Safety In Schools
Going to school in America should be a fear-free experience, and with unfolding events of the last twenty years it is harder and harder to believe that your kids are attending a safe space for eight hours a day.
Since the Columbine shooting in 1999, there have been 360 school shootings (Washington Post) With the increasing threat of schools experiencing a tragedy such as this, security guards being present in school has never been more important than it is right now. Veterans are a big minority in this country and have been at the forefront of mental health struggle for a long time, with 43% of veterans suffering from mental health related issues (EBN) When something relates to public safety it is taken with the utmost caution, and school zones should be no exception.
Entering school as a kid was never more than walking through the two front doors and saying hi to friends, but in recent years there has been crackdowns on your “personal freedoms” in school. From schools implementing metal detectors to backpack searches, all of these measures are attempts to crack down on the potential dangers that could be posed to the kids in the school. An Exigence, as defined by Bitzer is “an imperfection marked by urgency” (Bitzer) All of these attempts prove this issue to be exigent because of the urgency to create a change in the name of child safety. Columbine High School and the STEM school in Highlands Ranch are examples of why this is a local issue, and we can use Sandy Hook as an example for it being a part of a national issue.
A big issue that arises when it comes to the topic of security in schools is, what is the right form of action for security? and who is truly fit to become a security guard? With the uproaring of school shootings in the last twenty years security guards have become more and more prominent in schools, helping prove the exigence of this issue as it has benefitted from change and still continues to benefit from changes. With the potential threat of danger at all times in school it is necessary that a security guard has the right credentials to be able to protect kids properly. Armed veterans in schools would be a positive form of action to take to ensure public safety for kids while in school. It would be the right form of action to take because the experience that a veteran has in the field of protection is going to outweigh the experience that a normal human being has. This would be a rhetorical work in the eyes of Bitzer because it is a response to a situation of some kind (Bitzer) This would include arming teachers, which has been an issue in itself but with a veteran with them in the building, they would open the door for teachers to be properly trained in gun safety.
Texas is one state that is already training teachers to be armed, their teachers are learning the School Marshal Program “which allows teachers and administrators to carry handguns after an 80-hour training at academies overseen by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement” (Reuters).
The people that this issue proposal directly impacts are the teachers, veterans, parents, and most importantly the kids. The teachers and parents are able to open a dialogue in the community meetings that district school boards do in order to dive deeper into this exigence, their open dialogue is an opportunity for to mediate change in the community (Bitzer) The veterans in this country have been struggling and they need a place to be, I know some veterans, family and non. They need a purpose past being deployed and this would give them a purpose to serve and protect in a smaller manner but one that still matters. Veterans being the building can help serve, protect, and train, this can only happen through a form of discourse that allows you to change your reality, and you are changing the reality by making everyone safer. The ONLY way to go about creating a safer environment for kids is through the art of discourse, and with the introduction of this exigence you can do that.
People being armed in schools has been a topic of discussion for years now, but this is because of the parents not being comfortable with their kids being around guns when they don't need to be. This is a topic that can be doven much deeper on through the form of discourse. Guns are not a topic that a lot of people know about because of the stigma behind them, they are scary and kill people, but are an absolute essential to the protection of life in this day and age.
When it comes to guns in school zones I have touched on a pretty basic topic, I am able to explore a lot of potential questions that connect to this topic to broaden my knowledge. .
A few things that I can consider going forward are: Is something else a better solution for protection? Will a piece of legislation like this be viable? And what else could be viable for protection? I could look into a lot of things regarding the question at hand. I would need to find out where in the U.S allows concealed carry for teachers and strengthen my own argument as it pertains to this issue. It would be a good idea to get a professional opinion on this issue from a veteran, teacher, or principal even.
With finding out all of this information, I will be able to create a plan that would show people in the Fort Collins area that there is a safer way for their kids to attend school so they don’t have to worry about anything. Giving veterans jobs as armed security guards and teachers would serve as a response to an exigence because it helps with the urgency of the situation and safety of the children at hand.
Work Cited
The Rhetorical Situation, www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/40236733.pdf?ab_segments=. Accessed 29 May 2023.
John Woodrow Cox, Steven Rich. “There Have Been 380 School Shootings since Columbine.” The Washington Post, 3 Apr. 2023, www.washingtonpost.com/education/interactive/school-shootings-database/.
Person, and Alexandra Ulmer. “For Texas Conservatives, Armed Teachers Are a Solution to School Shootings.” Reuters, 25 May 2022, www.reuters.com/world/us/texas-conservatives-armed-teachers-are-solution-school-shootings-2022-05-25/.
Place, Alyssa. “Mental Health Struggles Plague the Veteran Community after Service.” Employee Benefit News, 10 Nov. 2022, www.benefitnews.com/news/veterans-struggle-with-their-mental-health#:~:text=But%20those%20sacrifices%20don’t,health%20by%20healthcare%20company%20APN.
