Armed and Educated The debate of arming teachers to defend our nation’s students Since the establishment of public education in the United States, schools have provided a sense of security and belonging to their students. Although sitting through lectures and doing homework may not be the most exciting thing in the world, students will always have a lunch to eat, a roof over their head, and a supportive teacher or counselor that they can talk to. Despite the “safe” environment and presence of authoritative figures on school campuses, trouble always finds a way to break out. Simple misbehaving and occasional fights are a common occurrence on most school campuses, however a new breed of troublesome and violent students has hatched. The …show more content…
Although these ideas are all effective in preventing an attack that hasn’t happened yet, there was no significant suggestion made that could truly stop an attack that was in progress. Kevin Leatherbarrow, a high school English teacher, said, “We’re sitting ducks,” “You don’t have a chance in hell. You’re dead – no ifs, ands, or buts.” Finally, the seed was planted; teachers should be armed in order to protect themselves and their students incase of an attack. Initially, there was two basic extremes of the debate on arming teachers; the liberal groups who entirely rejected the idea of arming teachers and pushed for insanely strict gun laws instead, and the “other side”, consisting of firearm experts, conservatives, gun enthusiasts, and others who felt that it was more than a gun that claimed the lives of victims at Sandy Hook; who were fairly open to the idea of arming teachers. Their capital viewpoint is “guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” Martin O’Malley, the Governor of Maryland, labeled the idea, “Outrageous, extreme, and reprehensible:” "It 's hard to imagine a level of weaponry that a security guard would be carrying on their belt that could have resisted the sort of attack that that individual perpetrated in Newtown." Although the shooter had an assault rifle on him, it has been
If a student was injured by a gun that was in possession of their teacher, even if it was a complete accident, the entire school board would be liable and face lawsuits. Carrying guns would also cause a school’s insurance rate to rise. The idea of having teachers carry concealed weapons has been on the front burner for quite some time. As a result of this extreme idea, insurance companies may begin to increase or even cancel policies with schools that have armed teachers due to the high risk that they are putting themselves at. The schools would also have to pay for the guns themselves as well as proper training for the teachers carrying them. Public schools often face budget cuts already and these unnecessary cost would only take away more from new books, technology, and arts
Some are afraid that by placing guns in school zones, more deaths and homicides will occur. That by giving administrators guns the chance of a shooting will increase tremendously, but the truth is by not placing guns on school property, we are increasing the chance of having our children and loved ones being shot. By allowing our administrators to carry guns in schools, we decrease the chance of someone walking into that school and possibly injuring or killing our students and teachers. The Superintendent David Hopkins of the Arkansas district stated “ The plan we’ve been given in the past is ‘Well, lock your doors, turn off your lights and hope for the best’ That’s not a plan”(“Guns in School” #2). Locking the doors and hoping for the best is not the best way to protect the students and teachers. Arming a number of administrators and allowing them to protect themselves and students is the best way to be
During the past few years, the number of school shootings has increased markedly. In 2013, there were 19 school shootings that occurred, taking so many innocent lives. Some may remember the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on December 14th, 2013. It was the second deadliest massacre shooting in United States history, behind the 2007 Virginia Tech Massacre. Adam Lanza shot twenty children, six staff, his mother, and himself that day. School shootings are tragic. Violence continues to increase with these shootings, as well as with violence within the schools among the students. The big question is, how do we protect ourselves from these horrible occurrences? How do teachers protect the innocent lives of their students? One common suggestion is for the teachers and administration to be armed. The premise is that if the school staff has possession of firearms this would discourage shooters, thereby making the schools much safer. However, it is my belief that teachers should not be able to have access to weapons. There should never be any type firearm on a school property, excluding trained security personnel, such as police officers and security guards.
Numerous studies have been conducted to determine if teachers should be in possession of a firearm while on school properties and if this will decrease the number and magnitude of school shootings. Many scholars believe equipping teachers with firearms will be costly and end up unnecessarily endangering more students, but many scholars claim that a teacher should be the last line of defense against a school shooter. The question this paper hopes to answer is how can equipping teachers who teach grades K-12 help to prevent school shootings in the United States. This paper will attempt to answer that question by examining the perspectives of school administration and law enforcement, the impact on student’s safety and education, the
he first main idea, that has been argued much more then needed, is that teachers will be trained to not shoot kids that are acting up. The teachers would be attending a gun safety class. Many (as in people against this argument) say that the teachers wouldn’t attend this class, but a recent survey, conducted by the NRA, shows us that 40 million teachers would like to be armed and would take the Gun Safety Test. The course, that which is mandatory, would likely e sponsored by the NRA. The course that the teachers would be attending, is a 40-60 hours a week course (in the summer time), and the course doesn’t stop until the teacher can pass the exam. The exam is simply being able to hold a gun, reaction time, and being able to know when and when not to shoot. Just recently, 04/10/2017, a school shooting killed two teachers, and injured two students, both kids being injured severely. If those teachers in San Bernardio where armed, they could have saved their lives and those children’s futures. Also in 2013 teacher aids, the principal, the school psychologist, teachers, and 20 children ranging from 6-7 were killed in Sandy Hook, making a death total of 26 people, plus one. That plus one should not be accounted for, that plus one was the
Due to the high number of recent school shootings and gun related discharges, 56% of Americans have come to expect these terrible incidents according to a poll conducted by CBS news. A debate has grown in the United States, whether to arm and train the public school teachers using federal funds. Under the right circumstances it has the potential to be a good idea but there are many issues with the situation. Such as the cost and accuracy of arming teachers, the abuse that could go on due to intimidation as well as the fact there is a better solution that would benefit the students of Texas better than just their teachers toting around a gun.
