Feb 28, 2020 12:00:00 AM
It’s been just over two years since the tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and I struggle to find an appropriate word to describe how we remember. We need a better word for referring to the remembrance of school shootings than "anniversary," because euphemisms only contribute to our lack of progress in conversations surrounding gun violence. And as I reflect, I am utterly disappointed with just how little has changed since the 2018 massacre. As an adult, as a teacher, it pains me just how badly we’re failing our kids.
I sobbed last year while listening to David Hogg speak to Dan Rather at SXSWEdu, as he recounted the trauma he and his little sister still experienced as a result of witnessing their peers violently slaughtered. Moreover, I cringe when I witness adults vilifying Hogg and other young “March for Our Lives” activists for raising their collective voice in an effort to combat future gun violence. After all, our children have a right to be angry.
As an eternal optimist, I would hope that we could all be on the same side of this conversation—that is, our kids deserve to feel safe at school—even if we aren’t in lockstep about how to solve the atrocity of school shootings in our country. We grapple with this problem, and others like it, every day. And in the thick of it, I frequently say things with which others disagree. They can handle it. Others say things with which I disagree. I can handle it. Yet [pullquote]in the midst of our conflict, in the amount of precious time we spend warring about politics and bureaucracy, we’re failing our children. We have to do better.[/pullquote]
Immediately following the massacre, there were countless conversations about how we need “more guns in schools.” Even the President of the United States responded with the notion that we must harden our schools by arming our teachers.
Two years later, little has changed. I frequently see conversations about guns in schools popping up in states like Indiana, where the state Senate recently approved a bill that proposed a 40-hour training program for teachers who were willing to volunteer to be armed. Or consider Kentucky, where Governor Andy Beshear just signed a bill requiring school resource officers to carry guns. The topic has also been heavily debated in my home state of Illinois in recent months, but the Illinois Association of School Boards vetoed the possibility of teachers and staff carrying guns back in November of 2019.
Legislative or policy action—or inaction—however, doesn’t always translate to a change in hearts and minds. Just last week, in a conversation which was prompted by the recent “anniversary," I overheard a number of adults—who were in no way even remotely connected to education—touting the popular opinion: “We need to start arming teachers.” Each time I hear it, I have to make a decision about whether or not to engage. Should I dignify such an outrageous claim with a response? On this occasion, I chose to remain silent.
Yet to be clear, my thoughts on this proposed “solution” are exactly what they were two years ago. Here are several questions I may have asked if I had chosen to step into that conversation:
It's truly mystifying that two years later the proposition of arming teachers is still the immediate best course of action for so many, especially for our elected representatives.
Bottom line: As a teacher, I am trained to love. I am not trained to kill. The suggestion that I should be expected to shoot one of my students in a high-pressure situation is one that is entirely unfathomable. Most importantly, it’s not in my job description. So let’s stop pretending that arming teachers is the solution to gun violence in our schools. It’s not.
Lindsey L. Jensen is the 2018 Illinois Teacher of the Year and the 2020 National Education Association Foundation for Teaching Excellence Illinois Awardee. She is Vice-President of the Illinois State Teachers of the Year Chapter, and she serves on the Illinois State Board of Education State Preparation and Licensure Board as an Illinois Education Association Representative. Lindsey is a Teach Plus Policy Alum, and she is an Advisory Board Member for the Region 9 Comprehensive Center. She has over 15 years of educational experience, holds a bachelor’s degree in speech communication from Southern Illinois University, a master’s degree in secondary English education from Oakland City University, and she is finishing her doctorate in the fall of 2020 in teaching and learning from Illinois State University. In her free time, Lindsey travels the country speaking and engaging in educational advocacy. She has delivered over 100 keynotes at Northwestern University, SXSWEdu, The National Association of Teacher Educators Conference, The Raising Student Achievement Conference, and WITCon. She is a proud public school teacher and academic dean in Dwight, Illinois.
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