Eventually we’ll all be part of a school shooting….

My first year of teaching was the year of Columbine.
Of all the things I anticipated explaining to students I had never considered explaining how a safe place like a school made such a desirable target and could be so easily accessed.

While I was sad to hear about Virginia Tech today, I was not surprised.  In fact, I assume that before I retire I will teach in a school that has a school shooting.  You may wonder why I would think such a morbid thought.  It is not based on statistics; it is not an idea to start my retirement early.  It is a feeling that since the general trends are understood and ignored that eventually the number & frequency of such events will increase and as years continue I have a greater probability of being involved in one.  The CDC has an interesting fact sheet on school violence:
The CDC states that “50 percent  of the homicide perpetrators gave some type of warning signal ,” and “20% were known to have been victims of bullying and 12% were known to have expressed suicidal thoughts or engage in suicidal behavior.“

As an educator I see the public ignore the obvious, lament the incident and move on without any intervention.  As school becomes a dumping ground for more social and less educational activities the stakes will only increase, and tools to stop these events will only decrease.

If a teacher feels that way don’t you wonder how students feel?