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Walking into school every day as a student in 2023 is a risk that we take. It’s a risk that sometimes goes unnoticed by ourselves and our loved ones.
There’s no denying that an increase in violence in schools, both physical and weapon-oriented, has occurred in recent years. At our own high school, I can think of several incidents just in my time at LFHS.
As recently as last week, the school received fake threats of violence and a potential bomb placed at East Campus, causing students and staff to enter a shelter-in-place. Although these were ultimately reduced to ‘swatting’ attempts, the reaction from LFHS demonstrated how normalized these events are.
In my fourth-period class, we ignored the fact that anything out of the ordinary was going on and decided to watch scary movie trailers. Both of my parents were spamming me with texts to make sure everything was alright, and yet, I felt like this particular instance wasn’t unusual.
This is not to say that everyone was completely nonchalant about the incident, I’m sure that many people were covertly worried about the potential threats.
However, the fact that this was certainly not the first time we’ve dealt with this sort of situation definitely influenced the level of concern that most students were feeling.
The poll put out by the Forest Scout asking how concerned students felt about the lockdown, shortly following the incident revealed that only 12% of those who voted were “very worried” and approximately 46% were “largely unconcerned.”
That is alarming.
Why are we so desensitized to violence? Why have we experienced this so many times that it is reduced to nothing but an inconvenience in our day?
Gun violence is a deepening stain on our nation and our community, and yet every day it is fading more and more into a normal occurrence.
In the past year, there have been a total of 58 school shootings in the United States.
That is 58 times where parents have sent their children to school to learn and instead lost them to horrific violence.
Even so, we enter our schools and walk these halls suppressing the fear and ignoring the prospect of danger in order to continue life like normal.
This should not be our normal.
It should not be normal to have a predetermined defense and escape plan in our minds for each of our classes.
It should not be normal to wake up to headlines of mass shootings and not be shocked.
I have aspirations for a nation in which students don’t have to ignore the constant threat of violence at school. I have hopes that gun violence will be a rarity that provokes outrage not only from those directly impacted but from everyone else as well.
That is the nation we deserve and we are a long way from it.
J • Nov 3, 2023 at 9:25 am
This article’s premise is in error. The result of the poll (with only 85 votes) is:
39 Somewhat Concerned 46%
18 Largely Unconcerned 21%
18 Totally Unfazed 21%
10 Very Worried 12%
This means that only 21% were largely unconcerned, although 42% weren’t even somewhat concerned. The line between “largely unconcerned” and “somewhat concerned” was a 36/49 split(a 42/58 split in percentage).
The point in my other (hidden at the time of this one’s writing) comment still stands.
J • Nov 3, 2023 at 9:05 am
Violence is a fact of the human condition, and the only way to ensure the total end of violence is to ensure the total end of humanity. Given that I doubt that you would want to commit mass killings on an unprecedented scale, I will assume that you accept the premise of violence always being a risk.
Most of the world accepts that violence-mitigation efforts will not bring the total peace and security of having no threats or attacks, America is unique in that her culture is built around a myth of invulnerability. Americans see even the slightest hint of danger as either a crisis or a lie, and that is reflected in post-9/11 defense policy.
Students adapting to their environments and acting rationally should not be alarming; it should be seen as a sign that Americans are starting to realise that total safety is impossible.