Recently HHS has been performing numerous drills, some observed by local law enforcement. Schoolchildren of all ages have learned from a young age that drills are to “keep you safe.”
Many ask, however, if drills really help, with some claiming that drills do more harm than good, especially for young children.
According to an analysis by “The Washington “Post”, “more than 4.1 million students participated in a lockdown or lockdown drill in the 2017-2018 school year.”
Drills, however, prepare students for the worst possible situation. The trend is comparable to what took place during the 1960s. We see rising civil unrest, ever-increasing inflation, and fear among communities. But the 1960s also had their own unique struggles, most notably The Cold War.
“While today’s children are practicing active shooter drills, in the 1950s and 1960s, fears of Soviet nuclear bombs had schoolchildren across the country doing duck-and-cover drills underneath their desk,” The Atlantic said.
Citing surveys from the 1950s and 60s, nearly 60 percent of schoolchildren had nightmares of nuclear bombs. But after a while, the drills became routine for most. But while the threat of nuclear warfare was apparent, the chance of the US and the USSR going to war was slim to none, with an exception in 1962.
“This isn’t to say that nuclear blasts wouldn’t be devastating—just that they are exceedingly unlikely. Shootings, too, seem to fall under this category of threat. Starting with Columbine, according to the Washington Post, school shootings have claimed some 150 lives, including both children and adults. That’s 150 too many, but as a percentage of all the students and teachers who have been in a school in the past 20 years, it’s quite small,” The Atlantic said.
While 150 deaths seem like a lot, school shootings, and other student homicide deaths only make up about 13% of all deaths in students, with unintentional injury, mostly by traffic accidents, makeup 48 percent of all student deaths, according to the CDC.
The nation’s leaders in the 1960s didn’t just prepare for the worst of the worst events; instead, they got to the root of the problems– different world views and government structure and set to work to maintain an unsteady but certain peace.
If parents want their children to be safe during the school day, then administrations need to get to the root of the “Shooting Epidemic–” bullying, favoritism, and a growing proportion of both single-parent and low-income households.
School, for small children and high schoolers alike, should be a safe place that prepares them to be successful members of society, but instead, students are stuck wondering if they’re going to get “hung out to dry” or not.
