school to the point that they come to school with guns. Present day schools are treating this issue incorrectly by not trying to relinquish the social injustices of high school.
Over the years we have heard that a school has been threatened or an intruder has came in and brought danger to the students, as a teacher they are taught to lock the door and hide in the corner thinking that the intruder won’t see them or won’t come in. Students are afraid to go to school,parents are afraid to send their kids to school. We all thought that we didn’t have to worry about going to a place where we thought would be safe and all they had to worry about was what test they have that day or did I remember to do my homework last night. Now we have to worry thinking someone could come into our school and pull a gun, you could lose friends that day or your own life.