Wednesday March 14th was dubbed as National Walkout Day. On this day hundreds of colleges, high schools, and even elementary schools across the nation moved from their desk to participate in the protest. "We are the students, we are the victims, we are change, fight gun violence now!" student organizers wrote for one of the planned events. "High School students across the U.S.A, the way to fight back is here. There has been too much complacency on the part of politicians when it comes to gun violence. The time to act is now!" More walkouts are planned as April 20 will be 19 years since the terrible shooting in Columbine High School were 13 lives were taken. With these walkouts students are hoping to force change in the role that guns play in our community. Many of the students who are actively participating in these walkouts are often too young to vote. This is the only was they can have a voice in the community. I think they are doing a great job and they are making forward progression to changing a law that should have been change a long time ago.
Drew Myers, a student, noted that the school has lockdown drills about three times a semester. And it’s in those drills that he said he feels “helpless.” “There’s really nothing we can do if a shooter enters the building,” he told Fox News. “I find that the most chilling aspect of the whole thing: There’s really nothing you can do.” This brings up a really good point is that once a school shooter is active, what should the students do. It is completely different then a drill. A drill will never fully prepare someone to have to make decisions that are life or death. Students shouldn't even have to worry about someone walking into their classroom and opening fire. However, that is not the class, we live in a messed up society were this happens so much its not even that rare. “Seeing school shootings happen over and over again just really drives home the point that it seems so easy for these people to commit these acts, and you feel helpless in the drills because there’s nothing you can do,” Myers said, adding that he does not support arming teachers, a proposal put forth by the White House.
More than 185,000 students are expected to participate in the walkout, according to the latest numbers provided by a Women’s March spokesperson. And a map of participating schools on the event’s website shows the walkout has gone international – with schools in Ireland, Israel and Mexico participating, Fox News reported. Many schools will not punish students who participate in these walkouts. Penn State even posted on twitter that they will not punish student who apply to the school. This is a huge deal in my opinion as now there is nothing that should hold students from participating.
Another huge march that is coming up soon is on March 24th, 2018. It is "March for Our Lives" and rallies for it are scheduled nationwide for demonstrators to protest gun violence. There is strength in numbers, if enough people are compassionate about this topic and actively participate, change will be made. It is in our hands to change and if not completely stop school shooting we can hopefully make them very scarce.
Marches are really nice. I personally think they show how much people care about the event and it says a lot when they do. I know that some individuals may march without even fully knowing what they are marching for, but the effort counts. I think that the more people who are willing to march for a specific cause, more attention will be brought upon that cause. And attention is good in order for us to bring influence upon the cause and help fix it - since the words of the people are extremely powerful. For example, the Woman's March has swept the nation, taking place in many different big cities. Many of women and men come together to march for woman's rights and equalities, which is such a meaningful movement that we have created. I am grateful for marches and the meaning they have implemented in our country.
ReplyDeleteJerry, it's good to know that people are giving kids a voice in our democracy. In cases like these, children's opinions are important and they are a unique population, yet they are not allowed to contribute to the decisions of our nation by voting. Although they may not be mature enough or informed enough to vote yet, I think marching is a great way for them to get involved and to give them a voice; I mean we have freedom of speech, so why can't they? It makes me proud that Penn State specifically said that kids who participated wouldn't be punished. Although I think these marches are a great idea to give a voice to the victims of school shootings and to those indirectly effected, I think more has to be done to improve the outlook for school shootings. I think we really need to look into mental healthcare and the improvement of emergency plans. We need to be prepared for the worst.
ReplyDeleteI do believe that these marches at school were a fantastic way to get the people aware that there needs to be a change regarding to gun laws. However, it is a bit disappointing that some of these students that participated in these marches don't even know anything about gun laws. I also agree about schools lock down drills. In my high school, we just locked the door and crouched down in the furthest corner in the room trying to hide. This never made me feel safe because its not like the shooter doesn't know there are people in that room and they could easily break down the door. There is a feeling of helplessness with all of these shooting going on.
ReplyDeletePeople really seem to underestimate kids, that they "don't know what they're doing". They can think, they can feel, and they can act. We need to give them credit for what they're doing and stop talking down to them like we know or do any better. Right now, a change needs to happen, for good or for bad, SOMETHING needs to change.
ReplyDeleteI am in agreement that these walkouts in schools nationwide and even in other countries are helpful for students to voice their opinions and actually be heard. One aspect of these walkouts that needs to be addressed ahead of time, though, is the purpose for walking out of class. Without being aware of the reason behind the action, there is no progress being made. Students should be educated on the events occurring across our nation and fully understand all of the problems trying to be addressed.
ReplyDeleteI would also like to touch on your comment towards intruder drills. I agree that having an intruder drill once every few months is not going to prepare students, teachers, and staff on how to properly handle a real life situation. I think it would be beneficial to educate school staff on all possible precautions and actions they could take if an intruder were to actively open fire or try to cause harm to individuals. Staff should then be able to educate their particular classes on the precautions and actions they plan on taking in their rooms, understanding that science laboratories and gymnasiums, for example, have different materials available to fight back, different locations in which to hide, and different exits available.
I like how you covered something so recent. My younger brother participated in the walkout and he didn't really know what it was about either. He went to the rally downtown and was hearing what people were saying but didn't necessarily interpret it for themselves. That being said I think this issue needs to be described and explained to the people (or students I guess) that are potentially going to be effected but the problem.
ReplyDeleteI think your map visual is extremely powerful. It’s also scary to think about that while students have taken initiatives to make a difference and make waves not only in their communities and across the country, they don’t really have a voice from a legislative viewpoint. They can’t vote, and they must rely on voters to act in response to their efforts and actions. Furthermore, I believe there is a huge issue with preparedness. Actually what can one do? People will rarely be prepared for crisis, but we can do more. Students know what to do in a fire, so why, after the hundreds of school shootings do we not have better education on this?
ReplyDeleteHi Jerry! This was a really intriguing post. Although these students are not yet old enough to vote, they are doing all that they can to use their voices and speak up. They may not know every detail about legislation or politics, but they know when something is wrong, and they want to do something to change it. Being able to teach young people to use their voices to speak out is so important, and we should not be questioning whether or not they have enough knowledge to speak out.
ReplyDelete