Friday, January 4, 2013

A Fatal Tragedy In An American School... Once Again

I've been quiet for awhile, first of all happy new year to all, and I hope my readers enjoyed their holidays. However, please be reminded to be thankful as the people of Newtown, Connecticut did not enjoy their holidays, or their new year. Another tragedy occurred in an American school, unfortunately.

On December 14, 2012, 20 children were shot and killed along with 6 staff members. There were 27 deaths, the 27th death was the perpetrator who committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. Unimaginable. The major school shootings in contemporary society begin with Columbine High School, then Virginia Tech, then Chardon High School and now in Sandy Hook Elementary School. ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. What is going on?! Children, little boys and girls, aren't even safe in their own school anymore! What has our society deteriorated to? The Sandy Hook Elementary shooting is the SECOND most deadliest  shooting in the United States. Imagine the agony the families are going through? It is truly unspeakable and it makes me want to alienate myself from society. It's mind-boggling.

The end of 2012 surely was a hectic and turbulent time. Starting with Hurricane Sandy, the belief that the world would end, the Sandy Hook shooting, shortly later the holidays came in along with the new year. I am just glad 2012 is over and done with. It was not a good year for many.

Let's go back to New York City public schools for a little bit.

Let's face it. Going to a public high school in NYC during the late 70's through mid 90's was hell. It shocks me how people in this city—especially teenagers—could be so resilient. I know I wouldn't have been able to survive. Crime was everywhere. The crack epidemic was still prevalent at the time, and boy oh boy did people consider NYC the most dangerous city in the United States! In 1990, there were over 2,000 deaths due to homicide in NYC! But back to the public schools...

I am not from East New York, but I have two friends from Dewey who are from ENY, and they say it's still a tough neighborhood. I believe it'll always remain tough. Sure, due to a drastic decline in violence and murder in NYC even the toughest of neighborhoods like ENY have improved, but it's still a place where I wouldn't want to live. Public schools in ENY have always had horrific reputations, high dropout rates, low attendance, high crime rates etc. Obviously, this led to the closure of many many schools (knowing Bloomberg!) and of course, one of the most known closures in ENY is the closure of Thomas Jefferson High School. A high school known for its scary crime rates, suspension rates, very low graduation rate, and overall it was basically a rampant prison. Truly, no sane parent would send their children there. The school's population, though, reflected the neighborhood's population; predominantly black.

On November 25, 1991, there was a major fight going on in the 3rd floor hallway of Thomas Jefferson High School. The fistfight quickly evolved to a shooting. Imagine, walking through a packed hallway in a high school and all of a sudden a student takes out a gun and starting firing. A brave teacher tried to intervene but he was shot too. He was shot in the neck and critically injured. This was undoubtedly one of the worst high school shootings in NYC at the time. But to the students of Thomas Jefferson, this was nothing new. Crime, guns, knifes, all too common at the school. They considered this to be a norm. What a shame, huh? A teenager was murdered, Darryl Sharpe of East New York.

According to the New York Times, in 1991, 480 children under the age of 16 have been shot in New York City.

But this is just merely ONE of the many, many gun incidents in schools. Why are schools in the United States full of high rates of crime and violence? Why are innocent children dying or being critically injured in our schools? Apart from cyberbullying and bullying, students feel they have to defend themselves with weapons. Yes, I know, Adam Lanza, the perpetrator of the Sandy Hook shooting was not a current student, BUT HE WAS IN THE PAST. Also, if we take the Columbine shooting into this, Dylan and Eric were two anti-social    teenagers with an addiction for violence. That obviously sends the wrong message. People tried to blame goth culture, or rock music which they considered "Satanic" and what not. People tried to deviate from the truth so much. The truth was AND IS that American public schools are NOT safe. They are NOT.

How long is this going to go on? Just recently this sparked the gun control debate, but how about having a debate on the most important subject: keeping our schools safe. How can that be done? Several districts have already added armed security guards claiming "a good guy with a gun stops the bad guy with a gun" but how so? You never know the circumstances. Guns + guns = safety? Hmm... Sounds a little peculiar. One thing I do approve of is the addition of metal detectors in the entrance of every school in the United States. Some districts have definitely done this task, and I believe it works. Metal detectors are basically a boundary for the soon-to-be-perpetrators. Beep! You have a metal object... A gun?! And there and then the perpetrator is stopped in his/her tracks. Without metal detectors, some random intruder can walk into the school and shoot everything and everyone. Metal detectors prevent that.

Am I saying that metal detectors are 100% reliable? Nope. But they sure as hell do significantly raise the safety levels of schools. I think they're more efficient than armed guards, truthfully.

Since 1988, public schools in New York City have been implementing metal detectors. At the beginning of the 1990's, there were approximately 20 schools with metal detectors in NYC, as of 2009, there are over 90. That number shot up really high. But hey, if it's for the safety of the students, I'd rather get my phone taken away than my life. Wouldn't you agree? Of course you do! I can't comprehend how people can be so cruel and take the lives of innocent little children away. Ahh... What can we do to make our schools safer? We must find the most viable answer before more lives are sacrificed in this wave of violence in schools.

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