By Maggie Ganley–Many people have concerns about life after college. For some, it’s where they want to settle down. For others, it’s what career path they want to pursue. For students graduating with a Bachelor of Education degree, it’s the concern of whether or not they will be part of a school shooting.
There have been 288 school shootings in the US since 2009 according to CNN. That is “57 times as many school shootings as the other major industrialized nations combined.”
Although the chances of being involved in a school shooting are slim, given the number of school districts in America, it is still a concern that weighs heavily on the minds of students going into the teaching profession.
“I’m going into high school teaching. With how things are now, I’m terrified,” says Megan Griep, a junior education major.
Terrified. A word that’s heartbreaking but resounds with students going into this profession.
So what is the solution to this problem? President Trump suggested that teachers carry guns. “We need to let people know, you come in to our schools—you’re gonna be dead.”
Faculty and students at Morningside have a different perspective- focusing on mental health.
“The best way to counteract it [school shootings] is to think about how we approach mental health before we think about how we approach guns in the classroom,” Shelley Molland, education professor, said.
Multiple stressors are taking an impact on kids today. Less emphasis on the family, more emphasis on technology, cyberbullying, the opioid epidemic, and so on.
So what should teachers do?
The general response was to put students at the center of the classroom. If a student seems troubled, confront the issue.
Making students feel welcomed and comfortable in class is one way to start investigating and solving personal issues. Sara Larson, a junior elementary education student mirrors this sentiment.
“I think now, a lot of the time, kids don’t want to turn to adults because they’re like ‘Oh that’s even worse, I’m going to get made fun of for doing that.’ I think creating an inclusive environment in your classroom, making sure nobody is feeling bullied or feeling left out is very important,” Sara said.
Carol Glackin, an education professors, also suggested reaching out to parents if students are presenting issues.
Molland believes school systems in America could aid teachers in bettering mental health in their classrooms by hiring more teachers and making class sizes smaller. This would help teachers develop stronger one-on-one relationships with students, which would allow them to see when students are struggling and react to mental health issues faster.
But what if guns were mandatory in the school system? This is the question that made many uneasy and resulted in uneasy responses and uncomfortable glances.
“I feel like if I had the training, I’d know what to do, but then you never really think you’d be in that situation. If I was in that situation, I might freeze and freak out and not know what to do,” Justine Lawson, a senior education major, said.
However, if she were asked to carry a gun to school tomorrow, she would not feel comfortable.
This feeling was mirrored by most people interviewed. Sara Larson asked multiple people about how they would feel carrying a gun into the classroom after hearing about the story idea and everyone agreed that they would not feel comfortable doing so.
Megan Griep grew up around guns and would feel comfortable bringing a gun into her classroom, but believes it’s not the right solution.
Shelly Molland said, “I think I would find another job before I would be asked to carry a gun.”
By introducing guns into the school system, “we are taking a position that already has multiple stresses and we’re increasing the stress by the possibility of violence as an alternative,” Glackin said.
In order to be effective in the long term, schools need to solve the root cause of the school shootings as opposed to treating the surface issue.
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