Just in recent years, the debt of whether or not teachers should carry guns has come into light. Some people believe that teachers carrying guns will protect the students, and others oppose the idea because they believe it can lead to dangerous situations. Through careful analyzing of articles, teachers should not be armed in classrooms, because students will be afraid, kids get their hands on most everything, and there has been a long history of school gun violence.
Why Teachers Should Not Be Armed Recently when I was talking with my family, the topic of how unsafe some schools are came up. My family was pretty equally divided on the topic. After researching it I chose to side with teachers not being armed. The students they are teaching might get to the gun, arming teachers is very expensive, and the teacher may not be mentally stable. One reason why teachers should not be armed is that if they were students may be able to find the gun.
Is it considered safe or a threat to let teachers carry weapons on campus? Teachers carrying weapons on campus has been a controversy for a while now, with one side of society believing it should be acceptable, and the other side believing it should not even be thought about. People believe that the unarmed man will is more prone to die than the armed man, as for the others they believe that there is too much potential for deadly violence. Since the well know shooting at Sandy Hook elementary took place in December of 2012, "72 incidents since Sandy Hook" (Vartabedian). This shooting brought people to question if teachers should be allowed to carry concealed weapons. Gun Control is the regulation restricting or limiting the sale and possession of handguns and riffle in an effort to reduce violent crime. Gun Control is a very controversial topic because both sides have great support. The second amendment states "forbidding carrying firearms in places such as schools" to protect those around (Scalia 1). Some people blame these vicious actions on "economy changes. People change" (Vartabedian). States are making changes to help protect their citizens. They are specific bills "only allow guns in public schools" (Frankel).
In Clarksville, Arkansas many teachers, janitors, and other faculty members have already begun to act as armed guards, ready to defend and protect at any moment necessary. This school district along with the parents feel that arming their teachers and staff is the most effective way to keep their students and children safe. The writer proceeds to express some of the many concerns that this school district had. One being that their school is located twenty minutes away from the nearest police station, which is far too long of a response time to effectively stop the shooting, therefore if school officials are armed it gives everyone a “fighting chance”. Additionally, the writer further emphasizes on the fact that hiring one school officer would cost the district $50,000 while training thirteen staff members only cost $68,000.
Arming teachers at schools may sound extreme, but the thought may help scare attackers away before they ever even attempt an attack. According to Trevor Z. Pittsley, a spokesman for Rep. Agema, "We have recent federal reports that al-Qaida is targeting our schools, which are sitting targets". Trevor explains that our schools appear to be defenseless to many. An attacker would much rather attack a place with minimal defenses because the likelihood of an effective attack is much higher. If teachers are trained to handle guns properly they would be a great defense at schools. A single resource officer at a school can only cover so much ground, but with teachers armed
“I’d Feel More Comfortable knowing teachers aren’t armed” - Ben Carson People feeling that guns will make schools safer are usually on that side because most are afraid of being a victim of a school shooting, when most don’t realise that if there is a person in the class already that is armed there will be a more chance of being shot if the teacher has problems after they were “trained” .Teachers being armed at school might be a good thing for people and bad for some others that really just don't like guns at all. According to The New York Post, the Majority of people 82% wouldn’t feel like a teacher having a gun would be necessary. The other 18% feel like it is needed for a less chance of a school shooter to take out people. Guns should be held away from teachers and there are many people that can agree with my position. If teachers were to be armed with guns, the students wouldn’t really be paying attention to what the teacher is trying to teach, but mostly focus on what if the teacher pulls out
To begin, I am a student. I am a student that feels this should be an extra safety precaution at ours schools to help parents and other students feel safer. How would you feel to get a call from your child’s school telling you that your child has been shot in a school shooting? How would you feel as a student to know that one of your, innocent, fellow peers might die at the hands of someone that they didn’t know? I can tell you now I know I would be very upset and feel very unsafe. As a high school student life is very stressful. From exams, to friends, to people you don’t particularly get along with, life is very stressful, we don’t need to be worried about someone coming to hurt us or our peers. This is why I believe all teachers should be armed at school.
How many more times are we going to hear about a crazed gunman walking into a school armed and ready to kill? How many more innocent children need to die before we wake up and prepare our teachers to fight back? The only solution is self-responsibility, arm school officials and give them a fighting chance. No gunman is going to target a school that can defend itself and fight back. I personally think every second counts in a school shooting.
School violence has become of the most pressing educational problems in the United States. Gang violence and high profile shootings across the nation cause concern within schools. Communities struggle to understand why these events take place and how they can be prevented. The overwhelming response to solve the issue of violence in schools is the increasing societal pressure to execute zero tolerance. Zero tolerance is driven by the educational philosophy, policies, and practices of school communities. Stakeholders expect schools to be a safe place for staff and for students. Stakeholders assume that a positive classroom environment, safe students, and school enjoyment are conditions necessary to create a positive climate where learning takes place. This assumption can be backed with research. A calm classroom environment, teachers’ management of disruptive behavior, and students’ view of school safety are factors that have been found to directly correlate with student achievement in the classroom (Ma & Willms, 2004). Safety and a feeling of not being threatened during school hours have been found to be important to students’ achievement. Failure to remove a disruptive or an unruly student from school has been found to have a negative impact on achievement and creates a great risk to school staff and students (Garbarino et al., 1992). Teachers cannot teach and students cannot learn in an