The release of the Sandy Hook Promise back to school ad has acted as a chilling reminder of the reality of back to school and what it means for teachers, parents and kids alike.
Schools are no longer what they used to be. Children used to get anxiety about making friends at school. Now they walk into school with the fear of school shootings and when their school will be hit. Parents used to worry about their kids having a good day at school and having a smile on their face at the end of the day. Now, these parents have to wonder if they will even see their kids at the end of the day.
The role schools used to play in the lives of kids has drastically changed. From a place of learning, friendships, self-discovery and what many would call a safe space for kids to grow schools have become a place of fear. Kids have lost their sense of school as a safe place. 6.7% of students skip school out of fear of school shootings. An almost 3 percent increase over the last 20 years. Even more drastic, 57% of teens believe a school shooting can happen at their school.
No longer are fire drills the only drills kids have become accustomed to. The days of getting excited to get out of class for a fire drill are no longer. Schools now run school shooter drills that kids have become accustomed to. Almost too accustomed to. For many student’s it is becoming increasingly difficult to know whether a drill is not a drill this time. It has become to reality for students to expect anything to happen at their own school, as a Texas teen said, “It’s been happening everywhere I always kind of felt like eventually it was going to happen here, too.”
It is clear that schools no longer possess the role in kids lives that they used to. The feeling of being able to go to school and feel safe from the outside world, to feel protected inside the walls of schools and the chance to just be a kid and to grow are gone.
The implications of this are range far and wide. In thinking about safe spaces for kids, home and school would be the first few answers someone may give. Friends houses can still be vulnerable, going out into town doesn’t always offer safey and comfort. Home isn’t a safe place for every kid. So this means that some kids are left with no safe places. And for those that do have a safe place at home, they are left with one true safe place. The effects of this can be psychologically damaging, it can hinder growth, and tamper learning inside and outside of the classroom.
The transformation of schools from a place of learning and opportunity to a place of fear is a transformation that cannot be ignored and must be reversed for the hope of generations to come.
Sources: https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2018/02/28/lost-sense-of-school-as-a-safe.html
6.7% of Students Skip School out of Fear. Worry Over School Shootings Is Up. Yet School Violence Is Down. What Does This Mean?
https://www.nbcnews.com/better/health/school-shootings-how-parents-can-cope-their-own-fears-anxieties-ncna908276
https://www.scarymommy.com/school-shootings-homeschool/
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/04/18/a-majority-of-u-s-teens-fear-a-shooting-could-happen-at-their-school-and-most-parents-share-their-concern/
