Schools Traumatizing & Desensitizing Students To Violence In The US

[Editor's Note: The following post is by TDV Editor-in-Chief, Jeff Berwick]

“You’ll know when it pops off,” says Robert Bowen, the school’s campus police officer. “If you get engaged with one of the shooters, you’ll know it,” he tells students prior to an active shooter drill in school. 

He did not include that they would “know it” because the images might scar them for life.

“When you get shot, you need to close your fingers and keep ‘em in,” adds Tammy Kozinski, the drama teacher. “When the bad guy and the police come through, they’ll step all over you, and who will be saying they’re sorry?”

“Nobody!” the students scream in unison.

At the very least, thankfully, the school did care somewhat about the kids hands. After all, you don’t want them to break some fingers and not be able to fill out (A), (B), (C) or (D) on standardized tests that have led the US students to becoming some of the dumbest in the world. 

The 69 students at the thirteenth active shooter drill in Missouri are all volunteers, and mostly come from the school’s drama class. They wear fake-bloody bullet wounds, still wet, on their necks and chests. 

The shooting drill, the students are told, will feature “bad guys with AR-15s” shooting blanks during a simulated between classes. PVC pipes line the floor, and the lucky girl who was picked to the shooter’s hostage is thrilled:

“I just really wanna get shot,” she jokes. “Is that weird?”

Instead of protecting the students in an armed society with arms, schools are developing cute tactics, like lockdown drills. Other schools are going further by teaching students self-defense. (which I think should be taught to everyone young)

Many believe the drills do little for the students, especially considering the kids are much more likely in the US to be killed by their parents than by an active shooter.

But, in Missouri and other states, state legislatures have voted to require every school district to conduct simulated shooter drills. 

A THIN LINE BETWEEN DRILL AND THE REAL THING

17-year old Alex Bargen is a little on edge: 

“I’ve done this like 10 times, and it gets me every time,” says Bargen, who agreed to do the drill as extra credit for drama class. “This one is even scarier because it’s on my home turf. It’s going to make me second-guess my school.”

“It’s a bit nerve-wracking because I’m disabled and can’t really run away,” says Katie Ladlie, 15, who is in a wheelchair. 

One girl, Kiera Loveless, 17, signed up because she thought it would look good on her college applications. Forget learning practical skills like languages or sciences, simply aiding authorities in violent outbursts can land you in college in the USSA. 

The first time she participated, she was “terrified.” She’d only heard gunshots on television. (at least, thanks to Hollywood and video games, she probably has heard quite a few fake gunshots) “I didn’t even really have to pretend. I kept having to remind myself ‘this isn’t real, this isn’t real.’” In one way, however, the drill was very real, betokening of a militarized society and the psychoses (induced by prescription pills) which has led to violent outbursts from people who are described as peaceful, non-violent and even loving people. 

The drill starts to the tune of piercing fire alarms, and Lanham is taken hostage as nearby students are “murdered.” She is barked at to bang on classroom doors and urges the occupants to open them. 

“Someone let me in!” Lanham shouts. She isn’t smiling anymore. “Somebody, anybody, open the door!”

The doors remains shut. 

By now the hallways are filled with dust from ceiling tiles and the scent of gunpowder. Bullet shells fall to the floor, and after several excruciating minutes, a few cops run down the hallway. The gunman is shot. 

After eight minutes and one second, the intruder has been “engaged” by the officers; that is, killed, in police-ese.

Students start to stand up, some take bullets as some sort of sick American souvenir, but one girl stays lying on her face. She is sobbing. 

THE COST OF ACTIVE SHOOTER DRILLS IN SCHOOLS

English teacher Amy Venneman was ambivalent about the drill. 

“You want kids to feel like school is a safe place to be,” she says. “And I know those kids chose to be there, but for it to be that realistic, that’s almost too much. As a parent, I wouldn’t want that many kids being terrified, just knowing my own reaction to it.”

“It’s so hard to hear all of [those gunshots] and not freak out.”

One St. Louis firefighter, who found out about the drill from a newspaper, tweeted the link and commented: “B/c this is a thing, we’ve failed, America.” 

“I would have a real problem with them doing that in my kids’ school,” the firefighter, a veteran of Afghanistan, said. 

“Sure, I get it, that’s probably the best drill training that you’re gonna have, but at what cost?” His concern is that the drill would “traumatize” some kids and “desensitize” others.

Stephen Brock, a California State University professor and member of the National Association of School Psychologists, says counselors may even be necessary for a fake shooting.

“Live drills can be very intense and potentially psychologically harmful for some people,” says Brock. It’s not likely to cause post-traumatic stress on its own, but “if a child has some pre-existing mental health challenges”—up to 20 percent of students do, says Brock—“this could exacerbate that challenge.”

The Missouri drill has not been the only active shooter drill in a school – far from it. There have even been surprise active shooter drills,such as one which took place in Halfway, Oregon. (surely they mean “Halfway House”, Oregon)

Cary-Grove High School in Cary, Ill., faced criticism from parents last year when they staged an active shooter drill, blanks and all, with the entire student body present. Another, in El Paso, Texas,  led to screams and terror as an active shooter drill was simulated without warning to students, staff nor parents. Text messages were sent to alarmed parents. Still, school officials support their decisions with the support of local police departments. Schools in the US, in fact, actively work with police departments in an increasingly coordinated manner. 

Amid the simulated violence in schools, students are learning valuable life lessons of love and acceptance:

“[This drill] made me think, you have to look at everyone as a threat. That sounds so harsh, but you don’t know anybody’s story,” said one student.

Others have been led to start asking themselves existential questions. One quiet girl named Haylee Martinez asked, “It makes me wonder, like, who these guys are who enjoy being powerful. When they hold the guns, how much power do they have over us?” Growing older in the US, Haylee will learn that those with guns have lots of power over her, especially if she herself doesn’t have weapons. 

I have kids myself, and I would never send them to a public school, especially a US public school, because I don’t want them to be interacting with “teachers” who really support the use of violence against them to force them to sit in their rowed seats day-in and day-out and learn no practical lessons whatsoever.  

The active shooter drills are a completely different story, however. They are completely psychotic. That people would put kids into these violent situations over a situation they will likely never experience doesn’t fix anything. The proper fixes would be preventative.  Childrens peace of mind and happiness would be of utmost importance. Instead, finishing tedious assignments after going to school 8 hours a day (a full-time job) is the most important thing. 

Peace of mind falls through the cracks, and those with psychological problems go unnoticed and get no help. Or, even worse, their disorder is noticed and they have more odds stacked against them via psychotic medicines which work to make people more psychotic. (while their peers get shot-up in drills in the meantime)

If you are going to raise kids, there is scant a reason to do so in the US. The chances of them being traumatized by men in uniforms is 100%. Ok, maybe not 100%, but close. By reading our newsletter, which comes with TDV’s HomeGrown (for stateside TDV’ers), you can gain access to the information you need to make important decisions, make more money and live freer. There you’ll learn about alternative education opportunities. There’s no reason for your kids to suffer in public school. If you also understand there’s no reason for them to suffer in the US, then you can look into TDV Passports to internationalize their opportunities.